Photo: David Ruano/Gran Teatre del Liceu On the 25th of February 2023, Gran Teatro del Liceu streamed their new production of Verdi’s “Macbeth” with American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky singing Lady Macbeth, the leading female role. It was a huge success, garnering an explosive reaction from the audience at the curtain call, who showed great admiration towards the cast, orchestra, and {…}
Opera de Oviedo closed his 75th season with a period production of Verdi’s “Ernani,” which included a strong cast of singers and the expert baton of the Italian conductor Daniele Callegari. The Italian stage director Giorgia Guerra did an homage to old-school opera. She staged the opera with painted canvas, cardboard arches, pillars, and curtains, as it probably would’ve been {…}
On December 30th, Detroit Opera ended its transformative 2021-2022 season with a concert production of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Aida,” his antepenultimate work whose Oriental plot and exotic aesthetics discredit the work’s premiere location, ironically the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo, Egypt. It seemed people of all kinds came to see this production, one of opera’s most infamous players. It should {…}
New York’s Heartbeat Opera has announced its 2022-23 Season, which includes a video premiere and the company’s Spring Festival, featuring significant adaptions of Puccini’s “Tosca” and Verdi’s “Macbeth.” The Season kicks off with a free video premiere of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” featuring over 100 incarcerated singers from six prison choirs. Ethan Heard adapted and directed this re-imagining of the opera in {…}
Photo: Clive Barda 2022 ROH This first revival of Keith Warner’s production of Verdi’s “Otello” (libretto by longstanding collaborator Arrigo Boito) comes with a frisson of contextual excitement. Warner’s expressionist production opened in 2017 starring Gregory Kunde and Jonas Kaufmann, and tried to give the piece a more existentialist reading that turned away from the problems that skin color presents {…}
(Credit: Bill Cooper) A much-anticipated revival of Verdi’s breakthrough Old Testament drama on the life of Nebuchadnezzar opened before Christmas with its second cast. COVID supervened to scratch performances until January – which in theory would’ve seen Anna Netrebko make her role debut as Abigaille, one frequently thwarted by the pandemic. As it happened, travel restrictions meant an evening senza {…}
(Credit: Staatsoper Unter den Linden official website) The Teatro alla Scala has announced that bass Ildar Abdrazakov will not be appearing in the role of Banquo in the final performance of Verdi’s “Macbeth” scheduled for Dec. 29, 2021. No reason has been given for the cast change. As a result, South Korean bass Jongmin Park will take over the role. {…}
“Page to Opera Stage” looks at stories – real-life or fiction, old and new – that have inspired operas, and the ways these narratives have been edited and dramatized to fit a new medium. In this instalment, we look at one more theatrical play – this one loosely based on reality – that was later adapted to a (more heavily {…}
This week audiences will get to experience two new releases; one comes from a rising star while the other honoring female troubadours. Here is a look. Cappella Clausura Presents Troubadours 2021 Cappella Clausura recorded a collection of commissioned works honoring female troubadours of the 12th-14th century. The recording will give new life to the works by an eclectic group of modern-day {…}
(Credits: Dario Acosta / Sonya Yoncheva official website / © Gregor Hohenberg / Kasskara/DG / Operabase official website / Staatsoper Berlin official website) The Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin has announced its 2021-22 season. Here is the full slate. Operas Beethoven’s “Fidelio” will open the season. The opera stars Roman Trekel, Matthias Goerne, Pavel Černoch, Andreas Schager, Simone Schneider, {…}
(Credits: © Dario Acosta / © Gregor Hohenberg / Sony Classical / © Gregor Hohenberg / Sony Music Entertainment / © Tatiana Vlasova / © Dario Acosta) The Wiener Konzerthaus has announced its 2021-22 season featuring a variety of concerts from some of the world’s greatest performers. For the purpose of this article, we will only focus on the vocal {…}