Cecilia Bartoli, Céline Scheen, Vito Priante & Marina Viotti Lead 2026 Salzburg Whitsun Festival

The Salzburg Whitsun Festival has announced its 2026 season themed “Bon Voyage.” Opera Rossini’s “Il Viaggio a Reims” will be conducted by Gianluca Capuano and directed by Barrie Kosky. The ensemble cast will include Cecilia Bartoli, Marina Viotti, Mélissa Petit, Tara Erraught, Edgardo Rocha, Dmitry Korchak, Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, Florian Sempey, Misha Kiria, Peter Kellner, Giovanni Romeo, Helena Rasker, Rodolphe Briand, {…}

Jun 6, 2025

Corinne Winter, Federica Lombardi, Alex Esposito, Freddie De Tommaso, Gregory Kunde, Angel Blue & Serena Sáenz Lead Palau de Les Arts’ 2025-26 Season

The Palau de les Arts has announced its 2025-26 season. Lorenzo Viotti conducts Gounod’s “Faust” in a production by Johannes Erath. Iván Ayón-Rivas, Alex Esposito, Ruth Iniesta, Florian Sempey, and Ekaterine Buachidze. Performance Dates: Oct. 3-15, 2025 Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s “La descente d’Orphée aux enfers” will star Josipa Bilić, Camille Chopin, Sarah Fleiss, Tanaquil Ollivier, Sydney Frodsham, Richard Pittsinger, Bastien Rimondi, Attila {…}

May 7, 2025

La Monnaie 2024-25 Review: I Grotteschi

(Photo: Matthias Baus) One of the highlights, if not the highlight, of La Monnaie’s 2024–25 season must be its world premiere of Monteverdi’s new opera “I Grotteschi,” a mammoth work, lasting almost seven hours, not including intervals, performed over two evenings. Rafael R. Villalobos as Scenario, Director & Costume Designer conceived and created the production, using extracts from the Monteverdi’s {…}

Dec 5, 2024

Ravenna 2024 Review: ‘Hail! Bright Cecilia’ & ‘Dido and Aeneas’

(Photo: Zani-Casadio) Following on from the previous day’s performance of Monteverdi’s “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria,” Ravenna’s Teatro Alighieri continued with a production of Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” coupled with “Hail, Bright Cecelia,” presented by the same cast under the musical direction of Ottavio Dantone. The fact that Pier Luigi Pizzi, who had been responsible for the lackluster staging {…}

Dec 4, 2024

Ravenna 2024 Review: Il Ritorno Di Ulisse In Patria

(Photo: Zani-Casadio) In his program notes, the director, Pier Luigi Pizzi, writing about “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria,” stated that “the opera speaks for itself,” adding, “we must not induce or force its interpretation… It is up to the audience to confront it, to think about it, and to decide for themselves whether or not it is worthwhile.” Even {…}

Aug 19, 2024

Robert Gleadow & Christopher Purves Lead New CD/DVD Releases

Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences get to hear world premiere pieces, two complete operas, and a debut album by one of the most interesting ensembles today. Don Giovanni Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” recorded in November 2023 at the Royal Opera of Versailles features Robert Gleadow and {…}

Jul 8, 2024

Ravenna Festival Unveils Autumn 2024 Festival Lineup

The Ravenna Festival has announced its autumn festival, which will run from Nov. 15 to 19, 2024, and be performed at the Teatro Aligheri. The festival will journey back in time to the roots of bel canto and the origins of opera, through the sounds and atmospheres of 17th-century Baroque music. Monteverdi’s “Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria” will be {…}

May 23, 2024

Arianna Vendittelli, Jakub Józef Orliński, Luigi De Donato, & Benedetta Mazzucato Star in the 2024 Innsbruck Festival of Early Music

Programming for the 2024 Innsbruck Festival of Early Music has been announced. This article only features vocal performances. First up is a workshop for the upcoming performances of Giacomelli’s “Cesare in Egitto.” Soloists include Arianna Vendittelli, Emőke Barath, Filippo Mineccia, Margherita Maria Sala, Valerio Contaldo, and Federico Fiorio. Ottavio Dantone conducts the Accademia Bizantina. Performance Date: July 27, 2024 (Tyrolean {…}

Apr 18, 2024

Teatro Comunale di Ferrara 2024 Review: Orlando Furioso

Photo credit: Marco Caselli Nirmal Vivaldi’s “Orlando Furioso” is a work that represents baroque opera at its most exciting. Set on Alcina’s magical island, where the weird and wonderful are commonplace, it opens up the possibility for colorful and spectacular stagings with shipwrecks, fantastical beasts, monsters and statues that come to life. There are high mountains, wooded groves, steep cliffs {…}

Sep 2, 2023

Innsbruck Early Music Festival 2023 Review: Juditha Triumphans

(Photo: Birgit Gufler) At the final curtain call of the Innsbruck Early Music Festival’s splendid production of Vivaldi’s only surviving oratorio, “Judtha Triumphans,” the loudest acclamation was reserved for its conductor, Alessandro De Marchi. After 13 years as its artistic director, he is stepping down from the position. The genuine warmth the festival audience showed towards De Marchi was clearly {…}

Jul 13, 2023

Gregory Kunde, Carmela Remigio, Ernesto Petti Lead Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni’s 2023-24 Season

Modena’s Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni has announced its 2023-24 season. Opera The season opens with Giordano’s “Fedora” in a new production by Pier Luigi Pizzi. Aldo Sisillo conducts a cast that includes Teresa Romano, Yuliya Tkachenko, Luciano Ganci, and Simone Piazzola. Performance Dates: Oct. 13 & 15, 2023 Verdi’s “Don Carlo” will be performed in four acts in a production by {…}