Anna Netrebko, Cecilia Bartoli, Asmik Grigorian, Ludovic Tézier, Lisette Oropesa, Benjamin Bernheim, Leah Hawkins, Jonathan Tetelman Lead Opéra de Monte-Carlo’s 2026-27 Season

The Opéra de Monte-Carlo has announced its 2026-27 season. Jonathan Tetelman and James Vaughan open the season with a recital. Performance Date: Nov. 7, 2026 Michael Sumuel and Brittany Olivia Logan lead the Gerswhin’s “Porgy and Bess” with Bongani Kubheka, Leah Hawkins, Brandie Sutton, Adriana Bignagni Lesca, Donovan Singletary, and Chauncey Packer. Lee Reynolds conducts the production by Jean-Louis Grinda. {…}

Mar 25, 2026

Anna Netrebko, Elīna Garanča, Benjamin Bernheim, Derek Welton, Gerald Finley, Freddie de Tommaso, Rachel Willis-Sørensen, & Piotr Beczała Lead Wiener Konzerthaus’ 2026-27 Season

The Wiener Konzerthaus has announced its 2026-27 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. VOCES8 leads a program of music by William Byrd, Virgil Thomson, Caroline Shaw, Morten Lauridsen, William Billings, Bobby McFerrin, Eric Whitacre, Taylor Scott Davis, Samuel Barber, Richard Rodgers, and Billy Strayhorn. Performance Date: Sept. 16, 2026 The Mahler Academy Orchestra will be joined by Fleur Barron and Philipp von Steinaecker in music by Mahler. Performance {…}

Dec 23, 2025

Wiener Staatsoper 2025-26 Review: Elektra

(Photo: Ashley Taylor) Richard Strauss’s one-act opera “Elektra” (1909), with a searing libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, stands as a monumental achievement in 20th-century music drama. A radical adaptation of Sophocles’ tragedy, it plunges the listener into the tormented psyche of Elektra, obsessed with avenging her father Agamemnon’s murder by her mother, Klytämnestra, with the help of her lover Aegisth. {…}

Sep 1, 2025

The Bach Choir Unveils 150th Anniversary Season

(Photo Credit: The Bach Choir) The Bach Choir announces its 2025-26 and 150th anniversary season. Musical Director David Hill MBE leads the Choir and Philharmonia Orchestra. The season opens with Mahler’s “Symphony” No. 8. Soloists April Fredrick, Zoe Jackson, Caroline Bourg, Hanna Hipp, Hayley Meth, Brenden Gunnell, Josef Jeongmeen Ahn, and Derek Welton are also joined by the London Youth {…}

Nov 8, 2024

Elīna Garanča, Cecilia Bartoli & Thomas Blondelle Lead Lucerne Festival’s 2025 Summer Seson

The Lucerne Festival has announced its 2025 summer season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. The Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly perform Mahler with Elīna Garanča. Performance Date: August 15, 2025 The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra and Keri-Lynn Wilson perform Strauss and Beethoven. Rachel Willis-Sørensen is the guest soloist. Performance Date: August 18, 2025 Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di {…}

Sep 18, 2024

Bayreuth Festival 2024 Review: Parsifal

(Photo credit: ©EnricoNawrath) In preparation for the new “Parsifal” at Bayreuth last year, one may have harbored preconceived doubts as to the very idea regarding the use of Augmented Reality eyeglasses. After attending this year’s performances, the doubts lingered; and although this production may not be considered a negative adventure per se, one may not view this experiment as a {…}

Sep 15, 2024

Christine Goerke & Brandon Jovanovich Lead WNO’s ‘Gods & Mortals: A Celebration of Wagner’

(Credit: Arielle Doneson) The Washington National Opera is set to present a staged presentation of Richard Wagner’s music featuring some of today’s leading Wagner singers. The concert scheduled for Oct. 26 will feature Christine Goerke, Brandon Jovanovich, Derek Welton, and Soloman Howard. “Gods & Mortals: A Celebration of Wagner” will be conducted by WNO Music Director Designate Robert Spano and {…}

Jul 23, 2024

Deutsche Oper Berlin 2023-24 Review: Die Walküre

(Credit: Fotos von Bernd Uhlig, Kontakt: bernd.uhlig.fotografie@t-online.de) Often after watching a perplexing rendition of “Das Rheingold“, critics and public alike might proclaim: “Let’s see what will happen tomorrow night. Let us hold our judgement until then, to see where all of this is going.” And then, Herheim’s “Die Walküre” began, proving to be the worst of the cycle. The First {…}

Jun 11, 2024

Deutsche Oper Berlin 2023-24 Review: Der Ring des Nibelungen

(Photo credit: Bernd Uhlig) The man who gave the opera world its most dazzling 21st century “Parsifal,” Stefan Herheim, continues his quest to interrogate the Romantic text that is Richard Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungen.” Inspired refreshing of a 150-year-old work of art can provide new insights and flashes of illumination. But conceptual pyrotechnics can just as easily destroy its {…}

Feb 23, 2024

Amanda Majeski, Derek Welton & Marie Perbost lead New CD/DVD Releases

Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week several complete recordings will be released, as well as a unique take on Beethoven ‘s Symphony No. 9. Janáček: Katya Kabanova The second release in LSO Live’s cycle of Janáček opera recordings is “Katya Kabanova.” The album’s cast includes the superb {…}

Aug 30, 2023

Bayreuth Festival Announces 2024 Season

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 {…}