Swiss soprano Gabriela Scherer is in high demand for her lyric German roles with her Arabella and her Senta in “Der fliegende Holländer” among her most popular warhorses. But she isn’t letting anyone put her in a box. The soprano is leading her career on her own terms and performing roles that speak to her. This season she made her {…}
The Deustche Oper Berlin has announced its 2024-25 season. Premieres Respighi’s “La Fiamma” will be directed by Christof Loy and conducted by Carlo Rizzi. The cast will include Aušrine Stundyte, Georgy Vasiliev, Vladislav Sulimsky, Martina Serafin, Sua Jo, Cristina Toledo, Martina Baroni, Karis Tucker, Caren Van Oijen, Doris Soffel, and Patrick Guetti. Performance Dates: Sept. 29-Oct. 18, 2024 Enrique Mazzola {…}
The Teatro Real de Madrid has announced its 2024-25 season. Opera Nicola Luisotti and Andrés Salado conduct Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur” in David McVicar’s production. The production will star Ermonela Jaho, Maria Agresta, Brian Jagde, Matthew Polenzani, Elīna Garanča, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Nicola Alaimo, and Manel Esteve. Performance Dates: Sept. 23-Oct. 11, 2024 Charpentier’s “David et Jonathas” will be performed in concert with Petr Nekoranec, Gwendoline Blondeel, Jean-Christophe {…}
Photo credit: © António Pedro Ferreira / São Carlos This year marks the 50th anniversary of Portugal’s Carnation Revolution, a momentous historical event which brought down the totalitarian regime installed by fascist dictator Antonio Salazar in 1974. This bloodless revolution led the small Iberian nation on a path towards a modern, humanist and democratic European republic. This season many of {…}
This week the Centro Cultural de Belém is set to open a new production of Beethoven’s only opera “Fidelio.” The production which is a co-production with Hamburg and Bologna, is set to feature an all-star cast that includes Gabriela Scherer in her role debut. Scherer, who is one of the most in-demand dramatic sopranos of her generation, sings her first {…}
The Bayreuth Festival has announced its 2024 season. The festival will open with Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” starring Andreas Schager, Günther Groissböck, Camilla Nylund, Olafur Sigurdarson, Birger Radde, and Ekaterina Gubanova. Semyon Bychkov conducts the production by Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson. Performance Dates: July 25-August 26 2024 Günther Groissböck, Klaus Florian Vogt, Markus Eiche, Olafur Sigurdarson, Jens-Erik Aasbø, and Elisabeth Teige {…}
The Deutsche Oper am Rhein has announced its 2023-24 season. Premieres The first new production of the season will be Wagner’s “Parsifal” with Daniel Frank and Michael Weinius sharing the title role. They are joined by Bogdan Baciu, Luke Stoker, Hans-Peter König, Joachim Goltz, and Sarah Ferede. Axel Kober conducts the production by Michael Thalheimer. Performance Dates: Sept. 17, 2023-April 7, {…}
The Deutsche Oper Berlin has announced cast changes for multiple productions. The company said that for all performances of “The Magic Flute,” Hye-Young Moon will be singing the part of Queen of the Night in place of Aigul Khismatullina. Meanwhile, for March 17 and 24, 2023, Ursula Hesse von den Steinen will take over the role of Herodias in place {…}
The Staatsoper Hamburg has announced its 2023-24 season. Opera Kent Nagano conducts Frank Castorf’s production of Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov.” The opera will star Alexander Tsymbalyuk, Kady Evanyshyn, Olivia Boen, Renate Spingler, Matthias Klink, Alexey Bogdanchikov, Vitalij Kowaljow, Oleksiy Palchykov, and Ryan Speedo Green. Performance Dates: Sept. 16-Oct. 7, 2023 Catherine Foster and Ewa Płonka sing the title role of Puccini’s {…}
The Staatsoper Berlin has announced a cast change for “Ariadne auf Naxos.” The company noted that Gabriela Scherer will take over the title role for performances on Jan 20 and 22, 2022. Scherer is well-known for her interpretation of Ariadne and has performed the role at the Oper Leipzig and at the Lucerne Festival. She recently made her debut in {…}
Tosca is a dream role for almost every soprano. It is a role where the diva gets to act and sing gorgeous lines as well as bring a number of complex emotions to the stage. It is also an opera that is action-driven like no other and features THE moment when the soprano gets to kill the baritone on stage. {…}