(Credit: Linda Rabisch) When COVID-19 struck in March 2020, one of the final “live” performances to take the stage was a production of Dvořák’s “Rusalka” in Krefeld, Germany with dramatic soprano Dorothea Herbert in the title role. For her, the experience was surreal. “We performed on that night in a totally empty theater. There was no audience, just the darkness {…}
(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 {…}
(Credit: picture alliance/Nicolas Armer/dpa) The Director of the Bayreuth Festival, Katharina Wagner, has revealed initial plans for the 2021 edition of the festival. First off, Wagner announced that the event will feature fewer performances than usual. In addition to the new production of “Der Fliegende Holländer” with Oksana Lyniv, the first female conductor in festival history, the program for 2021 includes {…}
Pittsburgh Festival Opera in Pennsylvania has announced “Wicked Wagner Weekend,” a digital mini-festival featuring solo and duet performances from nine of Wagner’s operas across three nights. The festival, which will take place between Oct. 30 through Nov. 1, will be curated by Wagnerian expert Jane Eaglen, and Artistic Director Marianne Cornetti. The singers who have recorded from around the world {…}
(Credit: © Gregor Hohenberg / Sony Classical) Famed tenor Jonas Kaufmann will give an exclusive recital at the Teatro alla Scala on Oct. 22, 2020. For this occasion, Kaufmann will partner with his longtime collaborator, pianist Helmut Deutsch. The program reflects the tenor’s personal choice of repertoire, much of it has been featured on Kaufmann’s latest album Selige Stunde. The {…}
(Credit: Opus 3 Artists official website) The Office of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has announced the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2020. Among those honored was General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin Donald Cameron Runnicles, who has been bestowed with the title of the Knights Bachelor, for services to Music. Donald Runnicles is concurrently the General Music Director {…}
(Credit: © DR) The Teatro Alla Scala in Milan has announced that German mezzo-soprano Daniela Sindram will perform a series of three concerts between Oct. 14 and Oct. 17, 2020. Sindram will appear in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 in D Minor with Zubin Mehta conducting the Teatro alla Scala Chorus and Orchestra. The performance will also feature the Treble {…}
(Credits: © David Jerusalem / Emelie Kroon / Jiyang Chen / Dagmar Medina / In Art Management Official Website) The Oper Leipzig has announced the Wagner 22 festival. The festival, which is set to be held from June 20 to July 14, 2022, will showcase all 13 Richard Wagner operas and will feature such artists as Andreas Schager, Stefan Vinke, {…}
Credits: (Dragana Branković / Intermusica Official website / Egils Silins official website) The Staatstheater Kassel has announced the complete casts for its 2020-21 season. Here is the full rundown. Premieres “L’Ultimo Sogno,” one act opera by Giuseppe Verdi and Carlo Ciceri will feature Vlada Borovko in the role of Violetta Valéry, Giordano Lucà as Alfredo Germont, while Cozmin Sime and {…}
(Credit: Ray Burmiston/Decca Classics) “I hope that we will be more grateful for the fact that we get to do what we do, that we can sit next to each other in a concert hall and have some more respect for others when they’re not feeling great or are down. We need to come out of this pandemic more supportive {…}
(Credits: Kristen Hoebermann / ©Neda Navaee / Ray Burmiston/Decca Classics/ Deutsche Oper Berlin official website / Annika Schlicht official website) In times of massive uncertainty and heightened risks, the Deutsche Oper Berlin is taking on the gargantuan effort of staging the second opera of the cycle, “Die Walküre,” directed by Stefan Herheim. Herheim’s production of the iconic Wagner’s opera is {…}