(Credit: David Ruano / Liceu Opera Barcelona) The Metropolitan Opera is set to present John Adams’s most recent opera, “Antony and Cleopatra.” The work will have its company premiere on May 12 and will mark the final new production of the 2024–25 season. This will be the fifth opera by John Adams presented by the Met, a distinction last achieved {…}
The Ravinia Festival has announced its 2025 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. The festival will present Opera for the Young’s “The Magic Flute.” Performance Date: June 28, 2025 Marin Alsop conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara. Performance Date: July 13, 2025 The CSO & Chorus will be conducted by Marin Alsop {…}
Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences will get a chance to see and listen to a production from Bayreuth. There are also several world premiere recordings and an acclaimed recording from a recent festival. From Al-Andalus to the Americas: An Odyssey of Spanish Song Christine Moore {…}
The Teatro alla Scala has announced its 2024-25 Season. Opera The season opens with Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” starring Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann, Ludovic Tézier, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Alexander Vinogradov, and Marco Filippo Romano. Riccardo Chailly conducts the new production by Leo Muscato. The opera will also star Elena Stikhina, Amartuvshin Enkhbat, Luciano Ganci, and Simon Lim in the second {…}
The Teatro San Carlo announced its 2024-25 season. The season opens with Dvořák’s “Rusalka” in a new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. Dan Ettinger conducts a cast that includes Asmik Grigorian, Adam Smith, Ekaterina Gubanova, Anita Rachvelishvili, and Gábor Bretz. Performance Dates: Nov. 20-Dec. 7, 2024 Verdi’s “Don Carlo” will be conducted by Henrik Nánási and will star Piero Pretti, Gabriele Viviani, Ildar {…}
The Théâtre du Châtelet has announced its 2024-25 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. Jonas Kaufmann and Valeria Sepe perform a concert alongside the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and conductor Jochen Rieder. Performance Date: Oct. 9, 2024 Katarina Bradić sings the title role of Händel’s “Orlando” with a cast also featuring Siobhan Stagg, Elizabeth DeShong, Giulia Semenzato, and Riccardo Novaro. {…}
Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” is set to return to the silver screen on May 11. The cast will include acclaimed soprano Asmik Grigorian and tenor Jonathan Tetelman as Pinkerton. The cast is rounded out by Elizabeth DeShong and Lucas Meachem as Sharpless. Xian Zhang conducts. Regarding the opera, OperaWire noted, “Grigorian alone was enough cause for debut celebration, and she proved {…}
Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week, audiences are in for a treat with two solo highly anticipated solo albums and a complete opera with an all-star cast. Sea Songs Bryn Terfel’s new album “Sea Songs” presents a rich and diverse repertory of traditional music with sea shanties, {…}
(photo credit: Festival d’Aix-en-Provence © Vincent Beaume) In the audience, on my right side, a young person wears a T-Shirt that reads “Meyerbeer Fan.” On my left side, a spinster cries “Justice for Meyerbeer.” Rarely does an opera in concert raise so many people’s spirits. But, Giacomo Meyerbeer is not a composer. He is an idealist. History has Dreyfuss, but only {…}
(credit: Kristin Hoebermann) The Festival d’Aix-En-Provence has announced a cast change for its concert performance of Meyerbeer’s “Le Prophète.” The company said that Elizabeth DeShong will sing the role of Fidès replacing Anita Rachvelishvili, who was originally announced. DeShong performs regularly at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, and Royal Opera House. She has also performed with the {…}
Scotland, near Edinburgh: Malvina Douglas, while still in mourning, is set to marry Arturo Murray, a staunch Cromwellian and political adversary to her purportedly dead first husband, Giorgio Argyll. Yet at the very height of the celebration, the latter storms in and, to the utmost horror of the bride – who is the only one to recognize him – is {…}