Carmen Giannattasio & Markus Werba Lead Teatro Massimo’s 2021 Season Opening

(Credits: Cory Weaver / Francesco Luciani) Teatro Massimo di Palermo will be live streaming the opening of its 2021 season with the performance of the complex, site-specific opera “Il Crepuscolo dei Sogni.” The opera includes music from Claudio Monteverdi, Henry Purcell, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Gioachino Rossini, Franz Schubert, Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, Modest Mussorgsky, Arrigo Boito, Richard Strauss, {…}

Dec 23, 2020

Pablo Heras-Casado Conducts Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in Tokyo

(Credit: Fernando Sancho) Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado will conduct the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo for the performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 on Dec. 23, 25 & 26, 2020. The famed “Choral” symphony will showcase soprano Eri Takahashi, mezzo-soprano Etsuko Kanoh, tenor Naoki Miyasato, and baritone Shin Taniguchi. The presentation will also feature New National Theatre Chorus. Heras-Casado recently {…}

Oct 24, 2020

Royal Concertgebouw Appoints Iván Fischer New Honorary Conductor

(Credit: Marco Borggreve) The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam has announced the appointment of Hungarian conductor Iván Fischer as its new Honorary Conductor. Fischer is the third Honorary Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, following Bernard Haitink and Riccardo Chailly and his tenure will begin in the 2021-22 season. The Maestro recently conducted Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” at Grand Théâtre de Genève, Verdi’s {…}

Oct 5, 2020

Siobhan Stagg, Michael Spyres & Julie Fuchs Lead Opéra Comique 2021 Season

(Credits: Todd Rosenberg / © Marco Borrelli / OnP / Sarah Bousasse) L’Opéra Comique in Paris has announced its 2021 season. Here is the full slate. Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville’s “Titon et l’Aurore” will feature Reinoud Van Mechelen, Gwendoline Blondeel, Julie Roset, Emmanuelle de Negri, Marc Mauillon, and Renato Dolcini. William Christie will conduct the production by Basil Twist. The performances {…}

Sep 22, 2020

Obituary: Italian Bass Daniele Carnovich Dies at 63

(Credit: La Compagnia del Madrigale official website) Italian bass Daniele Carnovich has died at the age of 63. Carnovich graduated from the Conservatorio C. Pollini di Padova. He initially obtained a degree in the modern transverse flute, and then became fully devoted to the vocal studies. He subsequently specialized in the baroque repertoire. The bass had begun his concert activity {…}

Sep 14, 2020

Metropolitan Opera Stars Live in Concert Review: Joyce DiDonato in Bochum, Germany

(Credit: Chris Singer) Only seven days before the COVID-19 pandemic fell on our heads, American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato was in New York portraying the role of Agrippina at the Metropolitan Opera House. Taking on the role of the cunning queen, DiDonato already had been in the eye of the storm. At that moment very few people really understood well what {…}

Sep 7, 2020

Kim-Lillian Strebel, Andreas Jäpel, Dirk Kleinke, Nils Stäfe Lead Staatstheater Cottbus 2020-21 Season

(Credits: Cross/Staatstheater Cottbus official website / Hupfeld/Staatstheater Cottbus official website) The Staatstheater Cottbus has announced its incoming 2020-21 season, featuring several new operatic productions and orchestral works. Here is the look. Premieres – Musiktheater Cottbus The Musiktheater Cottbus will present several new productions. The cast has been announced for the first production of the season, with other casts set to {…}

Sep 6, 2020

Bojana Dimković, Radoslava Vorgić & Predrag Gosta Lead Belgrade Early Music Festival 2020 Edition

(Credits: Bojana Dimković official website / Aaron Cawley / Pia Rabea Vornholt) The Early Music Festival will take place from Sept. 17 – Sep. 29., 2020, in Belgrade, Serbia. The festival was originally scheduled in May 2020, but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is the full rundown. “Italian Extravaganza” will kick off the festival with {…}

Sep 1, 2020

Obituary: Italian Conductor and Countertenor Claudio Cavina dies at 58

(Credit: www.glossamusic.com) Italian conductor and countertenor Claudio Cavina has died at the age of 58. In 2016 Cavina suffered a stroke and had struggled with his health ever since. Cavina was one of the most important Italian countertenors of his generation. He began his vocal studies in Bologna, and continued his training at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He performed globally {…}

Nov 26, 2019

Seattle Symphony 2019 Review: Orfeo ed Euridice

Early music enthusiasts in Seattle showed up in full force for a single concert performance of a Baroque pastiche of the Orpheus story featuring world-class early music specialists. How could they resist the intriguing concept and such a stellar line up? Philippe Jaroussky is a major international star (a “rockstar countertenor” as the Seattle Symphony marketing department awkwardly posits) {…}

May 15, 2017

Remembering Monteverdi’s 7 Lost Operas As He Turns 450

Claudio Monteverdi, baptized on May 15, 1567 (he’s now 450), is known as the father of opera, his “L’Orfeo” widely recognized as the very first opera in existence. To this day, we know of two other complete works, “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” and “Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria,” which are both parts of the canon. But this was not his only {…}

claudio monteverdi