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 hear a debut album, a rarely performed bel canto work, an original version of a famed Verdi work, and a DVD recording of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece. Birds Spanish soprano Serena Sáenz makes her album debut with {…}
Opera Colorado has announced its 2025-26 season featuring two operas. Music Director Ari Pelto said, “It is a privilege to celebrate my tenth season with Opera Colorado alongside such a momentous anniversary for the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. These productions showcase the power of opera to move and inspire, and I look forward to bringing Verdi’s and Puccini’s masterpieces to {…}
As we wrap up 2024, here is a look back at some of the most-read articles of 2023. We will focus mainly on longer-form pieces like reviews and interviews for this article. Top 10 Most-Read Reviews of 2024 Metropolitan Opera Review of “Carmen“ Metropolitan Opera Review of “La Forza del Destino“ Metropolitan Opera Review of “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” Metropolitan Opera {…}
Canadian Opera Company has announced that it will present “Bravissimo! New Year’s at the Opera” on Dec. 31, 2024. The event, which will be co-presented with Attila Glatz Concert Productions and Roy Thomson Hall, will feature soprano Eri Nakamura, tenor Kang Wang, baritone Mihai Damian, and mezzo-soprano Viktoria Vizin. Johannes Debus will conduct the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra in a {…}
Japanese soprano Eri Nakamura is in the prime of her career. The soprano, who has become a go-to interpreter of Cio-Cio San around the world, first came into prominence as a member of Jette Parker Young Artist Program. During that time, she stepped in for Anna Netrebko in “I Capuleti e i Montecchi,” a moment that she describes as one {…}
The Canadian Opera Company has announced its 2024-25 season. The season opens with Verdi’s “Nabucco” starring Roland Wood, Tamara Wilson, Rihab Chaieb, Matthew Cairns, and Simon Lim. Paolo Carignani conducts the new production by Katherine M. Carter. Performance Dates: Oct. 4-25, 2024 Long Long sings the title role in Gounod’s “Faust” with Kyle Ketelsen, Kseniia Proshina, Simon Melchlinski, and Megan Latham. {…}
(Credit: Markus Gårder ) This review is for the performance on August 28, 2023. “Madama Butterfly” is one of opera’s most renowned and controversial stories. On one hand you have the tale of a young woman waiting endlessly for the man she loves, only to discover that she’s been lied to for the past three years, a fact that the {…}
(Photo Credit: Francesco Bondi) The Haydn Foundation, centered in Bolzano, produces classical music concerts and opera for towns and cities across Italy’s Trentino-Alto Adige region. The current season included two performances of Toshio Hosokawa’s 2004 chamber opera “Hanjo” at Trento’s Teatro Sociale. Hosokawa is a German-trained composer who seeks inspiration for his music in Japan’s cultural heritage, and “Hanjo” is {…}
(Photo credit: Chris Gloa) The Royal Opera House has announced a major cast change for its upcoming production of “Madama Butterfly.” The company revealed that Dinara Alieva will not be singing the title role of Cio-Cio San on June 14, 18, 21, 24, 30, and July 6 while Olesya Petrova will not sing Suzuki during the June 18, 23, and {…}
Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” will be revived on Feb. 4, 2022, at the Canadian Opera Company. The production will mark the first time in nearly two years that the curtain rises for a live audience at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The production is helmed by Canadian director Aria Umezawa in a COC debut. For the production, Umezawa {…}
The Canadian Opera Company has announced casting for its upcoming mainstage productions at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts for the 2021-22 season. The company will open with Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” with Eri Nakamura in the leading role making her COC debut alongside Stephen Costello as Pinkerton. Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts. Performance Dates: Feb. 4–25, 2022 The production of Verdi’s {…}