Jonas Kaufmann, Sonya Yoncheva, Diana Damrau, Rolando Villazon, Asmik Grigorian, Ludovic Tézier, Jonathan Tetelman, Serena Sáenz & Sondra Radvanovsky Lead Bayerische Staatsoper’s 2025-26 Season

The Bayerische Staatsoper has announced its 2025-26 season. Premieres Maurizio Benini conducts Verdi’s “Rigoletto” in a new production by Barbara Wysocka. Bekhzod Davronov, Igor Golovatenko, Ludovic Tézier, Serena Sáenz, Nadine Sierra, Riccardo Fassi, and Elmina Hasan star. Performance Dates: March 7-24, 2026 & July 28 & 31, 2026 Lotte de Beer directs a new production of Gounod’s “Faust” with Jonathan {…}

Dec 6, 2024

Jonas Kaufmann, Andrè Schuen, Elsa Dreisig, Lauranne Oliva, Ermonela Jaho, Mané Galoyan Headline Aix-en-Provence 2025 Festival

The Festival d’Aix-en-Provence has announced its 2025 festival. Opera First up is “Don Giovanni” in a production by Robert Icke starring Andrè Schuen, Krzysztof Bączyk, Golda Schultz, Magdalena Kožená, Amitai Pati, Clive Bayley, Madison Nonoa, and Paweł Horodyski. Sir Simon Rattle conducts. Performance Dates: July 4 – 18, 2025 Charpentier’s “Louise” stars Elsa Dreisig, Adam Smith, Sophie Koch, Grégoire Mour, Roberta {…}

Nov 12, 2024

Royal Opera House 2024-25 Review: The Tales of Hoffmann

(Photo ©2024 Camilla Greenwell) In a recent interview with director Damiano Michieletto at the Venice production of “The Tales of Hoffmann,” he said: “At its heart it is a journey into fantasy. It is opera fantastique, after all!” One definition of the French word fantastique is: a term for a literary and cinematic genre and mode that is characterized by {…}

Oct 26, 2024

ABAO Bilbao Opera Receives Ópera XXI Award

ABAO Bilbao Opera received the Honorary Cultural Institution award at the Ópera XXI Awards ceremony. The company as well as the Bilbao Association was recognized for utilizing an “efficient and sustainable management model.” This model has become a characteristic of the Basque and Spanish cultural sector. The general director of INAEM, Paz Santa Cecilia, presented the award to Juan Carlos {…}

Oct 14, 2024

Juan Diego Flórez & Leonardo Caimi Lead Royal Ballet & Opera’s New ‘Les Contes d’Hoffmann’

The Royal Ballet and Opera is set to present Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffman” in a new production by Damiano Michieletto. The production first made its premiere in Sydney and Venice. In a statement, Michieletto said, “The journey of these Contes d’Hoffmann should have started right from London in 2020. The project was then stopped by Covid. But that was just {…}

Oct 1, 2024

Teatro Real 2024-25 Review: Adriana Lecouvreur (Cast A)

(Credit: Javier del Real) The Spanish opera coliseum opened its 2024-25 season with the worldwide recognized production of Francesco Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur” by David McVicar and two excellent casts, streaming a live performance on Live Screens all over Spain (on the 28th of September) and on a wide screen in the back facade of Teatro Real. David McVicar’s Production Perspective {…}

Aug 21, 2024

Xabier Anduaga, Asmik Grigorian, Piotr Beczala, Ermonela Jaho, Ludovic Tezier Among Opera Awards’ Reader’s Choice Nominees

(Courtesy of The International Opera Awards) The Opera Awards have announced the Reader’s Choice Nominees. The category which is decided entirely by public vote, saw Xabier Anduaga, Asmik Grigorian, Ekaterina Bakanova, Sara Blanch, Piotr Beczala, Ermonela Jaho, Ludovic Tezier, and Arturo Chacon-Cruz nominated. This is the first category announced from the annual awards. The full list of nominees will be {…}

Jul 16, 2024

Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2024 Review: Madama Butterfly

(Photo credit: © Ruth Walz) Puccini in Aix-en-Provence is not an obvious combination, and it was not until 2019 with Christophe Honoré’s “Tosca” production that Lucca’s maestro made his debut in the festival. It was an ultra-revisionist “Tosca”: two primissime donne on the stage, several videoclips, and many other bold choices. It was glorious and thought-provoking. Therefore, expectations for a “Madama {…}

Jun 28, 2024

Arte to Stream Three of Festival Aix-En-Provence’s 2024 Productions

Arte is set to present three of Festival Aix-En-Provence’s productions on its streaming platform. It all starts with “Iphigénie en Aulide-Iphigénie en Tauride” on July 11 and will be available until Dec. 11, 2025. The productions stars Corinne Winters, Russell Braun, Véronique Gens, Alasdair Kent, Nicolas Cavallier, Soula Parassidis, Florian Sempey, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, and Alexandre Duhamel. Emmanuelle Haïm conducts the production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. Then on July 12, {…}

May 26, 2024

Royal Opera House 2023-24 Review: Celebrating 22 Years of Sir Antonio Pappano

A truly packed house, a cast of operatic luminaries and a program of works chosen and compiled by Maestro Pappano himself; a Gala, fit for a KING, surely? Which is just as well because His Royal Highness King Charles III was in the audience as a truly surprise guest of honor, courtesy of a massive covert security operation that even {…}

May 8, 2024

Ermonela Jaho Headlines Opera Rara’s Second ‘Donizetti and Friends’ Recital

Opera Rara is set to present its second “Donizetti and Friends” recital on May 23, 2024. The showcase, which will take place at Wigmore Hall, will feature Artist Ambassador Ermonela Jaho. She is joined by Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi. They will perform numerous songs by Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, Gounod, and Viardot. Also performing at the concert is violinist Marco Rizzi {…}