(Photo credit: Koen Broos) Over the past twenty years or so, there have been plenty of programs on television, radio and the internet devoted to oral history, in which everyday people recall major and minor events along with the social and economic conditions from their own past to create an anecdotal montage that can be accessed by current and future {…}
(Photo © Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Tristram Kenton) There was much to fuel the excitement around a brand new production of Franz Lehár’s “The Merry Widow” for Glyndebourne Festival Opera this year. It’s the first time the work has ever been mounted there, and it’s always a treat to see what the slickly-oiled operatic operation, with its six weeks of {…}
The Glyndebourne Festival has announced its 2025 season. New Productions The season will see the company’s first-ever production of Wagner’s “Parsifal” directed by Jetske Mijnssen. Robin Ticciati conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra with a cast that includes Daniel Johansson as Parsifal and mezzo-soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek as Kundry. Performance Dates: May 17 – June 24, 2025 Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” {…}
Credit: Teatro Real Teatro Real closes the 2022-23 season with 17 performances of Puccini’s “Turandot.” It is a revival of their own Robert Wilson production, which premiered at Teatro Real in 2018, featuring three different casts. The opera will be screened live in several squares all over Spain, will be shown on RTVE (The main Spanish Tv channel), and will {…}
Photo: Ruth Walz Whatever one thinks about the efficacy of the measures introduced to combat the COVID crisis, the political processes by which they were introduced should be a serious cause for concern. Governments throughout the West rushed through measures, often by-passing parliamentary discussion and oversight and ruled by decree. Criticism and dissent were stifled. The media, which should have {…}
Dutch National Opera is set to present the world premiere of “Animal Farm” as part of its Opera Forward Festival 2023. The work, which is based on George Orwell’s iconic book, features a libretto by Ian Burton and music by Alexander Raskatov. It will star Gennady Bezzenbenkov, Misha Kiria, Michael Gniffke, James Kryshak, Germán Olvera, Karl Laquit, Artyom Krutko, Helena {…}
(Credit: Chris Christodoulou) OperaVision has announced its streams for the month of January. Polly Graham’s production of Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” from the Royal College of Music kicks off the streaming slate. The opera features Jamie Woollard as Sarastro, Michael Bell as Tamino, Charlotte Bowden as Pamina, and Clara Barbier as Die Königin der Nacht. The cast also includes Dafydd Allen, {…}