OperaWire met up with English soprano Charlotte Bowden between performances of Monteverdi’s “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria” and a double Purcell bill of “Hail! Bright St. Cecilia” and “Dido and Aeneas” at the Ravenna festival, in which she was essaying the roles of Melanto, a solo soprano and Belinda, respectively. Although she only recently graduated from the Royal College {…}
(Photo credit: SF/Marco Borrelli) Thomas Dunford and Lea Desandre are pop. Young, synergetic, and talented, they exude a pop quality even when they are not singing the Beatles. It is a fresh thing that makes them desirable and somehow accessible. But how many people can play the lute like Thomas and sing like Lea? In their Salzburg recital, their pop-ness {…}
(Photo Credit: Cassandra Hannagan) Audience-members arriving at Sydney’s Angel Place Recital Hall for Pinchgut Opera’s latest production, Purcell’s opera “Dido and Aeneas,” walked in on a boxed theatrical space in which ensemble-members crossed and re-crossed the stage folding linen. While some audience-members were to be heard wondering what the folding signified, the repeated activity, minutes before the opera started, could {…}
Photo credit: © SF/Marco Borrell It might be unfair to name Purcell as the composer of “The Indian Queen.” The opera, left unfinished, has been restored from the composer’s fragments mostly through the efforts of Teodor Currentzis and Peter Sellars. They managed to give some theatrical shape to the arias and added music from elsewhere in Purcell’s corpus that made {…}
On July 1, 2023, Sunset Sounds will present a semi-staged performance of Purcell’s “The Fairy Queen.” Held in the gardens of Wyke House in Somerset, the performance will feature readings of poetry and excerpts from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which have been carefully selected by the artists to shape the libretto. The performance will transition between two areas of {…}
Countertenor James M. Brown brought together a talented group of young artists to perform “A Ghost’s Endeavor,” a recital that included music from the Baroque to today. The performance was held in the Vino Theater in Brooklyn, New York. The building is a communal area that comprises several levels and a black box theater. From the outside, the nearly block-long {…}
The Open-Air St. Gallen Festival has announced a major change for its upcoming editions. Starting in 2024, the event will be performed alternatively at the St.Gallen monastery district and in the natural arena on the Flumserberg in the south of the canton of St. Gallen. The company also revealed that for that 2024 edition, the new venue will host a {…}
The Washington Bach Consort will present “Orpheus Britannicus” on Oct. 30, 2022. The showcase, which will take place at National Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C. will feature soprano Amy Broadbent, countertenor Clifton Massey, tenor Matthew Loyal Smith, and basses Jonathon Adams and Jason Widney as they take on music by Purcell. They will be led by Artistic Director Dana Marsh. {…}
(Credits: © Aymeric Giraudel / Fabien Monthubert / © Simon Fowler) Opéra de Rouen Normandie, France has announced its 2021-22 season. For the purpose of this article, we will only focus on the operatic and vocal performances. Here is the full slate. Opera and Musicals Verdi‘s “Il Trovatore” opens the season with Lionel Lhote as Count di Luna, Brigitta Kele {…}
(Credits: Håkan Flank / Theodora Richter / Harald Hoffmann) The Duisburger Philharmoniker has announced its 2021-22 season. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on vocal works only. A performance of Beethoven‘s “Missa Solemnis” stars soprano Julia Kleiter, tenor Christoph Prégardien, alto Ingeborg Danz, and bass Tareq Nazmi. Christoph Spering conducts the Chorus Musicus Köln. Performance dates: Sep. {…}
(Credits: Operabase official website / Jiyang Chen / Simon Pauly / Ray Burmiston / Opus 3 Artists official website) The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg has announced its 2021-22 season. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on the vocal works only. Baritone Matthias Goerne presents works by Richard Wagner alongside conductor Manfred Honeck. Performance date: Aug. 29, 2021 Soprano Diana {…}