It’s a star-studded week of releases. There will be two solo debut albums, one important DVD release, and the debut of two stars on a new label. Here is a look! Puccini in Love Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak team up for their first collaborative album featuring the works of Puccini. The new album features excerpts from “Manon Lescaut,” “La {…}
This week the opera world will get a chance to see a world premiere, a rarely performed work, a season-opening and two new productions with distinguished casts. Among the performers this week are Pretty Yende, Irene Theorin, Sonya Yoncheva, and Javier Camarena. Here is a look at what to see. Lohengrin-Vlaanderen Opera, Belgium Zoran Todorovich sings the title role in Wagner’s {…}
Countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński has announced the release of his first solo album. The new album, entitled “Anima Sacra,” will be released on Warner Classics and will feature music by Fago, Heinichen, Terradellas, Sarro, Feo, Zelenka, Hasse, Schiassi, and Durante. According to Warner Classics, it will also feature world premiere recordings of eight Baroque arias, notably by composers of the Neapolitan school {…}
The Opera Orchestre National de Montpelier has announced its 2018-19 season featuring a vast array of repertoire. The season will feature established artists as well as rising stars. For this season announcement, we have only focused on the vocal events. Production Hervé’s “Mam’zelle Nitouche” opens the season with Laura Neumann, Damien Birgourdain, Samy Camps, and Olivier Py in the lead {…}
The Opera de Lille has announced its 2018-19 Season featuring a number of opera staples and rarely performed works. The season will include a number of ballets and concerts, but for this season announcement we will only concentrate on the operatic highlights. Productions The season opens with Handel’s “Rodelinda” featuring Jeanine De Bique in the title role. The cast also includes Tim {…}
The Glyndebourne Festival has announced its 2019 season featuring six productions, of which two are new. Here is a look at what the festival will present. Productions The season opens with Berlioz’s “La Damnation de Faust” conducted by Robin Ticciati and directed by Richard Jones in a new production. Allan Clayton, Julie Boulianne, and Christopher Purves headline the production. Performance {…}
Oper Frankfurt has announced its 2018-19 season, featuring 14 new productions, a number of revivals and recitals. The season will feature a number of Frankfurt premieres and one world premiere. Here is a look at what to expect. New Productions Peter Eötvös ‘s “Tri sestry” gets its first Frankfurt performances in a new production by Dorothea Kirschbaum. The unique opera, {…}
The remote Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern might seem a strange place for a Music Festival, but for 25 years the island of Usedom has been hosting artists of international repute. Skeptical foreign visitors expecting bleak windswept dunes with a few forlorn fishermen’s shanties shrouded in eau de poisson will be in for a big surprise. Usedom’s popularity reached its apogee during {…}
Concert performances of operas can be a rather mixed bag. The works themselves were concocted with the vision of being complete art forms and taking them out of this context can be difficult. Many operas can get away with it simply by the symphonic qualities of the music (see Wagner or Strauss). But this can take an even more complex {…}
Next Sunday, March 25, New York audiences will get to experience a once-in-a-lifetime event as Harry Bicket and The English Concert takes the stage of Carnegie Hall with a superstar cast. While the likes Luca Pisaroni, Jane Archibald, and Iestyn Davies are likely to have everyone’s attention before the showcase, it is another artist that could also steal some of {…}
