The Fondazione I Teatri Reggio Emilia has announced its 2019-20 season. Francesca Dotto takes on the title role in Donizetti’s “Lucrezia Borgia” in a production by Andrea Bernard from the Donizetti Opera Festival. The cast will also include Marko Mimica, Francesco Castoro, and Varduhi Abrahamyan. Carla Delfrate conducts the production. Performance Dates: Dec. 6 & 8, 2019 The second production of the {…}
This week’s CD releases are full of some rather exciting offerings. On one hand, you get a chance to check out a Donizetti opera that seems to be getting some noteworthy re-evaluation from a number of festivals around the world, while the other major offering centers on a work by a modern master. Finally, a unique soprano will present music {…}
For a big chunk of the world, this weekend is all about the “Avengers: Endgame.” But that doesn’t mean there won’t be time to head over to the opera house. So here’s the five operas we highly recommend for opera lovers still planning on having their weekend dose of their favorite artform. Ariadne Auf Naxos – Teatro alla Scala, Italy {…}
The Donizetti Festival has announced its 2019 lineup featuring three operas with star-studded casts. Roberto De Candia headlines a new project of Donizetti’s “Pietro il Grande” with Loriana Castellano, Paola Gardina, Francisco Brito, and Marco Filippo Romano. Rinaldo Alessandrini conducts Ondadurto Teatro – Marco Paciotti e Lorenzo Pasquali’s new production. Performance Dates: Nov. 15-Dec. 1, 2019 Jean-Luc Tingaud conducts the first-ever production of {…}
This week, baroque dominates the forthcoming releases. One of the new albums showcases the latest solo effort by one of today’s leading countertenors, while the other showcases a recent production from an Italian festival. Cavalli: Ombra mai fù Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky releases a new album made up of vocal and instrumental highlights from more than a dozen of Francesco Cavalli’s {…}
This week there are a number of new productions as well as classic works being performed. There is also one opera that is being showcased in two different theaters with two all-star casts; it is for this reason that we simply could not overlook it. Check out our recommendations in alphabetical order by company. Karl V – Bayerische Staatsoper, Germany {…}
Th Rossini Opera Festival has announced the complete lineup of the upcoming 2019 editions, The festival will include three opera productions and a number of operatic concerts featuring some of the greatest Rossini singers. Main Stage The festival opens with a new production of “Semiramide” by Graham Vick. Michele Mariotti conducts the production, which stars Salome Jicia in the title {…}
Jessica Pratt has announced the release of a recording of Donizetti’s “Il Castello di Kenilworth.” The soprano announced via Facebook that the recent production at the Donizetti Opera Festival was slated to be released on DVD/Blu-ray and CD in the Spring of 2019. The production, which was the centerpiece of the festival, starred Jessica Pratt and Carmela Remigio and was {…}
Donizetti certainly had an intimate relationship with England’s Queen Elizabeth I, and with the Tudors in general, who provided him with a rich source of characters and themes for his operas. Three works have substantial roles for Elizabeth, herself; “Maria Stuarda” and “Roberto Devereux” are well-known and receive regular performances, whereas the third, “Il Castello di Kenilworth,” rarely receives a {…}
This weekend, it’s all about new productions. From South America to Europe, three of Verdi’s greatest opera are getting new productions. Meanwhile, Saint-Saëns’ masterpiece is getting a rare performance while the Festival Donizetti is in full swing. Check it out. La Traviata – Teatro Municipal Enrique Buenaventura, Colombia Federico Figueroa directs a new production of “La Traviata” in Cali starring Gabriela {…}
Known as “Madame Mozart” and a passionate Bel Canto singer, Carmela Remigio has forged her career as one of the leading Italian sopranos of her generation. Not only has she sung a number of Mozart roles, but she has also taken on the challenges in the works of Verdi, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky. As a Bel Canto singer, she is {…}