(Credits: © Aymeric Giraudel / Fabien Monthubert / © Simon Fowler) Opéra de Rouen Normandie, France has announced its 2021-22 season. For the purpose of this article, we will only focus on the operatic and vocal performances. Here is the full slate. Opera and Musicals Verdi‘s “Il Trovatore” opens the season with Lionel Lhote as Count di Luna, Brigitta Kele {…}
It is an under-appreciated coincidence that Janacek’s searing opera of bourgeois repressiveness and psychological collapse appears in the same year as fellow Moravian Sigmund Freud’s “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” and his study of “Mass Psychology” (they were, in fact, born mere miles apart). “Kat’a Kabanova” is a psychic drama of shame and self-hatred. As in Freud’s work, Janacek creates a {…}
The Washington National Opera has announced its 2021–2022 season featuring four world premiere commissions celebrating the Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary and several debuts from acclaimed and rising opera stars. The season opens with “Come Home: A Celebration of Return,” a concert performance of opera excerpts highlighting liberty and artistic idealism, themes embraced by John F. Kennedy and featuring a musical tribute {…}
(Credits: Rebecca Fay / Tomasz Konieczny official website / Suzanne Vinnik / Staatsoper unter der Linden official website) The Staatsoper Stuttgart has announced its redesigned 2020-21 season, running from Feb. 21, 2021, until July 21, 2021. Here is the full slate. Operas Maurice Ravel’s “Verzauberte Welt” will feature Schorsch Kamerun, Diana Haller, Alexandra Urquiola, Maria Theresa Ullrich, Carina Schmieger, Claudia {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced the HD schedule for its 2021-22 season, which will feature 10 performances. Here is a full breakdown. Oct. 9, 2021 – Boris Godunov René Pape headlines a cast that includes Alexey Markov, Stanislav Trofimov, David Butt Philip, Ain Anger, and Maxim Paster. Sebastian Weigle conducts. The opera will be presented in its original 1869 version. {…}
We are deep into the summer, but opera has not stopped. We are getting live performances throughout Europe and still getting full slates of online opera offerings. So for this week’s recommendations, we are looking at a wide range of options, including a few classic works, a recital from two major opera stars, and a lot of new operas. As {…}
Glyndebourne has announced the latest operas that it will be streaming as part of its Open House program. First up will be David McVicar’s production of “Giulio Cesare” starring Danielle de Niese as Cleopatra and Sarah Connolly as Cesare. Other cast members include Alexander Ashworth, Patricia Bardon, Angelika Kirchschlager, Rachid Ben Abdeslam, Christophe Dumaux, and Christopher Maltman. William Christie conducts. Streaming {…}
The Royal Opera House continues its #OurHouseToYourHouse program with a screening of ZooNation’s family-friendly “The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party” on Friday, July 31 at 7:00 p.m. BST. ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company, a British hip-hop influenced dance company, reimagines Lewis Carroll’s classic tale with a 21st-century twist, zeroing in on perceptions of mental illness and the concept of “normality.” ZooNation {…}
The English National Opera has announced its drive-in production of Puccini’s “La Bohème.” The 90-minute version of Puccini’s beloved opera will be led by Natalya Romaniw and Sinéad Campbell-Wallace sharing the role of Mimì and David Butt-Philip and David Junghoon Kim as Rodolfo. The cast will also include Soraya Mafi, Nardus Williams, Matthew Durkan, William Thomas, Jonathan Lemalu, and Benson Wilson. The {…}
The Teatro Real de Madrid has announced the 2020-21 season featuring premieres, new productions and some of the greatest stars in the world. Opera Nicola Luisotti and Lorenzo Passerini conduct a production of Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera“ directed by Gianmaria Aliverta. The production stars Michael Fabiano and Ramón Vargas as Riccardo, Anna Pirozzi and Tatiana Serjan as Amelia, Artur {…}
This week two complete opera DVDs will be released as well as a single, which will donate all funds to an artist relief fund. Der Zwerg Naxos releases a production from the Deutsche Oper Berlin of Alexander von Zemlinsky’s one-act adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s “Birthday of the Infanta,” “Der Zwerg.” In this acclaimed production by Tobias Kratzer, the work stars {…}