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 {…}

Mar 3, 2025

Cameron Shahbazi & Mahdieh Mohammadkhani to Perform at UCLA

Farhang Foundation’s Iranian New Year Celebration in Los Angeles will star countertenor Cameron Shahbazi and Mahdieh Mohammadkhani. This concert will feature traditional Iranian classical music with modern, global influences. This concert marks Shahbazi’s Southern California stage debut and Mohammadkhani’s first US appearance in over a decade. Together they are joined by Iranshahr Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated to promoting and preserving {…}

Jan 17, 2025

Cameron Shahbazi Joins Ibermusica Artists

(Credit: Aleksandra Modrzejewska) Cameron Shahbazi has joined Ibermusica Artists for representation in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. He will be represented by Aleix Palau and Èlia Tell. ‘This season he makes his house debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona as Tolomeo in “Giulio Cesare” and his Vancouver Opera debut in Jonathan Dove’s “Flight.” He is also set to perform {…}

Nov 14, 2024

CD Review: George Benjamin & Martin Crimp’s ‘Picture a day like this’

Every six years or so, we’re gifted with an operatic gem from composer George Benjamin and playwright Martin Crimp. Their fourth and latest collaboration, “Picture a day like this,” is a revelation. This live recording, released by Nimbus Records, features the composer conducting the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at the work’s 2023 Aix-en-Provence Festival premiere. While Benajmin and Crimp’s colleagues on {…}

Jul 18, 2023

Festival d’Aix En Provence 2023 Review: Picture a Day Like This

(Photo Credit: Jean-Louis Fernandez) Reviewing a new opera is always a hard task. Beyond the many difficulties of reflecting on an extremely elaborate piece of work, after only one or two hearings, there is also a major difficulty for the critic when addressing unavoidable questions like, “is the new work any good?” This often transforms itself into a more dangerous {…}

May 19, 2023

Carlo Ventre, Hila Fahima & Mario Cassi Lead Israeli Opera’s 2023-24 Season

The Israeli Opera has announced its 2023-24 season. Here are the opera productions. “Hanoch Levin – The Opera” will be conducted by David Sebba and directed by Shirit Lee Weiss. The cast will include Tom Cohen, Anat Czarny, Adi Ezra, Tal Ganor, Noam Heinz, Sivan Keren, Yael Levita, Tamara Navoth, Yair Polishook, and Oded Reich. Performance Dates: Oct. 17-22, 2023 {…}

Feb 10, 2023

Dutch National Opera 2022-23 Review: Giulio Cesare

(Photo: Monika Rittershaus) Elites within society are nothing new. However, over the latter part of the 20th century and the first quarter of the 21st century, we have witnessed the emergence of an increasingly powerful elite who possess significant global interests yet apparently display little attachment to any specific country. It is an elite that is accumulating wealth and income {…}