This year’s Monteverdi Festival showcased a special performance in the heart of Mantua, Italy, in the 18th-century Teatro Bibiena di Mantova (Scientific Theater of Mantua), where a (nearly) 14-year-old Mozart gave his first Italian concert (alongside his father). The theater’s bell-shaped layout and ornate tiers of wooden boxes with painted frescos were designed by Antonio Galli da Bibiena to host {…}
The Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia have announced its 2026-27 season. Here are the vocal performances. Concerts Daniel Harding conducts Vincent Huguet’s production of Wagner’s “Siegfried” with Clay Hilley, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, Michael Volle, Wolfgang Koch, Falk Struckmann, Anna Kissjudit, Elisabet Strid, and Lysa Menu. Performance Dates: Oct. 21-27, 2026 Alexander Soddy conducts Elsa Benoit in a program of music by Dukas, {…}
(Credit: Fabrice Demessence) The Monteverdi Festival announces its 2026 programming. This article only features vocal concerts. Cecilia Bartoli opens the Festival in a gala concert with Les Musiciens du Prince conducted by Gianluca Capuano. Performance Date: May 28, 2026 The Monteverdi Festival opens with “Vespers Of The Blessed Virgin” under the baton of Leonardo García-Alarcón. Performance Date: June 7, 2026 {…}
On Dec. 18, the Accademia Filarmonica Romana will present its Christmas concert at the Teatro Argentina. The ensemble Concerto Romano will be conducted by Alessandro Quarta will perform music by Antonio Vivaldi, Arcangelo Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti, Francesco Manfredini. The sacred songs and cantatas will feature soloist soprano Carlotta Colombo. The evening will open with “Il concerto per il Santissimo Natale” {…}
(Credit: ©Clarissa Lapolla) On Dec. 4, the Teatro Golden di Livorno, Italy is set to present Vivaldi’s “La costanza trionfante, RV 706-A.” The new rediscovered work by the Italian composer will be performed by Carlotta Colombo, Cecilia Molinari, and Valentino Buzza. They will be accompanied by Modo Antiquo under the direction of Federico Maria Sardelli. The work will be part of {…}
(Photo credit: Roberto Catani) Teatro Pergolesi announces its 2025 season. This article only features operatic performances. The season opens with Paul-Émile Fourny’s new production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” Christian Federici, Maria Mudryak, Louise Guenter, Valerio Borgioni, Stefano Marchisio, Gianluca Failla, Eleonora Boaretto, and Luca Dall’Amico make up the cast. They are joined by the Ventidio Basso Choir from Ascoli Piceno. {…}
(Photo: Noah Shaye) On June 28, 2025, Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci presented a rare revival of Baldassare Galuppi’s opera “Didone abbandonata” — the 1752 Madrid version. Commissioned by the legendary castrato Farinelli to honor King Ferdinand VI of Spain, this adaptation brought together three giants of the 18th century opera: Farinelli himself, librettist Pietro Metastasio, and composer Galuppi. More concise and {…}
(Photo: Alciro Theodoro Da Silva) This year’s International Händel Festival in Göttingen got under way with a splendid concert performance of the composer’s 1748 oratorio “Solomon,” to a libretto based on accounts from the Old Testament Books of Kings, Chronicles and Song of Solomon with additional material from Josephus, although the name of the librettist is unknown. Unlike a number {…}
Details of the 2025 Innsbruck Festival of Early Music have been made public. For the purposes of this article only vocal performances are featured. Concerts First Prize winner of the 2020 Cesti International Singing Competition Margherita Maria Sala performs works by Galuppi, Marcello, Vivaldi, Ristori, and Handel. Sala is accompanied by the Ensemble Locatelli led by Thomas Chigioni. Performance Date: {…}
(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 {…}