(Photo: Johannes Ritter) Although the Erlöserkirche had initiated necessary building cooling measures the night before, the venue was undeniably still a sauna edition of a Händel experience. However, Ensemble 1700 and a robust lineup of soloists, paired with Nils Niemann’s concise and highly efficient stage and prop design, forged this thunderstorm-ridden night’s “Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno” into {…}
The Wiener Staatsoper has announced its 2026-27 season. Premiere Zemlinsky’s “Eine Florentinische Tragödie” and Bartok’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” will be performed in a new production with Dmitry Golovnin, Christopher Maltman, Florian Boesch, and Asmik Grigorian. Alain Altinoglu conducts the new production by Vasily Barkhatov. Performance Dates: Oct. 3-12, 2026 Barrie Kosky directs a new production of Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” with {…}
Welcome back as we explore the latest CD and DVD releases from around the opera world. This week two prominent artists releases new album. There are also several choral works releases. Invocation Erato releases French-Danish soprano Elsa Dreisig’s new album which features 17 arias and songs by 14 composers, sung in six languages, and recorded with Massimo Zanetti and the {…}
(Photo credit: Kirschbaum) Klangvokal Music Festival Dortmund announces its 2026 season. The season opens with Jean-Philippe Rameau’s “Les Boréades.” Reinoud Van Mechelen, Gwendoline Blondeel, Lisandro Abadie, Tomáš Král, Robert Getchell, Philippe Estèphe, and Lore Binon make up the cast. The Belgian period ensemble a nocte temporis acommpanies. Performance Date: May 22, 2026 Tenor Pene Pati presents the concert, “Neapolitan Canzoni” {…}
The lineup for the 2026 Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival is announced. This article only features vocal concerts. Ensemble Correspondances presents “Apollo, God of Light” with direction from Sébastien Daucé. The concert features opera scenes from Cavallis’ “Ercole amante,” Campras’ “L’Europe galante,” and Rameaus’ “Anacréon” Performance Date: June 6, 2026 The documentary on the Baroque opera production “Pastorelle en musique” from {…}
(Photo: Michele Crosera) Venice’s Teatro La Fenice opened its 2025-26 season with a new production of “La Clemenza di Tito,” widely considered to be the least popular of Mozart’s mature operas. Its premiere in 1791 at the Estates Theatre in Prague received a lukewarm reception, with the Empress herself complaining that “nearly all of us fell asleep.” Albert Einstein’s assessment {…}
(Credit: Michele Crosera) The Teatro La Fenice is set to open its 2025-26 season with a production of Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito” on Nov. 20, 2025. The new production will be directed by Paul Curran and conducted by Ivor Bolton. The all-star cast will be led by Daniel Behle, who sings the role of Tito Vespasiano. He will be {…}
(Photo: © OMC Marco Borrelli) On November 2nd the Opéra de Monte Carlo opened its 2025–26 season with a single, semi-staged performance of Wagner’s “Der Fliegende Holländer” starring Bryn Terfel in the title role. One of Cecilia Bartoli’s distinctive innovations as Artistic Director has been to introduce more of these productions mises en espace—performances that are acted onstage without full {…}
The Staatsoper Stuttgart has announced its 2025-26 season. Premieres Sebastian Schwab conducts “I Did it My Way” by Nina Simone and Frank Sinatra. Ivo van Hove directs a cast that includes Lars Eidinger and Larissa Sirah Herden. Performance Dates: Sept. 26-28, 2025 Janáček’s “The Cunning Little Vixen” will get a new production by Stephan Kimmig. Ariane Matiakh conducts a cast {…}
The Teatro La Fenice has announced its 2025-26 season. Opera The season opens with Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito” with Ivor Bolton conducting a new production by Paul Curran. The cast includes Daniel Behle, Cecilia Molinari, Nicolò Balducci, and Francesca Aspromonte. Performance Dates: Nov. 20-30, 2025 Luca Micheletti directs Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” with Renato Palumbo conducting. Luca Salsi, Francesco Meli, {…}
The Dutch National Opera is set to present Mozart’s “Idomeneo.” The company will present a production by choreographer and director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, who has choreographed for pop stars such as Beyoncé (at her 2017 Grammy Award performance) and Madonna (on her #CelebrationTour). The production will feature dancers from his own company Eastman and sets by the Japanese artist Chiharu {…}
