Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann, Diana Damrau, Elīna Garanča, Golda Schultz, Sonya Yoncheva, Cecilia Bartoli & Benjamin Bernheim Lead Opernhaus Zürich’s 2025-26 Season

The Opernhaus Zürich has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the productions and concerts. Premieres Simon Steen-Andersen and Liliana Nikiteanu lead “Wie du warst! Wie du bist!” Performance Dates: Sept. 20, 2025-July 11, 2026 Diana Damrau, Günther Groissböck, Angela Brower, Bo Skovhus, and Emily Pogorelc star in a new production Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier.” Joana Mallwitz conducts the {…}

Mar 18, 2025

Malin Byström, Natalya Romaniw, Elena Stikhina, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Jakub Józef Orliński, Federica Lombardi & Joshua Guerrero Lead Dutch National Opera’s 2025-26 Season

The Dutch National Opera has announce dits 2025-26 season. Elena Stikhina and Natalya Romaniw star in Puccini’s “Tosca” with Joshua Guerrero and Gevorg Hakobyan. Nathalie Stutzmann conducts. Performance Dates: Sept. 3-25, 2025 “Operetta Land” will be performed featuring music by Johann Strauss II, Jacques Offenbach, and Arthur Sullivan. Steef de Jong, Raoul Stefani, Marc Pantus, Laetitia Gerards, Elenora Hu, Frederik {…}

Aug 6, 2024

Sara Jakubiak & Michael Volle Lead New CD/DVD Releases

Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences will get to hear two complete Salzburg productions and two world premiere recordings. Joy Too The Vertex Duo, composed of mezzo-soprano Kristin Gornstein and pianist Jeremy Chan release an album about grief. The result is “JOY, TOO,” a collection of {…}

Jun 10, 2024

La Monnaie De Munt Awarded Prix de la Critique for Best Scenography

La Monnaie De Munt has been recognized for its scenography of “Das Rheingold” by the French Comité du Syndicat de la Critique. The production directed and designed by Romeo Castellucci received the award at the Prix de la critique 2022-23 ceremony on June 6. The event was held at the Paris Théâtre de la Ville-Sarah Bernhardt. La Monnaie De Munt’s {…}

Apr 30, 2024

Barbara Hannigan, Aleksandra Kurzak, Roberto Alagna, Jakub Józef Orliński & Ruzan Mantashyan Lead Grand Théâtre de Genève’s 2024-25 Season

The Grand Théâtre de Genève has announced its 2024-25 season. Opera Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” opens the season with Gwyn Hughes Jones, Burkhard Fritz, and Elisabet Strid in the title roles. Marc Albrecht conducts the production by Michael Thalheimer. The cast will also include Tareq Nazmi, Kristina Stanek, Craig Colclough, and Julien Henric. Performance Dates: Sept. 15-27, 2024 Tomáš Netopil {…}

Apr 23, 2024

Opéra National de Paris to Present ‘Don Quichotte’ with Christian Van Horn & Gábor Bretz

Opéra National de Paris is set to present a new production of Massenet’s “Don Quichotte.” Patrick Fournillier will conduct the new production by Damiano Michieletto. The cast will include Christian Van Horn and Gábor Bretz in the title role, Gaëlle Arquez as La Belle Dulcinée, Étienne Dupuis as Sancho Pança, Emy Gazeilles and Marine Chagnon playing the roles of Pedro and {…}

Apr 20, 2024

Sasha Cooke, Ingela Brimberg, Mark S. Doss & Eve-Maud Hubeaux Lead La Monnaie de Munt’s 2024-25 Season

La Monnaie de Munt has announced the 2024-25 season. Opera Wagner’s “Siegfried” will star Magnus Vigilius, Peter Hoare, Gábor Bretz, Scott Hendricks, Wilhelm Schwinghammer, Ingela Brimberg, Nora Gubisch, and Liv Redpath. Alain Altinoglu conducts Pierre Audi’s production. Performance Dates: Sept. 11-Oct. 4, 2024 Kris Defoort’s “The Time of Our Singing ” will star Mark S. Doss, Claron Mcfadden, Simon Bailey, Levy {…}

Mar 7, 2024

Houston Symphony Orchestra Announces 2024-25 Season

The Houston Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2024-25 Season. Here are the vocal performances for the season. Juraj Valčuha conducts Bartok’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” with Gábor Bretz and Ekaterina Gubanova. The program also includes Britten and Prokofiev. Performance Dates: Feb. 15 & 16, 2025 Andrés Orozco-Estrada conducts a program of music by Strauss and Brahms. The soloists are Hilary Hahn and the Houston Symphony Chorus. {…}

Feb 9, 2024

Opéra de Paris Announces Cast Change for Title Role of ‘Don Quichotte’

Opéra de Paris has announced a cast change for its production of “Don Quichotte.” The company announced that Ildebrando d’Arcangelo has withdrawn from the production. As a result, the role of Don Quichotte will be performed by Gábor Bretz for the performances on June 1, 5, 8, and 11, 2024. Bretz performs regularly with the Hungarian State Opera, the Wagner Festival, the {…}

Jan 11, 2024

CD Review: Unitel Edition’s ‘Tosca’

“Oh my!” is how one would headline, exasperatingly, the sordid, crude, and entirely inappropriate production of “Tosca” at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien. Severed limbs, some sort of nuclear winter, and an orgy of on-stage violence and sex – the premises to Martin Kušej’s vision of the Puccini melodrama could not be more grotesque and, in essence, detrimental to the {…}

Aug 21, 2023

Salzburg Festival 2023 Review: The Greek Passion

(Photo: SF/Monika Rittershaus) Bohuslav Martinů’s opera “The Greek Passion” is a work still in search of its audience. The opera, seldom performed, is considered to be one of Martinů’s finest compositions. This season’s Salzburg Festival tried hard to make “The Greek Passion” a rare and visually noteworthy production. But it didn’t quite work out. The opera’s political radicalness and musical accomplishments are {…}

Gabor Bretz