(Credit: Ken Howard / Met Opera) The LA Philharmonic has announced its 2020-21 season featuring a number of important stars and conductors. For the purposes of this article, we will only highlight vocal performances. The season opens with Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Peer Gynt selections with Gustavo Dudamel conducting Lang Lang. The program also includes John Adams’ Short Ride in {…}
(Credit: Jiyang Chen/ Robert Workman) Wigmore Hall has announced its 2020-21 Season with a number of recitals from some of the world’s greatest singers. The season will include a plethora of performances, including chamber music, song, piano, early music, contemporary music, and jazz. For this article, we will highlight singers. Some of the biggest highlights of the season will include {…}
(Credit: Catherine Ashmore) David McVicar’s new production of Britten’s late masterpiece “Death in Venice” is a brooding and elusive meditation on the tribulations of aging creativity and its relationship to death and desire. Peter Pears confided that “Ben is writing an evil opera, and it is killing him,” which no doubt prompts cured autobiographical readings of the work. But here {…}
Europe dominates this weekend’s operas to see, but we also have a major recommendation over in Muscat where a noted diva will take on an iconic bel canto role. Here are the operas we think you need to see this weekend. Le Nozze di Figaro – Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, France Acclaimed filmmaker James Gray makes his opera debut directing Mozart’s {…}
(Credit: Gran Theatre del Liceu/Bayerische Staatsoper/Metropolitan Opera) This weekend is stacked with a number of new productions and revivals with some of the biggest stars. Here is a look at seven works we think are unmissable. Guillaume Tell – Chorégies d’Orange, France Nicola Alaimo takes on Rossini’s final opera, a work that has become his signature. He is joined by {…}
(Production picture from the Canadian Opera Company) The winners of the 2019 Dora Awards were announced earlier this week. Among the opera categories, the Canadian Opera Company won a number of major accolades, including Outstanding Production for its staging of “Eugene Onegin.” In sum, the company managed seven wins for three different operas. “Eugene Onegin” was the big winner, taking {…}
The Royal Opera will make a return to Japan during the 2019-20 season. The company will perform two classic works of the standard repertory including Verdi’s “Otello” and Gounod’s “Faust.” Antonio Pappano will conduct all of the performances. “Faust” will open on tour on Sept. 12, 2019 and will feature tenor Vittorio Grigòlo in the title role. He will be {…}
The Dora Award nominations have been announced with the Canadian Opera leading the way. In the Outstanding Production category, the Canadian Opera’s production of “La Bohème,” “Hadrian,” “Otello,” and “Eugene Onegin” are nominated alongside “Kopernikus” for the Against the Grain Theatre. Meanwhile, in the Outstanding Performance by an Individual category, Angel Blue, Ambur Braid, Gerald Finley, Thomas Hampson, Tamara Wilson, {…}
The Royal Opera House has announced its 2019-20 Season featuring some of the greatest singers in the world in 17 new productions of both ballet and opera. For this article, we will only focus on opera performances. Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” opens the 2019-20 season with Erwin Schrott in the title role alongside Roberto Tagliavini, Malin Byström, Christine Rice. Daniel Behle, Emanuele D’Aguanno, Louise Alder, Lars Woldt, {…}
This week’s CD releases are full of some rather exciting offerings. On one hand, you get a chance to check out a Donizetti opera that seems to be getting some noteworthy re-evaluation from a number of festivals around the world, while the other major offering centers on a work by a modern master. Finally, a unique soprano will present music {…}
May 1, 1786. That is the day that, for many, the greatest opera of all-time had its very first performance. “Le Nozze di Figaro” has held the stage ever since, performed by all the great interpreters all over the world. The work has also developed a healthy discography over the ages both on audio and visual media, making it impossible {…}
