The Austrian Music Prize has announced the 2025 winners. Among this year’s winners are Lisette Oropesa for Best Female Lead Role for her performance as Ophélie in “Hamlet” at the Salzburg Festival and Georg Nigl for Best Male Lead Role for his performance of Nekrotzar in “Le Grand Macabre” at the Vienna State Opera. The Best Female Newcomer was awarded {…}
The Tiroler Festspiel Erl Easter “Parsifal” was not, as some might have thought, Jonas Kaufmann’s “swan song,” either as Artistic Director or as Parsifal. Instead, the new production directed by Philipp M. Krenn, was replete with new directions, foci, trials and errors. A single lane swimming pool; a series of videos built around the landscape that housed the theater; a {…}
The Wiener Staatsoper has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the operas and recitals for the new season. Premieres Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride” will get a new production by Dirk Schmeding. The cast will be headed by Franz Xaver Schlecht, Margaret Plummer, Slávka Zámečníková, Ivo Stanchev, Monika Bohinec, Pavol Breslik, Michael Laurenz, Peter Kellner, Matthäus Schmidlechner, Ilia Staple, and Alex Ilvakhin. Tomáš Hanus conducts. A second cast will {…}
The International Classical Music Awards has announced the 2025 winners which will be presented at Düsseldorf’s Tonhalle on March 19. For this article, we will only focus on the opera winners. For the complete list of winners click here. The Artist of the Year award was given to Leonardo García Alarcón, while Christoph Ehrenfellner won the composer of the year {…}
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 and see new holiday albums, a Puccini album, and rarely performed works. Here is a look at what to buy this season. Puccini The celebrated tenor Freddie De Tommaso celebrates Puccini in a new album with {…}
The Wiener Staatsoper will celebrate New Year with “Die Fledermaus” on Dec. 31, 2024. The operetta will be streamed on the company’s platform and will feature Otto Schenk’s legendary staging. The Dec. 31 presentation has become an annual tradition with the company sometimes bringing special guests. This year Bertrand de Billy conducts a cast that includes Georg Nigl, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, {…}
The Salzburg Festival has announced its 2025 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. Opera Bas Wiegers conducts Michael Jarrell’s “Kassandra” with actress Dagmar Manzel and the Ensemble Modern. Performance Date: July 23, 2025 Salvatore Sciarrino’s “Macbeth” will be conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni. Cody Quattlebaum, Alice Rossi, Leonardo Cortellazzi, Iris van Wijnen, and Davide Giangregorio. Performance Date: July 25, {…}
The Wiener Staatsoper has announced a slate of Livestreams for October through December. The first stream of the season will be “Fin de Partie” by György Kurtág. Simone Young conducts the cast which includes Georg Nigl, Charles Workman, Hilary Summers, and Philippe Sly. Livestream Date: Oct. 19, 2024 The second stream of the season will be Britten’s “Billy Budd” starring {…}
(Credit: W.Hoesl) Arte.TV is set to present the Bayerische Staatsoper’s new production of “Die Fledermaus” on Dec. 31, 2023. The opera will also be streamed on the company’s STAATSOPER.TV and will be in co-production with ZDF. Vladimir Jurowski will conduct the new production by Barrie Kosky, which will ring in the New Year. The cast will include Georg Nigl (Gabriel {…}
Photo: © Monika Rittershaus “Così Fan Tutte” has become the most uncomfortable of the three Mozart-Da Ponte operas. “Le Nozze di Figaro” has secured itself as a revolutionary and anti-establishment opera. “Don Giovanni” is unavoidable and unforgettable. “Così,” on the other hand, struggled to find its public for most of the nineteenth century. Its plot is often seen as both {…}
This week, audiences are set to discover rarely performed works from the verismo and baroque period. There will be a few world premiere releases. The Island Avie Records releases “The Island” by American soprano Susan Narucki, an album curated and featuring a unique set of art songs. It consists of a collection of songs, chiefly by women, written in the {…}