(Photo: Thomas Ziegler) Among the lesser-known gems presented at this year’s Halle Handel Festival, Alessandro Scarlatti’s “La Santissima Annunziata” stood out for its spiritual focus and musical refinement. Composed around 1700/1703 and revived in 1708 under the patronage of Prince Ruspoli, this early Roman oratorio—with a libretto attributed to Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni—offers a deeply meditative take on the Annunciation. Unlike {…}
The Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano has announced its 2025-26 season. Here are the vocal performances. Chiara Isotton, Szilvia Vörös, Antonio Poli, and Manuel Fuentes Perform Verdi’s Requiem. Emmanuel Tjeknavorian Conducts. Performance Dates: Nov. 14-16, 2025 Handel’s Messiah will be performed by Giulia Semenzato, Lorrie Garcia, Jorge Navarro Colorado, and Fabrizio Beggi. Fabio Biondi Conducts. Performance Dates: Dec. 12 & 14, 2025 Massimo Fiocchi {…}
La Cité Bleue announces its 2025-26 season. For the purpose of this article only classical voice performances are included. Max Emanuel Cenčić takes on the title role in Cavalli’s “Pompeo Magno.” The concert version also features Logan Lopez Gonzalez, Valerio Contaldo, Mariana Flores, Alois Mülhbacher, Kacper Szelążek, Victor Sicard, Pierre-Antoine Chaumien, Lucía Martín Cartón, Valer Săbăduș, Jorge Navarro Colorado, Marcel {…}
(Photo: Felix Grünschloß) One of the highlights of this year’s International Händel Festspiele in Karlsruhe was its new production of the composer’s rarely performed 1731 revised version of “Rinaldo.” Arranged for a performance operating on a smaller budget with a new ensemble, Händel made numerous changes to the original 1711 score, including a reduction in the size of the orchestra {…}
(Photo: Alciro Theodoro Da Silva) At the end of February, start of March this year, the Badisches Staatstheater, Karlsruhe is presenting a Händel festival, which includes productions of “Rinaldo,” and “Siroe, Re di Persia,” among many other events. During a recent performance of “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria” in Ravenna, OperaWire met up with Spanish tenor Jorge Navarro Colorado, {…}
(Photo: Zani-Casadio) Following on from the previous day’s performance of Monteverdi’s “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria,” Ravenna’s Teatro Alighieri continued with a production of Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” coupled with “Hail, Bright Cecelia,” presented by the same cast under the musical direction of Ottavio Dantone. The fact that Pier Luigi Pizzi, who had been responsible for the lackluster staging {…}
(Photo: Zani-Casadio) In his program notes, the director, Pier Luigi Pizzi, writing about “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria,” stated that “the opera speaks for itself,” adding, “we must not induce or force its interpretation… It is up to the audience to confront it, to think about it, and to decide for themselves whether or not it is worthwhile.” Even {…}
(Photo: Genevieve Girling) Written in 1707 while living in Italy, Händel’s first oratorio, “Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno,” was a work that he would return to again and again over his career. Not only did he mine it for arias he could use in his operas, but he also created two further versions of the piece. In 1737, {…}
American Randall Scotting has made a name for himself both as an authority on Italian Baroque music and as one of its most exquisitely timbered interpreters. The countertenor has in the past year alone released two albums, “The Crown” and “Lovesick,” a 17th century anthology about loss and heartbreak. With “Infinite Refrain: Music of Love’s Refuge” he joins forces with {…}
Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences will get to experience a gay-themed albumm as well as the critical edition of one verismo’s beloved operas. Infinite Refrain – Music of Love’s Refuge Signum Classics releases Randall Scotting’s latest album. This duet album is a musical journey that {…}
The Auditori in Barcelona has announced its 2022-23 season. Here are vocal highlights for the season. Audrey and Ludovic Morlot join forces for Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Performance Date: Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2022 Sarah Connolly and Ludovic Morlot perform a program of music by Mahler, Dvorak and Rio-Pareja, and Rachmaninoff. Performance Dates: Oct. 15 & 16, 2022 Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano {…}