The Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced its 2024-25 season. Here is a look at the productions. Verdi’s “Rigoletto” is set to star Igor Golovatenko, Soloman Howard, Javier Camarena, and Mané Galoyan. Enrique Mazzola conducts the production by Director Mary Birnbaum. Performance Dates: Sept. 14-Oct. 6 2024 Elza van den Heever, Russell Thomas, Mika Kares, and Brian Mulligan star in {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2024-25 season. New Productions Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Verdi’s “Aida” in a new production by Michael Mayer. Angel Blue, Judit Kutasi, Piotr Beczała, Quinn Kelsey, Dmitry Belosselskiy, and Morris Robbinson. Alexander Soddy conducts the second cast with Christina Nilsson, Elīna Garanča, Brian Jagde, Eri Owens, Michael Chioldi, Amartüvshin Enkhbatyn, Alexander Vinogradov, and Krzysztof Bączyk. John {…}
(Credit; Evan Zimmerman) “No Opera on a Dead Planet.” In the middle of Act two of the opening night of “Tannhäuser” as Wolfram delivered his “Blick ich umher in diesem edlen Kreise,” specifically as he sang that “love is a spring to be drunk from,” an audience member started shouting from the rafters of the Met Opera auditorium. The first {…}
Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” returns to the Metropolitan Opera for eight performances. The opera will open on Nov. 30 and will be performed through Dec. 23, 2023 with a cast that includes Austrian tenor Andreas Schager, South African soprano Elza van den Heever as Elisabeth, and Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova as Venus. The cast will be rounded out by German baritone Christian Gerhaher {…}
On May 30, 2023, the Metropolitan Opera revived François Girard’s production of “Der Fliegende Holländer” for the first time since March 2020 when… we all know what happened. While a lot has changed since then, one thing that has remained is that this production still doesn’t match up to Girard’s best work (“Parsifal”) and even less now that he recently {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard / Met Opera) This week the Metropolitan Opera opens its final production of the 2023-24 season concluding with Wagner’s epic “Der Fliegende Holländer.” The opera is being revived for the first time since 2020 and with it the company has lined up an all-star cast of Wagnerian singers. Among them is Elza van den Heever. The South {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard / Met Opera) Wagner’s “Der Fliegende Holländer” is set to return to the Met for four performances. The opera, which is set to be performed between May 30 to June 10, will be shown in a production by François Girard, which premiered in 2020. German conductor Thomas Guggeis will make his Met debut leading a cast that {…}
The Konzerthaus Dortmund has announced its 2023-24 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Lahav Shani open the season with Hila Baggio. The concert will include music by Paul Ben-Haim, Betty Olivero, and Gustav Mahler. Performance Date: Sept. 3, 2023 Anna Lucia Richter and Ammiel Bushakevitz perform a recital of music by Wolkenstein, {…}
(Credit: Agathe-Poupeney) This review compiles performances attended on Oct 15, 18 and Nov. 5. When conductor Simone Young entered the stage to be applauded after her performance in Paris Opéra’s new production of “Salome,” some incipient voices started to boo her. The booers quickly realized their error; they actually wanted to hoot the staging team commanded by Lydia Steier. It {…}
The Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie has announced its 2022-23 season. Opera Ainārs Rubiķis conducts Verdi’s “Aida” in a production by Annabel Arden. The opera stars Sunyoung Seo, Ketevan Kemoklidze, Amadi Lagha, Leon Kim, and Jacques Greg-Belobo. Performance Dates: Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 2022 Noëlle Gény leads “Bach et le sacré.” Performance Date: Oct. 16, 2022 Noëlle Gény conducts “Musiques sacrées” Performance Date: Dec. 11, 2022 {…}
The Santa Fe Opera has announced its 2023 season and revealed its 19th world premiere slated for 2024. The company noted that in 2024, the company has commissioned a new opera by two of America’s most exciting talents, composer Gregory Spears and former US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy K. Smith titled “The Righteous.” The 2023 Season The Santa Fe Opera’s 66th Festival {…}