(Photo: Christopher Wallace) In 2021, OperaWire reviewed a splendid concert presentation of Handel’s “Ariodante” at the Göttingen Handel Festival. With a strong cast, which included star names such as Marie Lys and Emily Fons. Quality performances were certainly expected, and they did not disappoint. However, it was soprano Rachel Redmond, whom I had previously never heard sing, in the role {…}
John Ottman is slated to direct a film based on composer Antonio Vivaldi. Variety is reporting that the editor, composer, director and producer will team up with film and music industry executive David Franco to develop a dramatic biopic based on the life of the world-renowned Italian composer. Written by Kevin Lund and TJ Scott, the project has been long-gestating {…}
(Photo: Birgit Gufler) After 13 years in the post, Alessandro De Marchi brings his tenure as the artistic director of the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music to a close with a program dominated by the Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi. Not only do many of the festival’s events feature his music, including the festival’s closing concert “Lieto Fine,” but all three {…}
(Photo: Die Fotografen) The Innsbruck Early Music Festival’s Cesti Competition, now in its 13th year, continues to cement its standing as a prestige international singing competition for baroque specialists. The final, which took place in Innsbruck’s Haus der Musik in front of an enthusiastic audience, consisted of 10 singers from six countries, comprising two countertenors, five sopranos, two tenors and {…}
(Photo: Benoit Auguste) Over the course of the 17th century, the role of the tenor was displaced by the rise of the castrato. Whilst in opera’s early years tenors were given prominent roles, such as the title role in Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo,” by the middle of the century they were relegated to comic or travesti roles. During the early 18th century, {…}
(Photo: Michele Crosera) Given that Venice is the city of Vivaldi’s birth and the scene of most of his musical successes, it is fitting that La Fenice has been one of the leading companies in the movement toward rehabilitating staged performances of his operas. This season’s production of the composer’s 1735 work “La Griselda” will mark the fifth consecutive year {…}
(Photo credit: Royal Opera House, 2022) Two baroque jewels are running concurrently at the Royal Opera House: Katie Mitchell’s molten “Theodora” on the mainstage, and downstairs in the more intimate confines of the Linbury, Antonio Vivaldi’s pasticcio “Bajazet,” a co-production with Irish National Opera. And what a study in contrasts they make: upstairs, something rueful and naturalistic, whose props are {…}
(Credit: © Matthias Baus) The Staatsoper Stuttgart has announced the upcoming premiere of Antonio Vivaldi’s oratorio “Juditha Triumphans.” The oratorio will star five mezzo-sopranos including Stine Marie Fischer as Holofernes, Diana Haller as Vagaus, Gaia Petrone as Abra, Alexandra Urquiola as Ozias, and Rachael Wilson in the title role. Benjamin Bayl conducts a production by Silvia Costa. Vivaldi’s oratorio hold {…}
(Photo: Musacchio, Ianniello e Pasquini) As part of its 2021-22 concert series the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia brought together an impressive cast which included baroque specialists Vivica Genaux and Ann Hallenberg for a performance of Vivaldi’s only surviving oratorio “Juditha Triumphans,” under the direction of the Vivaldi specialist Federico Maria Sardelli. Written in 1716 to a libretto by Giacomo {…}
(Credit: Michele Crosera) The director for Teatro La Fenice’s production of Vivaldi’s “Farnace,” Christophe Gayral observed in his program notes that “the music for some of the arias is strangely sometimes not completely related to the narrative, the music is light while the situation is dark.” While this is undoubtedly true, it does not act against the work as a {…}
(Credit: Martin Sigmund) The Staatsoper Stuttgart has announced its 2021-22 season. Here is a look at the operatic and vocal performances. Opera Premieres Paul Dessau’s “Die Verurteilung des Lukullus” opens the season. The complex work stars Friedemann Röhlig, Alina Adamski, Torsten Hofmann, Elliott Carlton Hines, Maria Theresa Ullrich, Linsey Coppens, Philipp Nicklaus, Heinz Göhrig, Jasper Leever, Laia Vallés, Clare Tunney, {…}