Marlis Petersen, Max Emanuel Cencic & Christophe Dumaux Headline Theater An Der Wien’s 2018-19 Season

The Theater an der Wien has announced its 2018-19 season, featuring numerous operas by Weber, Handel, and Tchaikovsky. The season will include a number of productions, concert performances, recitals and chamber operas. Productions Marlis Petersen, David Hansen, Mirella Hagen, Katarina Bradić, Rainer Trost, Florian Köfler, and Tölzer Sängerknabe star in a production of Handel’s “Alcina.” Stefan Gottfried conducts Tatjana Gürbaca’s production. Performance {…}

May 29, 2018

Prologue CD Review: Francesca Aspromonte’s Vocal Beauty Is Glorious In Experimental Baroque Album

The Italian soprano Francesca Aspromonte has already attracted significant attention, within the field of Early Music, for her stunning performances on the opera stage and in the concert hall. With the release, earlier this month, of her first solo CD entitled “Prologue,” she takes the next step in cementing her already blossoming reputation. From opera’s very beginnings, and lasting around {…}

May 11, 2018

Joyce DiDonato, Nadine Sierra & Mariella Devia Lead Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia’s 2018-19 Season

The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia has announced its 2018-19 season featuring an array of diverse repertoire. For this season announcement, we will only focus on the vocal performances. Orchestra Concerts The season opens with Bernstein’s “West Side Story” with Nadine Sierra and Alek Shrader in the lead roles with Antonio Pappano conducting. Jessica Vosk, Mark Stone, and Aigul Akhmetshina {…}

May 4, 2018

Q & A: Soprano Francesca Aspromonte On Her New CD, Singing Baroque Music & The Future

This week Italian soprano, Francesca Aspromonte, a rising star in the early music scene, will see the release of her first solo CD, “Prologue.” At the age of only 27, she is standing on the threshold of a glittering career, with critics running out of adjectives to describe her performances. Aspromonte made her professional debut as La Musica in Monteverdi’s {…}

May 1, 2018

CD / DVD Releases – Week of April 30: Decca Celebrates Birgit Nilsson’s Centennial

This week the releases are minimal but there is one opera lovers and fans are going to be interested in. La Nilsson To celebrate Birgit Nilsson’s centennial birthday, Decca is releasing an 81-CD set with the complete recordings for Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, and Philips. The package will include recordings of the complete Ring Cycle, “Elektra,” “Macbeth,” “Tosca,” “Tristan und Isolde,” {…}

Apr 17, 2018

Teatro Malibran 2018 Review – Orlando Furioso: Revival of Vivaldi Success Is Rousing Success With Top-End Cast

As part of its 2017 programme, the Festival della Valle D’Itria presented a staging of Vivaldi’s opera “Orlando Furioso.” Embracing the performance traditions of the baroque period and resisting the temptation to make the work “relevant,” its director, Fabio Ceresa and his production team produced a splendid reading of the work, full of color, spectacle, and beauty. The musical direction, {…}