Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week, two of the most famous divas release new albums, both from important concert performances. There are also some world premiere recordings, a Puccini work, and a baroque video recording. Pergolesi: Stabat Mater Deutsche Grammophon continues its joint label Verbier Festival Gold. {…}
The London Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. The season opens with Sir Antonio Pappano conducting a Bernstein and Copland program featuring Dame Felicity Palmer and Katharina Konradi. Performance Date: Sept. 14, 2025 Sir Simon Rattle conducts Janáček’s “The Makropulos Affair” with Marlis Petersen, Aleš Briscein, Jan Martiník, Svatopluk Semand Peter {…}
(Credit: David Ruano / Liceu Opera Barcelona) The Metropolitan Opera is set to present John Adams’s most recent opera, “Antony and Cleopatra.” The work will have its company premiere on May 12 and will mark the final new production of the 2024–25 season. This will be the fifth opera by John Adams presented by the Met, a distinction last achieved {…}
The Teatro Real de Madrid has announced its 2025-26 season. Opera The season opens with Verdi’s “Otello,” starring Brian Jadge, Jorge de León, and Angelo Villari in the title role. The cast includes Igor Golovatenko, Artur Ruciński, Gabriele Viviani, Airam Hernández, Asmik Grigorian, and Maria Agresta. Nicola Luisotti and Giuseppe Mentuccia conduct the production by David Alden. Performance Dates: Sept. {…}
The Royal Opera House has announced its cinema season for the 2025-26 season. Here are the opera offerings: The cinema season opens with Puccini’s “Tosca” starring Anna Netrebko, Freddie de Tommaso, and Gerald Finley. Jakub Hrůša conducts the new production by Oliver Mears. Cinema Date: Oct. 1 & 5, 2025 Antonello Manacorda conducts Verdi’s “La Traviata” and will star Ermonela {…}
The Royal Ballet and Opera has announced its 2025-26 season. The season opens with Puccini’s “Tosca” in a new production by Oliver Mears. Anna Netrebko and Aleksandra Kurzak share the title role. Freddie De Tommaso and Gerald Finley also star. Performance Dates: Sept. 11-Oct. 7, 2025 Speranza Scappucci conducts Verdi’s “I vespri siciliani” in a revival of Stefan Herheim’s production. Marina {…}
On April 18, 2025, Decca Classics will release a new recording of “Der Fliegende Holländer,” marking the first full-length opera recording on the label from Lise Davidsen. The recording was captured live over two nights at the opera house in Oslo during the summer of 2024. The live recording of “Der fliegende Holländer” will also mark Davidsen’s only-ever performance as {…}
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances of the season. The season opens with Gustavo Gimeno conducting Orff’s Carmina Burana and Winston Marsalis” Concerto for Orchestra. The soloists include Julie Roset, Andrew Haji, and Sean Michael Plumb. Performance Dates: Sept. 18-21, 2025 Michael Francis conducts Händel’s “Messiah” with soloists Lauren {…}
(Photo: Marc Brenner) Mark-Anthony Turnage is among the front rank of living British opera composers. With “Festen”, which opened at The Royal Opera last week, he now has five to his name, with a sixth to follow at Glyndebourne this autumn in the form of “The Railway Children” – a less harrowing subject than this adaptation of Thomas Vinterberg’s 1995 {…}
Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences will get a chance to listen to rarely performed works from some of the great operatic composers in the world. There are also many world premiere recordings as well. Lucie di Lammermoor Dynamic releases Donizetti’s French version of “Lucie de {…}
(Credits: Hermann und Clärchen Baus) Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca,” adapted from a play by Victorien Sardou, was famously criticized by American musicologist Joseph Kerman, who dismissed it as a “shabby little shocker” and predicted its swift decline from the operatic canon. Despite this, “Tosca” endures as a favorite among audiences, thanks to Puccini’s brilliant music and masterful orchestration that elevate it {…}
