Elza van den Heever & Russell Thomas Headline San Francisco Opera’s ‘Fidelio’

San Francisco Opera will continue its season with Beethoven’s “Fidelio.” The company will present a new production by Matthew Ozawa which updates its original eighteenth-century prison setting to a modern government detention center. Music Director Eun Sun Kim conducts the opera which stars Elza van den Heever as Leonore, Russell Thomas, Greer Grimsley, James Creswell, and Soloman Howard. For the first time in the history of {…}

Anna Netrebko, Sonya Yoncheva, Roberto Alagna, Elīna Garanča, Saioa Hernández & Camilla Nylund Lead Staatsoper Berlin’s 2021-22 Season

(Credits: Dario Acosta / Sonya Yoncheva official website / © Gregor Hohenberg / Kasskara/DG / Operabase official website / Staatsoper Berlin official website) The Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin has announced its 2021-22 season. Here is the full slate. Operas Beethoven’s “Fidelio” will open the season. The opera stars Roman Trekel, Matthias Goerne, Pavel Černoch, Andreas Schager, Simone Schneider, {…}

Klaus Florian Vogt, Iréne Theorin, Juan Diego Flórez & Nicole Car Headline Wiener Staatsoper Streaming Slate

(Photo credits: © Harald Hoffmann / Chris Gloag / Gregor Hohenberg / Sony Music Entertainment / Nicole Car official website) The Wiener Staatsoper has announced the next slate of operas that it will be presenting on its streaming platform over the next week. First up is the production of Beethoven‘s “Fidelio” starring Klaus Florian Vogt, Anja Kampe, Evgeny Nikitin, Stephen {…}

Opera Critic & Historian Fred Plotkin to Host Virtual Talk: ‘A Gay Romp Through Four Centuries of Opera’

(Photo credit: Frances Marshall) What’s opera about? Passion? Drama? Politics? Sex? All the above, of course, and it’s been that way since 1597, even in the face of censorship. Yet, the prohibitions around taboo topics such as politics and sex caused composers and librettists to get creative when including such material in their operas. Opera critic, author, and historian par {…}

Staatsoper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin Announce Major Scheduling Changes in 2021

(Credit: © dpa/visitBerlin website / Gunnar Geller) The Staatsoper unter der Linden has canceled all performances until the end of January 2021. Among the performances canceled are premieres of Mozart’s “Idomeneo” with Andrew Staples, Lea Desandre and Evelin Novak, and Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” which was supposed to star Simone Schneider, Klaus Florian Vogt, René Pape and Greer Grimsley. Meanwhile, Komische Oper {…}

Andreas Schager & Alexander Vinogradov Join New Year Gala Concert At Deutsche Oper

(Credits: Andreas Schager official website / Polina Plotnikova) The Deutsche Oper Berlin has announced that heldentenor Andreas Schager and Russian bass Alexander Vinogradov will take part in the New Year Gala concert on Jan. 2, 2021. Schager and Vinogradov will join a cast that includes Sara Jakubiak, Anna Pirozzi, Aigul Akhmetshina, and Amartuvshin Enkhbat. The Australian-born Kapellmeister of the Deutsche {…}