(Credit: Theater Dortmund) The Oper Dortmund has announced its 2021-22 season. Here is a look at the opera and the vocal performances of the season. Premieres Gabriela Scherer and Stéphanie Müther share the title role in Puccini‘s “Tosca.” James Lee performs Mario Cavaradossi, and Michael Volle and Mandla Mndebele alternate as Scarpia. Gabriel Feltz conducts a production by Nikolaus Habjan. {…}
(Credit: Christian Kaufmann) The Stadttheater Klagenfurt has announced its 2021-22 season. For the purposes of this article we will focus on the vocal works only. Operas Wagner‘s “Die Walküre” opens the season. The opera stars Markus Marquardt as Wotan, Martina Welschenbach as Sieglinde, Magdalena Anna Hofmann in the role of Brünnhilde, and Julian Hubbard as Siegmund. The cast also includes {…}
(Credit: Dario Acosta/Arielle Donoson/© Gregor Hohenberg / Sony Classical) Carnegie Hall has announced its 2021-22 season featuring some of the world’s greatest artists. For the purpose of this article, we will only focus on the vocal works. Here is the full slate: Soprano Marija Jelic performs a recital alongside pianist Jasna Popovic. Performance Date: Oct. 5, 2021 Tenor Jonas Kaufmann {…}
(Credit: David Kanaga, Jaap Dankert, Muhammad Desta Laksana, Danika Perkinson) The Dutch National Opera launched a new podcast series, “Soft Valkyrie,” on June 3. Presented by American composer and game designer David Kanaga, the episodic radio play presents Wagner’s “Die Walküre” in completely electronic form. The podcast is a production of Dutch National Opera, Holland Festival, and Staatsoper Hannover. Billed {…}
The first Act of “Die Walküre” is undeniably a grand love song. Wagner’s dramatization of the encounter between Siegmund and Sieglinde—the Walsüng twins—is a remarkable and thrilling experience; even when it is an abridged concert version, performed in a faraway opera house with half a live audience, socially distanced, without the theatrical panoply of full-site production, full costumes and full {…}
“Opera Meets Film” is a feature dedicated to exploring the way that opera has been employed in cinema. We will select a film section or a film in its entirety and highlight the impact that utilizing the operatic form or sections from an opera can alter our perception of a film that we are viewing. This week’s installment features Fellini’s {…}
(Credit: Ray Burmiston) Soprano Lise Davidsen will perform the concert at the Teatro alla Scala on May 10, 2021. The concert will be streamed on Raiplay from May 11, 2021 from 12 p.m. CET for a period of one week. The concert will be open to the audience within the limits of current Italian government’s COVID-19 legislation. Davidsen will present {…}
(Photo Credits: Artists Management Zürich official website / Sim Canetty-Clarke / Ray Burmiston / Chris Gonz) Philharmonie de Paris has announced its fall 2021 season, which will run from Sep. 8 until Dec. 23, 2021. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on vocal works only. Soprano Christine Goerke and tenor Klaus Florian Vogt perform Richard Wagner’s works {…}
San Francisco Opera is in the midst of its month-long festival dedicated to Wagner’s “Ring Cycle.” In the coming weeks, Lois Silverstein will explore her experience not only revisiting the 2018 opera production but several of the events and panels presented by the company. A delightful and informative series of lectures on “The Ring” comes from Dr. Clifford “Kip” Cranna, Dramaturg {…}
(Photo credit: Frances Marshall) What’s opera about? Passion? Drama? Politics? Sex? All the above, of course, and it’s been that way since 1597, even in the face of censorship. Yet, the prohibitions around taboo topics such as politics and sex caused composers and librettists to get creative when including such material in their operas. Opera critic, author, and historian par {…}
San Francisco Opera is in the midst of its month-long festival dedicated to Wagner’s “Ring Cycle.” In the coming weeks, Lois Silverstein will explore her experience not only revisiting the 2018 opera production, but several of the events and panels presented by the company. The landscape of the American West became the environmental directive for the 2018 Ring for Francesca Zambello. {…}
