(Credit: © Hugo Thomassen) The Dutch National Opera is set to present Bellini’s rarely performed “I Capuleti e i Montecchi.” The work will be staged from Dec. 7 to 28, 2025, featuring Antonino Fogliani leading the Netherlands Philharmonic, and Chilean soprano Yaritza Véliz is making her DNO house debut in the role of Giulietta and mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya as Romeo. {…}
Bellini’s “I Capuleti e I Montecchi” has long been ignored in the New York tri-state area. Even though the work has had several performances in New York City, first in 1848, then in 1958 in Carnegie Hall, and later in 1999 with the Opera Orchestra of New York, the work has remained absent from major theaters like the Metropolitan Opera. {…}
(Photo: ©SF Marco Borrelli) It is believed that there are no bad orchestras, just bad conductors. Following this rationale, Marco Armiliato conducting my high school orchestra in David Gefffen Hall would be greeted with rave reviews. It is not that he wrung water out of stones—this miracle belongs exclusively to Moses’s staff. But, he did lead Salzburg’s Mozarteum Orchestra to {…}
The Lithuanian National Opera is set to resent “Bellini’s “I Capuleti e i Montecchi.” The opera will be conducted by Bel Canto specialist Sesto Quatrini with which he debuted on the podium of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre in June 2017. The revival of the Vincent Boussard production is set to star Raffaella Lupinacci, Lucrezia Drei, Davide Giusti and {…}
This week, the Teatro Massimo di Bellini in Catania will celebrate the famed composer with “I Capuleti e i Montecchi.” To mark the occasion, the the Italian theater has hired two important bel canto singers for the job. Leading the charge is Spanish soprano Ruth Iniesta who will take on the role of Giulietta for the first time in her {…}
(Credit: Speranza Scappucci official website) The Teatro alla Scala has announced that conductor Evelino Pidò has withdrawn from the production of Bellini’s “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” due to a health emergency. As a result, Speranza Scappucci, the Music Director of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, will take over in the pit. Scappucci will lead a cast that includes Marianne {…}
One of the successes of this year’s Wexford Festival Opera was undoubtedly the Wexford Factory, a program of masterclasses introduced by the festival’s artistic director Rosetta Cucchi aimed at developing young talent. The participants are also given the opportunity to sing in an opera on the main stage during the afternoon, replacing the 60 to 90 minute opera short productions, {…}
(Photo: Clive Barda) On taking up the post of Artistic Director for Wexford Festival Opera in 2020, Rosetta Cucchi introduced a number of innovations, one of which was the establishment of the Wexford Factory aimed at offering professional and financial support to young singers in the early stages of their careers. A central part of the initiative is the presentation {…}
(Credits: Michael Cooper / Dario Acosta / Sonya Yoncheva official website / © Gregor Hohenberg / Gregor Hohenberg / Sony Music Entertainment) The Teatro alla Scala in Milan has announced its 2021-22 season, featuring some of the greatest performers in the world. Here is the full slate. Operas Anna Netrebko and Luca Salsi open the season in Verdi‘s “Macbeth” in {…}
(Credits: Salzburger Festspiele official website / Allegorica Opera Management official website / Askonas Holt official website) The Teatro Massimo di Palermo will livestream its concert on Jan. 31, 2021. Mezzosoprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, tenor Giulio Pelligra and bass Alexandros Stavrakakis will perform a program that includes Sergej Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 in D major op. 25, and Igor Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella.” Gabriele {…}
(Images source: MEZZO TV website) Opernhaus Zürich will broadcast three operas on MEZZO TV throughout January and February 2021. First up will be Bellini’s operatic jewel “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” featuring Joyce DiDonato in the role of Romeo, Olga Kulchynska as Giulietta, Benjamin Bernheim in the role of Tebaldo, Alexei Botnarciuc as Capellio, and Erik Anstine as Lorenzo. Opernhaus {…}