The Philharmonie de Paris has announced its 2018-19 season filled with numerous concerts and operatic selections. The season will see a number of international stars and orchestras as guest artists to this important Parisian hall. Here is a look at the vocal highlights. Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra continue their exploration of the Ring Cycle with “Siegfried.” The opera {…}
(Credit: © Semperoper Dresden/Klaus Gigga) The Semperoper Dresden has announced its 2018-19 season featuring a number of superstars and nine new productions of operettas, chamber opera, and grand opera. As always, the following will only cover the operas that will be shown next season and not the ballets that were also included in the season announcement. New Production Arnold Schönberg’ {…}
It’s popular to make year-end lists, and I saw between 30-35 performances during the calendar year. Much of what I saw was terrific and, of course, there were many more outstanding performances that I didn’t see. These are the five that I will remember the most from what I saw; they are not necessarily the best but will remain in {…}
During the 19th century “Fra Diavolo,” written by Auber to a libretto by Scribe, was one of France’s most popular operas, amassing over 900 performances at the Opéra Comique, before finally being dropped from the repertoire in 1907. Nowadays, it has largely been forgotten, with only the occasional rare outing, of which Opera Roma’s is the latest offering. Yet, based {…}
It’s another hectic weekend with many of the worlds greatest stars performing around the world. The modern classics and many of the traditional warhorses will be featured this weekend. Austria The Vienna State Opera continues its run of “La Bohème” with Jinxu Xiahou, Hrachuhí Bassenz, Gabriel Bermúdez and Aida Garifullina as well as “The Gambler” with Linda Watson and “Don Giovanni” {…}
“Fra Diavolo” is a rarely performed opera and yet it has a great deal to offer for the tenor that decides to take on its major challenges. Well, this week, tenor John Osborn will be the man to step into the role of Auber’s opera at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma with a cast that also features Roberto de Candia, {…}
Three diverse albums are set for release from a rising star, an established tenor, and a legendary mezzo soprano. Find out what’s in store for this week. Cleopatra Rising star Regula Muhlemann will release a new album for Sony Classical dedicated to Cleopatra in opera. The album features arias from “Giulio Cesare” and ” Marc’Antonio e Cleopatra. ” Robin Peter Muller {…}
Two new releases highlight the week. The first is a controversial production from the Royal Opera House while the other one comes from a historical production from the Deutsche Oper Berlin. And both should be enticing to any opera lover. William Tell Back in 2015, Damiano Micheletto’s production of “Guillaume Tell” opened to outrage and lots of boos at the {…}
After showcasing a wide range of repertoire that will be showcased this fall in the United States, it’s time to look at the European theaters. With hundreds of houses around the world opening at the same time, it was challenging to put together this list. But after looking through several theaters, OperaWire has curated the must-see operas for this fall {…}
The Operalia Competition is just days away and in anticipation of the famed event, we will take a look back down memory lane at the opera singers who became stars after big performances at the competition. For this week’s installment, we will look at the early years of the competition and the 90s. Here are the winners of that decade {…}
The opera season continues in full swing as many of the top stars continue runs of important operas around the world. Austria The Vienna State Opera kicks off its weekend with Strauss’ “Elektra” starring Waltraud Meier, Nina Stemme, Regine Hangler, Herbert Lippert and Alan Held. It follows on Saturday with Debussy “Pelléas et Mélisande” with Franz-Josef Selig, Bernarda Fink, Adrian Eröd, Simon {…}