Opera North has announced new live performances. The company will present Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” which will be the first large-scale production for over a year as the Company builds back towards a fuller program of public events. The production will be staged by Matthew Eberhardt and conducted by Paul Daniel. The cast will include Rachel Nicholls as Leonore, Toby Spence as Florestan, {…}
(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 {…}
(Credit: Gregor Hohenberg / Sony Classical) Famed tenor Jonas Kaufmann will give a recital at Teatro Real de Madrid on Jan. 14, 2021. For this occasion, Kaufmann will be accompanied by his long-term collaborator, pianist Helmut Deutsch. The program for the concert includes music by Schubert, Schumann, Strauss, Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Dvořák, among others. The {…}
(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 {…}
(Credit: © Marco Borggreve) The Wiener Staatsoper has announced that bass Tareq Nazmi will take over the role of Bottom in the upcoming run of Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Nazmi will replace bass Matthew Rose. Nazmi will join a cast that includes Lawrence Zazzo in the role of Oberon, Erin Morley as Tytania, Josh Lovell in the role {…}
(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 {…}
(Credit: Ópera Actual website) The Teatro de la Maestranza in Sevilla has announced that soprano Vanessa Goikoetxea will perform the role of Fiordiligi in Mozart and Da Ponte’s opera “Così fan tutte” On Nov. 1, 3, 5 & 7, 2020. Goikoetxea will replace soprano Carmela Remigio. Goikoetxea will join a cast that includes Maite Beaumont in the role of Dorabella, {…}
(Credits: Todd Rosenberg / © Marco Borrelli / OnP / Sarah Bousasse) L’Opéra Comique in Paris has announced its 2021 season. Here is the full slate. Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville’s “Titon et l’Aurore” will feature Reinoud Van Mechelen, Gwendoline Blondeel, Julie Roset, Emmanuelle de Negri, Marc Mauillon, and Renato Dolcini. William Christie will conduct the production by Basil Twist. The performances {…}
(Credit: The Metropolitan Opera official website) In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, The Metropolitan Opera’s HD Live in Schools program has launched an online series for the 2020–21 school year. For the upcoming school year, all students and teachers will receive free subscriptions to the Met Opera on Demand streaming service. A total of ten operas have been selected {…}
(Credit: Opera Bałtycka official website) Gdańsk’s Opera Bałtycka has announced that it was forced to cancel the premiere of Beethoven’s opera “Fidelio” on Oct. 3, 2020, after one member of the chorus tested positive for COVID-19. “Opera Bałtycka, acting in accordance with the recommendations of the County Sanitary and Epidemiological Station, maintains all the possible safety rules for its employees, {…}
(Credit: Ray Burmiston/Decca Classics) “I hope that we will be more grateful for the fact that we get to do what we do, that we can sit next to each other in a concert hall and have some more respect for others when they’re not feeling great or are down. We need to come out of this pandemic more supportive {…}