The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced all nominations for the 45th Anniversary Dora Mavor Moore Awards presented by the Romano D’Andrea Foundation. This year there were 225 nominations across 43 gender-inclusive award categories within seven divisions reflecting the remarkable artistry of the 2024-25 season. This year’s nominations encompass 81 shows from 59 registered companies. The Awards will {…}
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 {…}