The Royal Opera House has announced its 2017-18 season, which will feature four World Premieres, seven new productions of established repertory classics and one concert performance. The New Productions The season opens on Sept. 11 with Richard Jones’ new take on Puccini’s “La Bohème.” Michael Fabiano leads the cast on opening night, though such notable artists as Maria Agresta, Benjamin {…}
As is the case with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House popularly shares its work with audiences in cinemas around the world. This season, the company is presenting six operas throughout the season. The cinema showcase kicks off on Sept. 20 with a performance of “Die Zauberflöte” with Julia Jones in the pit and a cast that includes Roderick Williams, {…}
When she was a young girl, mezzo-soprano Annalisa Stroppa would come home from school to a healthy diet of “The Three Tenors” and Mario del Monaco. Her grandparents idolized these artists and quickly impregnated their granddaughter with an unshakeable passion for opera. “That’s when I discovered I had a special voice and from then on, there was no one stopping {…}
On the surface, Christa Ludwig and Teresa Berganza have nothing in common, aside from the fact that they were born on the same day, March 16, and were two of the greatest mezzo-sopranos in history. But their repertoire was wildly different. Ludwig was best known for her native German repertoire while the Spaniard, Berganza, was famous for her work in {…}
Denyce Graves is regarded as one of the great mezzos of the 20th century. For years she dominated the stage in many leading roles and after her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1995, became a household name around the world. Born on March 7, 1964, the mezzo-soprano has built an extensive repertoire throughout her career and she continues to find interesting roles that {…}
izet’sThis review is in reference to the performance on Friday, March 3, 2017. With Bizet’s ever-famous score full of ear tingling music, catchy tunes, and drama-packed scenes, an evening of Carmen is a guaranteed great night at the opera, making this the perfect way for first-timers to first dip their toes into the operatic repertory. The Leads Lyric Opera’s production {…}
Bizet’s “Carmen” is one of the great operas of all time and one of the few to really have a massive impact on popular culture. The opera, which premiered back on March 3, 1875, was a failure upon premiering with Bizet never actually getting a chance to experience the success of his masterwork. Since then the opera, which was adapted {…}
Lionel Bringuier has pulled out of Bizet’s “Carmen” at the Opera National de Paris. According to Forum Opera, the conductor pulled out for personal reasons leaving the Opera National de Paris in a mad scramble to find a replacement. As it turns out, audiences will now get three different musical interpretations to look forward to. Bertrand de Billy will conduct on {…}
With February drawing to a close, Opera Philadelphia announced its 2017-18 season. The company is slated to open the new season with a 12-day festival that will showcase opera across six venues for a total of 25 performances. This festival, called O17, will take place between Sept. 14-25. The festival opens with the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ “Elizabeth Cree” {…}
Prepare yourself for two high profile premieres this weekend on opposite sides of the country. On Saturday, the Los Angeles Opera lifts the curtain on “Salome” starring Patricia Racette in the role that she dominated at the Metropolitan Opera. Regarding her performance OperaWire wrote, “she dominated the stage in one of her greatest achievements on the Met stage.” Another major {…}
Roberto Aronica will sing the final performance of Bizet’s “Carmen” on Feb. 18. He will replace Marcelo Álvarez, who is ill. Aronica stepped in for the previous Feb 7, 11 and 15 performances after Rafael Davila filled in for two performances including the opening night. Álvarez sang three performances of the run but opted out of finishing it. Aronica made his Met debut as Alfredo in {…}