(Photo Credit: Bernd Uhlig) After a disappointing “Die Walküre” and a terrible “Siegfried,” my hopes for a stimulating ending of Stefan Herheim’s production of Deutsche Oper Berlin’s “Ring” were near non-existent. Fortunately, life is full of surprises; what started as a provocative, irreverent take on Wagner’s tetralogy in a first-rate staging of “Das Rheingold” and deteriorated into tedious attempts at {…}
Theater Dortmund has announced its 2026-27 season. Premieres Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay’s “Rebecca” will star Antonia Kalinowski, Mark Seibert, Jan Ammann, Bettina Mönch, David Jakobs, Andreas Schneider, Amani Robinson, Alexandra Farkic, Max Lochmüller, Markus Schneider, Andreas Schneider, and Martin Planz. Carlos Vázquez conducts Gil Mehmert’s production. Performance Dates: Sept. 19, 2026-April 10, 2027 Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi” will be performed in {…}
The Festival Internacional de Santander has announced its 2026 season. Here are the vocal performances. Palacio de Festival David Afkham conducts Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” with Rolando Villazón directing. Javier Camarena, Theodore Platt, Emily Pogorelc, Kathryn Lewek, and Franz-Josef Selig. Performance Dates: August 3 & 5, 2026 Anaïs Bertrand, Paco García, Marcial Pauliat, and Igor Bouin star in “Carnaval Barroco: {…}
Oper Leipzig has announced its 2026-27 season. Opera Premiere Ivan Repušić and Yura Yang conduct a new production of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” directed by Vasily Barkhatov. The cast will be led by Franz Xaver Schlecht and Mathias Hausmann with Kathrin Göring, Olena Tokar, Maya Gour, Gabrielė Kupšytė, Peter Dolinšek, and Yorck Felix Speer. Performance Dates: Oct. 10, 2026-Feb. 7, 2027 Mozart’s {…}
The Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile has announced its 2026 season. Opera Puccini’s “La bohème“ will star Yaritza Véliz, Angelina Akhmedova, Michael McDermott, Kameron Lopreore, Camila Romero, Pilar Garrido, Germán Alcántara, Yeongtaek Yang, Javier Weibel, Sergio Gallardo, Matías Moncada, Francisco Salgado, Pedro Alarcón, and Cristián Lorca. Paolo Bortolameolli conducts the production by Cristina Gallardo-Domâs. Performance Dates: May 7-18, 2026 Giordano’s {…}
The Bayreuth Festival has unveiled its 2025 season. The season opens with “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” starring Michael Spyres, Georg Zeppenfeld, Christina Nilsson, Christa Mayer, and Matthias Stier. Daniele Gatti conducts and Matthias Davids directs. Performance Dates: July 25 – August 22, 2025 Valentin Schwarz’s “Das Rheingold” will be conducted by Simone Young and features Tomas Konieczny, Olafur Sigurdarson, Daniele Behle, {…}
The Greek National Opera has announced its 2024-25 season. Corinne Winters, Véronique Gens, Tassis Christoyanniszu, Alexandre Duhamel, Dionysios Sourbis, and Stanislas de Barbeyrac star in Gluck’s “Iphigénie en Aulide” & “Iphigénie en Tauride” double bill. Michael Hofstetter conducts the new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. Performance Dates: Oct. 10-30, 2024 Rachmanioff’s “Aleko” and Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” will be presented in a double {…}
The Deustche Oper Berlin has announced its 2024-25 season. Premieres Respighi’s “La Fiamma” will be directed by Christof Loy and conducted by Carlo Rizzi. The cast will include Aušrine Stundyte, Georgy Vasiliev, Vladislav Sulimsky, Martina Serafin, Sua Jo, Cristina Toledo, Martina Baroni, Karis Tucker, Caren Van Oijen, Doris Soffel, and Patrick Guetti. Performance Dates: Sept. 29-Oct. 18, 2024 Enrique Mazzola {…}
(Credit: Uwe Arens) The Gran Teatre del Liceu has announced a cast change for its Dec. 13, 2023 performance of “Turandot.” The company said, “In today’s performance of ‘Turandot‘, the titular role will be played by Catherine Foster, substituting for Ekaterina Semenchuk, who is still indisposed. This will mark the second performance for Foster in the production after jumping in {…}
(Photo: © Enrico Nawrath) As the final cycle of Bayreuth’s 2023 “Ring des Nibelungen” came to a close, the air remained electric with the sounds of Wagner’s apocalyptic horns and the swirling raptures of the Rhine. Camps came away divided into those either outraged or captivated by director Valentin Schwarz‘s reinvention of the Walsung’s messy journey into oblivion. To be {…}
The Bayreuth Festival has announced its 2024 season. The festival will open with Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” starring Andreas Schager, Günther Groissböck, Camilla Nylund, Olafur Sigurdarson, Birger Radde, and Ekaterina Gubanova. Semyon Bychkov conducts the production by Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson. Performance Dates: July 25-August 26 2024 Günther Groissböck, Klaus Florian Vogt, Markus Eiche, Olafur Sigurdarson, Jens-Erik Aasbø, and Elisabeth Teige {…}