OperaWire met up with English soprano Charlotte Bowden between performances of Monteverdi’s “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria” and a double Purcell bill of “Hail! Bright St. Cecilia” and “Dido and Aeneas” at the Ravenna festival, in which she was essaying the roles of Melanto, a solo soprano and Belinda, respectively. Although she only recently graduated from the Royal College {…}
(Photo: Zani-Casadio) Following on from the previous day’s performance of Monteverdi’s “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria,” Ravenna’s Teatro Alighieri continued with a production of Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” coupled with “Hail, Bright Cecelia,” presented by the same cast under the musical direction of Ottavio Dantone. The fact that Pier Luigi Pizzi, who had been responsible for the lackluster staging {…}
(Photo: Zani-Casadio) In his program notes, the director, Pier Luigi Pizzi, writing about “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria,” stated that “the opera speaks for itself,” adding, “we must not induce or force its interpretation… It is up to the audience to confront it, to think about it, and to decide for themselves whether or not it is worthwhile.” Even {…}
The Ravenna Festival has announced its autumn festival, which will run from Nov. 15 to 19, 2024, and be performed at the Teatro Aligheri. The festival will journey back in time to the roots of bel canto and the origins of opera, through the sounds and atmospheres of 17th-century Baroque music. Monteverdi’s “Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria” will be {…}
© Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith Trigger warning: Mozart aficionados, look away now. One might think Wolfgang Amadeus to be somewhat overrated, and the fact that he was hugely prolific, widely acknowledged to be a prodigy and is almost globally asserted to have been a genius, does little by way of endearing his music to my ear. I {…}
Glyndebourne has unveiled its fall 2023 slate. Here is a rundown of the opera and vocal performances. First up is “L’Elisir d’amore.” The opera wills tar Mariam Battistelli, Filipe Manu, Theodore Platt, and Tiziano Bracci. Adam Hickox conducts the production, which will be directed by Annabel Arden. Performance Dates: Nov. 11 – Dec. 1, 2023 Also on the slate is “Don {…}
© Die Fotografen French mezzo-soprano Mathilde Ortscheidt has been named the winner of Innsbruck Festival of Early Music’s 14th Cesti Competition. Ortscheidt wowed the jury with arias “Dille, che nel mio seno serbo” from “Arianna in Creta” by Georg Friedrich Handel and “Ferri, ceppi, sangue, morte” from the opera “L’incoronazione di Dario” by Antonio Vivaldi. British soprano Charlotte Bowden came {…}
(Credit: Chris Christodoulou) OperaVision has announced its streams for the month of January. Polly Graham’s production of Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” from the Royal College of Music kicks off the streaming slate. The opera features Jamie Woollard as Sarastro, Michael Bell as Tamino, Charlotte Bowden as Pamina, and Clara Barbier as Die Königin der Nacht. The cast also includes Dafydd Allen, {…}
