The up-and-coming British soprano Jane Burnell recently made her role debut as Countess Cortese in “Il Viaggio di Reims” at the Wexford Festival Opera. OperaWire was lucky to meet up with her for a quick interview to get to know more about her. OperaWire: What was the first opera you went to see? Jane Burrell: I was about 11 years {…}
Buxton International Festival has announced its 2026 opera season. First up is “La Traviata,” as the company seeks to complete its Verdi cycle. The production is created in collaboration with Norwich Theatre and is directed by James Hurley. Adrian Kelly conducts the Buxton International Festival Orchestra. Alexandra Nowakowski stars alongside André Heyboer. Performance Dates: July 11- 25, 2026 Next is {…}
A new organization representing the UK’s opera sector, the UK Opera Association (UKOA), has officially launched, uniting 20 founding companies to advocate for opera’s future and strengthen its presence across the country. UKOA, which was founded by Birmingham Opera Company, British Youth Opera, Buxton International Festival, English National Opera, English Touring Opera, Garsington Opera, The Grange Festival, Glyndebourne, Longborough Festival {…}
(Photo: Genevieve Girling) The main opera presentation at this summer’s Buxton International Festival was Ambroise Thomas’ 1868 composition, “Hamlet,” to a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier. Although initially successful, it eventually faded from the international stage as the popularity of French grand opera declined; its last Parisian performance took place in 1938. In 1978, however, a staging in {…}
(Photo: Genevieve Girling) In 1786, Mozart broke off from composing “La Nozze di Figaro” to pen a short ‘comedy with music,’ called “Der Schauspieldirektor,” for Emperor Joseph II at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Consisting of a mere five musical numbers connected by a copious amount of spoken text that pokes fun at the behavior of singers and the theatrical {…}
(Photo:Genevieve Girling) There really does need to be a connection between the operas chosen by a company if it decides to stage a double bill. Two randomly chosen pieces with little to tie the works together, or worse, drawing attention to certain common superficialities and presenting them as an artistically founded pairing, is not simply lazy programming but is also {…}
(Photo: Genevieve Girling) Buxton International Festival’s staging of four new one-act operas as one of its headline events, under the title “Opera Shorts,” was certainly a welcome, if a somewhat risky decision; contemporary opera can be difficult to sell, and artistic success is far from assured. However, for those who were willing to give it a chance, few can have {…}
(Photo credit: Hugo Glendinning) The Buxton International Festival has unveiled its 2025 season. This article features opera and choral events only. A full cast list will be announced at a later date. Ambroise Thomas’ “Hamlet” stars Gregory Feldmann in the title role. He is joined by Alastair Miles, Yewon Han, Richard Woodall, and Allison Cook, among others. Jack Furness directs {…}
The 2025 Buxton International Festival has announced “Shorts,” a collection of four new opera commissions. “Shorts” consists of four 20-minutes opera composed by Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, Jasper Dommett, Martin Green, Carmel Smickersgill and Yshani Perinpanayagam, with librettos by Zodwa Nyoni, Josh Overton and Jessica Walker. Directors include Marcus Desando and Rebecca Meltzer, with designer Elliott Squire and repetiteur Paul McKenzie. “Shorts” {…}
(Photo: Genevieve Girling) Born into an upper middle-class family in 1858, Ethyl Smyth went on to fashion a successful career as a composer, which was certainly no easy feat given the many obstacles facing women wishing to pursue almost any career in Victorian England; even her own father opposed her choice. Yet, she was able to push through the many {…}
(Photo: Genevieve Girling) Written in 1707 while living in Italy, Händel’s first oratorio, “Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno,” was a work that he would return to again and again over his career. Not only did he mine it for arias he could use in his operas, but he also created two further versions of the piece. In 1737, {…}
