Sasha Cooke, Heidi Stober, David Portillo, J’Nai Bridges & Jarrett Ott Lead Seattle Opera’s 2025-26 Season

The Seattle Opera has announced its 2025-26 season. The season opens with Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance.” The cast includes Reginald Smith, Jr. as the Pirate King, Thomas Glass as Major-General Stanley, David Portillo as Frederic, Vanessa Becerra as Mabel, and Katharine Goeldner as Ruth. David Charles Abell will conduct Sean Curran’s production. Performance Dates: Oct. 18-Nov. 1, {…}

Jul 11, 2024

Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2024 Review: Samson

(Photo credit: Monika Rittershaus) “So, who is signing the work?” an operagoer asks Raphaël Pichon and Claus Guth at a lunchtime panel about their opera-project “Samson.” The music is Rameau’s, but it is not that simple. According to Guth (and his Wikipedia search), Rameau did indeed compose a “Samson” with a libretto by Voltaire; however, it is all lost. Pichon {…}

May 15, 2024

Erika Grimaldi, John Osborn, Sara Blanch & Gregory Kunde Lead Teatro Regio di Torino’s 2024-25 Season

The Teatro Regio di Torino has announced its 2024-25 season. “Manon” Renato Palumbo conducts Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” with Arnaud Bernard directing. The cast will include Erika Grimaldi, Dinara Alieva, Andeka Gorrotxategui, Carlo Ventre, Carlo Lepore, and Alessandro Luongo. Performance Dates: Oct. 1-26, 2024 Massenet’s “Manon” wil star Ekaterina Bakanova, Martina Russomanno, Bjorn Burger Maxim Lisiin, Atalla Ayan, Andrei Danilov, Roberto {…}

Apr 19, 2024

Nadine Sierra, Saioa Hernández, Piotr Beczała, Sonya Yoncheva, Xabier Anduaga & Juan Diego Flórez Lead Gran Teatre del Liceu’s 2024-25 Season

The Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona has announced its 2024-25 season. Opera Josep Pons conducts Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” with Alexei Botnarciuc, Daniel Kirch, Sara Jakubiak, Ángeles Blancas, and Pavel Černoch. Àlex Ollé conducts. Performance Date: Sept. 25-Oct. 7, 2024 Maria Agresta and Saioa Hernández star in Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” with Artur Ruciński, Amartuvshin Enkhbat, Brian {…}

Nov 10, 2023

Lawrence Brownlee, Julia Bullock, Latonia Moore & Anthony Roth Costanzo Lead Classical Grammy Nominees

The Grammy nominations have been announced. The Best Opera Recording nominees are Blanchard’s Champion featuring Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Ryan Speedo Green, Latonia Moore, and Eric Owens with David Frost as the producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus); and Corigliano’s “The Lord Of Cries” featuring Gil Rose, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Kathryn Henry, Jarrett Ott, and David Portillo with Gil {…}

Aug 8, 2023

Salzburg Festival 2023 Review: The Indian Queen

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 {…}

May 9, 2023

Jarrett Ott, Amina Edris & Daniel Brenna Lead Opéra de Lille’s 2023-24 Season

The Opéra de Lille has announced its 2023-24 season celebrating its 100th anniversary. Opera Jarrett Ott sings the title role of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni“ alongside James Platt, Emőke Baráth, Eric Ferring, Chiara Skerath, Vladyslav Buialskyi, Sergio Villegas, and Marie Lys. Emmanuelle Haïm conducts the production by Guy Cassiers. Performance Dates: Oct. 5-15, 2023 Daniel Brenna and Annemarie Kremer star in {…}

Nov 1, 2022

Nicole Cabell & Michael Sumuel Lead Pittsburgh Opera’s ‘The Marriage of Figaro’

The Pittsburgh Opera is set to present “The Marriage of Figaro” in a revival production. The opera, which is set to take the stage between Nov. 5 and 13, will star Natasha Te Rupe Wilson, Michael Sumuel, Nicole Cabell, Jarrett Ott, Ricardo Lugo, Daniel O’Hearn, and Jazmine Olwalia. Antony Walker conducts the revival production by Stephanie Havey, which is jointly owned {…}

Jun 3, 2022

Corinne Winters, Lucio Gallo, Federica Lombardi & Atalla Ayan Lead Staatsoper Stuttgart’s 2022-23 Season

The Staatsoper Stuttgart has announced its 2022-23 season Premieres “Liebstod” from concept by Johannes Müller and Philine Rinnert will be performed. Performance Dates: Sept. 23-25, 2022 Wagner’s “Siegfried” will star Daniel Brenna, Matthias Klink, Tommi Hakala, David Steffens, Beate Ritter, Stine Marie Fischer, and Simone Schneider. Cornelius Meister conducts the production by Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito. Performance Dates: Oct. 9, {…}

Feb 9, 2022

Nicole Cabell, Ekaterina Siurina & Gregory Kunde Lead Pittsburgh Opera’s 2022-23 Season

The Pittsburgh Opera has announced its 2022-23 season with six operas, performed across a total of four different venues—the Benedum Center, the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, Pittsburgh CAPA School Theater, and Pittsburgh Opera’s headquarters the Bitz Opera Factory. Dvořák’s “Rusalka” opens the season with Antony Walker conducting and Kristine McIntyre directing. Ekaterina Siurina stars in the title role {…}

Oct 28, 2021

Anna Prohaska, Magdalena Kožená, Max Emanuel Cenčić, Eva Zaïcik & Reinoud Van Mechelen Lead Staatsoper Berlin’s Barocktage 2021

(Credit: Staatsoper Unter den Linden / Marcus Ebener) The Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin has announced its Barocktage. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on vocal works only. Here is a look. Baritone Adam Kutny kicks off the festival with the children opera “Theseus’ Reise in die Unterwelt.” Carolina Nees is the moderator. Performance Dates: Nov. {…}