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 {…}
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 {…}
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 {…}
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 {…}
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 {…}
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. {…}
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 The company announced that Ildebrando d’Arcangelo has withdrawn from the production.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 {…}
“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 {…}
(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 {…}
Belgium’s La Monnaie du Mont has announced its 2023-24 season with world premieres, a new Ring Cycle, and many classic works. The season opens with the world premiere of Bernard Foccroulle and Matthew Jocelyn’s “Cassandra.” Kazushi Ono conducts the work with a cast that includes Katarina Bradic Jessica Niles Susan Bickley, Sarah Defrise, Paul Appleby, Joshua Hopkins, and Gidon Saks. {…}
The Salzburg Festival has announced its 2023 season featuring operas, concerts, recitals, and Mozart programs. Opera Raphaël Pichon will conduct Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” in a new production by Martin Kušej. Andrè Schuen, Adriana González, Sabine Devieilhe, Krzysztof Bączyk, and Lea Desandre star. Performance Dates: July 27-August 28, 2023 Verdi’s “Macbeth” will be conducted by Franz Welser-Möst and directed {…}