(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 {…}
(Credit: Julian Hargreaves) Eleonora Buratto will step into the cast of the 150° Anniversary 1871 “Aida” Gala Concert at the Arena di Verona on June 19 & 22, 2021. Buratto will perform the title role instead of Sonya Yoncheva who was originally announced for the performance. The soprano will join a cast that includes Anita Rachvelishvili as Amneris, Francesco Meli {…}
(Credit: Ray Burmiston) Soprano Lise Davidsen will perform the concert at the Teatro alla Scala on May 10, 2021. The concert will be streamed on Raiplay from May 11, 2021 from 12 p.m. CET for a period of one week. The concert will be open to the audience within the limits of current Italian government’s COVID-19 legislation. Davidsen will present {…}
(Credit: Opéra De Toulon official website) Opéra De Toulon has announced the cancellation of its final opera for the 2020-21 season, Verdi‘s masterwork “La Traviata.” The opera was set to run between May 28 and June 1 2021 for a total of three performances. The production was supposed to star Eugenia Dushina in the role of Violetta Valéry, Julien Behr {…}
(Credit: https://www.muenchen.de/) The Bayerische Staatsoper has announced that it will resume the rehearsals of Aribert Reimann’s massive opera “Lear” on April 24, 2021. The rehearsals were discontinued on April 17 as one member of the production team tested positive for COVID-19, which triggered mandatory isolation for all the persons involved with the rehearsals. After subsequent extensive control tests on the {…}
(Credits: LA Opera official website / Peter Knutson) The Bayerische Staatsoper has announced the cancelation of its run of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” between March 20 & 26, and the presentations of Verdi’s “Les Vêpres siciliennes” on April 5, 10 & 13, 2021. The opera house stated that the performances could not be presented due to the worsening of the {…}