Anna Netrebko, Freddie De Tommaso, Marina Rebeka, Bryn Terfel, Aigul Akhmetshina, Lisette Oropesa, Juan Diego Flórez & Pretty Yende Lead Royal Ballet & Opera’s 2025-26 Season

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 {…}

Feb 21, 2025

Decca Classics to Release Lise Davidsen’s ‘Der Fliegende Holländer’

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 {…}

Feb 20, 2025

Julie Roset, Lauren Snouffer & Saimir Pirgu Lead Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s 2025-26 Season

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 {…}

Feb 19, 2025

Royal Ballet and Opera 2024-25 Review: Festen

(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 {…}

Oct 4, 2024

Caterina Sala, Lawrence Brownlee, Gerald Finley & Pavol Breslik 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 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 {…}

Sep 20, 2024

Staatsoper Unter den Linden 2024-25 Review: Tosca

(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 {…}

Jul 23, 2024

Gerald Finley Named Kammersänger at Bayerische Staatsoper

The Bayerische Staatsoper has named baritone Gerald Finley Kammersänger. He was honored on July 20, 2024, following a performance of “Parsifal.” In a statement the company said, “We are proud and happy that Gerald Finley has been closely associated with the Bayerische Staatsoper for many years. Since his house debut in 2011 at the Munich Opera Festival with the title {…}

Jul 4, 2024

Royal Opera House 2023-24 Review: Così fan tutte

(Photo credit: Clive Barda) It’s curtain down, the opera has just ended and the cast are – dressed in 18th century attire – each taking their turns to bow to the applause, to the sound of “Così’s” ouverture. Confused? Well, that was just the start to an evening that was as whacky as it was amusing, if not also a {…}

May 26, 2024

Royal Opera House 2023-24 Review: Celebrating 22 Years of Sir Antonio Pappano

A truly packed house, a cast of operatic luminaries and a program of works chosen and compiled by Maestro Pappano himself; a Gala, fit for a KING, surely? Which is just as well because His Royal Highness King Charles III was in the audience as a truly surprise guest of honor, courtesy of a massive covert security operation that even {…}

May 22, 2024

Teatro Real 2023-24 Review: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

It has been 23 years since Daniel Barenboim offered three performances of Wagner’s comedy at Teatro Real. It was the first Laurent Pelly Wagner production, and therefore the expectations were high. And the result did not disappoint an enthusiastic audience which gave strong ovations at the curtain call. Pelly is a master in “comedy” and he recognizes that he doesn’t {…}

May 13, 2024

Anna Netrebko, Juan Diego Flórez, Diana Damrau, Lise Davidsen, René Pape & Rachel Willis-Sørensen Lead Staatsoper Unter Den Linden’s 2024-25 Season

The Staatsoper Unter den Linden has announced its 2024-25 season. Premieres Luca Salsi and Anna Netrebko team up for Verdi’s “Nabucco.” Ivan Magrì, Marina Prudenskaya, and René Pape join them. Anastasia Bartoli also performs. Bertrand de Billy conducts the new production by Emma Dante. Performance Dates: Oct. 2-26, 2024 Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette” receives a new production featuring multiple casts. {…}