My final day at this year’s Janacek Festival ended with a performance of its awarding-winning production of “Jenufa,” starring Karita Mattila as the Kostelnička, Pavla Vykopalova as Jenufa, Peter Berger as Laca and Richard Samek as Števa, in what was a well sung presentation. The conductor opted for a light reading which brought out the lyricism and folk melodies of {…}
Yesterday evening I had just finished writing Day 3 of the Festival Diary when I bumped into the composer Krystof Maratka, whom I had earlier seen performing his piece “Prophecy” for piano and folk instruments, which consisted of bone flutes, whistles, stones and other weird and wonderful instruments. We had an interesting chat in which he explained his fascination with {…}
This morning I headed off to Brno’s Romany Museum, the only one dedicated to the Roma people, their history, and their culture in Europe. Situated in a fairly poor area of the city in which the Roma people had been forcibly settled I was greeted by a most enthusiastic and knowledgable guide who was happy to give me a personal {…}
Finally, I have arrived in Brno for the Janacek Festival, 24 hours later than scheduled thanks to a strike by Italian rail staff, which following a series of cancellations and delays left me stranded and seeking a hotel room in Vienna at half-past midnight. Brno is a small picturesque Czech city set close to the Austrian border which each year {…}
(Credits: Sandrine Expilly / Bertie Watson) The Gramophone has announced its 2020 Awards. The top Opera recording went to the Erato’s release of Handel’s “Agrippina”, featuring Joyce DiDonato, Elsa Benoit, Luca Pisaroni, Franco Fagioli, Jakub Józef Orliński, Andrea Mastroni, Carlo Vistoli, Biagio Pizzuti, and Marie-Nicole Lemieux. Maxim Emelyanychev conducted the Il Pomo d’Oro orchestra. Sandrine Piau received the Recital prize {…}
(Credit: Národní divadlo official website) The entire 62-member chorus of the Opera of the National Theater in Prague has been sent into a two-week quarantine after it was revealed that several members of the ensemble had contracted COVID-19. As a result, the performance of the Bedřich Smetana’s opera “Libuše” has been canceled. Janáček’s opera “Jenůfa” and Dvořák’s opera “Rusalka” will {…}
(Credits: © Yiorgos Mavropoulos / Andreas Weiss) The Herbstgold Festival in Eisenstadt has announced its 2020 Edition. For the purposes of this article, we will focus only on vocal performances. The festival opens with a concert starring soprano Marlis Petersen, mezzo-soprano Anke Vondung, tenor Werner Güra, and bass Florian Boesch. The program includes Haydn’s Symphony No. 30 in C major {…}
The London Symphony Orchestra announced the pre-sale of a new live recording of Janáček’s “Cunning Little Vixen” & “Sinfonietta.” Orders will be accepted starting on August 7. The album is set to release on September 4 and features the LSO’s Music Director Sir Simon Rattle on the podium conducting the Peter Sellars semi-staged production. Lucy Crowe stars as the Vixen, {…}
(Credit: Victoria Cadisch) The Royal Opera House has announced that Alison Langer will be performing the role of Barena in Jancek’s “Jenufa,” starting on March 24, 2020. She will replace Masabene Cecilia Rangwanasha, who, per the press release, could not take on the role due to her commitment to performances of “Susanna,” also with the company. Langer is a graduate {…}
(Credit: Ruth Waltz) The Royal Opera House is set to open a new production of Leoš Janáček‘s “Jenůfa” starting on March 24, 2020. The production, which will be directed by Claus Guth, is the third in the company’s Janáček series following productions of “Kát’a Kabanová” in 2019 and “From the House of the Dead” in 2018. Moreover, this will be {…}
(Credit: Yasuko Kageyama) Damiano Michieletto is one of the most sought after directors today. Born in Venice, he graduated in modern literature at the Venice University and then went on to study theatre and opera production at the Paolo Grassi School of Dramatic Art in Milan. Success would follow him soon after when he debuted in 2003 at the Wexford {…}