Sara Jakubiak, Audun Iversen, Alasdair Kent, Matteo Lippi, Nardus Williams & Aigul Akhmetshina Lead Norwegian Opera’s 2025-26 Season

The Norwegian Opera has announced its 2025-26 season. Opera Puccini’s “Tosca” will be revived. Performance Dates: August 23-Sept. 4, 2025 Sara Jakubiak headlines Dvořák’s “Rusalka” alongside Dmytro Popov, Birgitte Christensen, Jerzy Butryn, Jennifer Johnston, and Magnus Ingemund Kjelstad. Edward Gardner conducts the production by Tatjana Gürbaca. Performance Dates: August 24-Oct. 9, 2025 Sir Wayne McGregor’s “Jocasta’s Line” will be performed. Performance {…}

Apr 30, 2025

Tiroler Festspiele Erl 2024-25 Review: Parsifal

The Tiroler Festspiel Erl Easter “Parsifal” was not, as some might have thought, Jonas Kaufmann’s “swan song,” either as Artistic Director or as Parsifal. Instead, the new production directed by Philipp M. Krenn, was replete with new directions, foci, trials and errors. A single lane swimming pool; a series of videos built around the landscape that housed the theater; a {…}

Oct 2, 2024

Wiener Staatsoper Announces First Livestreams of the Season

The Wiener Staatsoper has announced a slate of Livestreams for October through December. The first stream of the season will be “Fin de Partie” by György Kurtág. Simone Young conducts the cast which includes Georg Nigl, Charles Workman, Hilary Summers, and Philippe Sly. Livestream Date: Oct. 19, 2024 The second stream of the season will be Britten’s “Billy Budd” starring {…}

May 7, 2024

Renée Fleming, Erin Morley, Jakub Józef Orliński, Joyce DiDonato, & Julie Roset 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 will experience numerous debut albums, a few complete operas, and some special choral works. Here is a look at the new releases. Orfeo ed Euridice Erato releases Jakub Józef Orliński’s interpretation of Gluck’s masterpiece. Recorded in Orliński’s native city, Warsaw, {…}

Apr 26, 2024

Jonas Kaufmann, Lise Davidsen, Pretty Yende, Ludovic Tézier & Luca Salsi Lead Tiroler Festspiele Erl’s 2024-25 Season

The Tiroler Festspiele Erl has announced its 2024-25 season. Fall Nikola Hillebrand performs alongside Simply Quartet and Musicbanda Franui. Performance Date: Oct. 4, 2024 Winter J. S. Bach’s “Das Weihnachtsoratorium” will be conducted by Vinzenz Praxmarer and will star Anna El-Kashem, Stefanie Irányi, Martin Mitterrutzner, and Wilhelm Schwinghammer. Performance Date: Dec. 8, 2024 Asher Fisch conducts a new production of Puccini’s “La {…}

Mar 13, 2024

Soraya Mafi, Daisy Brown, Robert Hayward & Roland Wood Lead Opera North’s 2024-25 Season

Opera North has announced its 2024-25 season. The season opens with Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” with Claire Lees, Soraya Mafi, Egor Zhuravskii, Trystan Llŷr Griffiths, Anna Dennis, Msimelelo Mbali, Justin Hopkins, Emyr Wyn Jones, Pasquale Orchard, Colin Judson, and Andri Björn Róbertsson. Christoph Koncz, Patrick Lange, and Emilia Hoving share the podium and James Brining directs. Performance Dates: Sept. 27, {…}

Dec 13, 2023

Metropolitan Opera 2023-24 Review: The Magic Flute

Photo: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera This year’s season opener of the Met’s “The Magic Flute,” on December 8th, 2023, was another high-energy holiday extravaganza. The family-friendly annual production by Julie Taymor was a familiar favorite to many; its rich fantasy world of magical symbolism dazzled and delivered. However, what set the bar for this year’s production apart from others, {…}

Oct 3, 2023

Omer Meir Wellber Lead Teatro dell’Opera di Roma’s ‘Die Walküre’

(credit: Luca Pezzani) On Oct. 6, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma is set to present the first act of Wagner’s “Die Walküre” in concert form. The concert will mark the debut of Omer Meir Wellber with the company. The concert will be broadcast on Radio3 Rai. The concert will feature Stanislas de Barbeyrac who makes his role debut as Siegmund, {…}

May 30, 2023

Royal Opera House 2022-23 Review: Wozzeck

Photo: Tristram Kenton Expectations were high for Deborah Warner’s new production of Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck” at the Royal Opera House. Warner’s acclaimed treatment of “Peter Grimes” saw her in similar territory—indeed, the debt owed to Berg’s score by Britten is considerable—in a pair of twentieth-century operas about alienated outsiders, disturbed by the very society that despises them. Both pieces are {…}

May 24, 2023

Bryan Register, Anush Hovhannisyan & Emily D’Angelo Lead Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España’s 2023-24 Season

The Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España has announced its 2023-24 season. Here are the vocal performances. David Afkham opens the season with Rachmaninoff and Elgar. Soloists include Frank Peter Zimmermann, Anush Hovhannisyan, Pavel Petrov, and Anatoli Sivko. Performance Dates: Sept. 22-24, 2023 Juanjo Mena conducts Brindley Sherratt in a program of music by Mussorgsky, Inés Badalo, and Tchaikovsky. Performance {…}

Mar 10, 2023

Brindley Sherratt Weighs in on BBC Singers Getting the Axe

Photo: Gerard Collett In a heartfelt article published by The Guardian, renowned bass Brindley Sherratt expressed his disappointment over the BBC’s decision to dismantle the BBC Singers. Sherratt, who spent 13 years with the group, described his experience as nothing short of exceptional and praised the supreme level of musicianship he encountered while singing with the ensemble. “The audition was {…}