It’s time for another weekend of opera, with a wide range of impressive offerings coming from around the continent. This week’s selections include a number of repertory staples as well as some unique modern operas by living composers. Frida – Atlanta Opera, Georgia The Atlanta Opera closes out its production of “Frida” with two performances on Friday and Sunday. The {…}
Editor’s Note: This piece has been edited as statements have come out regarding the situation. Following accusations of sexual harassment, numerous opera personalities have come in defense of Plácido Domingo. In the wake of accusations by nine women, opera stars have taken to Twitter, Instagram, and news outlets to defend their colleague. Among them is Bulgarian superstar soprano Sonya Yoncheva {…}
The Palau de la Musica de Valencia has announced its 2019-20 season. The season opens with María José Montiel and Ramón Tebar performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. Performance Date: Oct. 18, 2019 Raquel Lojendio, Cristina Faus, Vicente Ombuena, and José Antonio López will perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Ramón Tebar conducting. The concert will also include Ba reconstruction of the composer’s Symphony No. {…}
Joseph Calleja has canceled performances of Verdi’s “Rigoletto” at the Wiener Staatsoper. The tenor announced via social media that due to illness he would not be able to perform. He said, “Absolutely gutted to have to cancel my performances of the duke in my beloved Vienna. I expect to make a full recovery and resume with my performance in London {…}
Verdi’s “Rigoletto” will get the live stream treatment at the Vienna State Opera on May 9, 2019. But there will a nice twist for audiences. Joseph Calleja will take on the role of the villainous Duke of Mantua with Andrea Carroll as Gilda. Christopher Maltman will interpret the title role with Jongmin and Nadia Krasteva as Sparafucile and Maddalena, respectively. {…}
The Grange Park Opera has announced the 2020 Festival. The season will open with a world premiere of Anthony Bolton and librettist Kit Hesketh-Harvey’s “The Life & Death of Alexander Litvinenko.” The new opera will be based on the true story of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 and died in 2006. The cast will include {…}
The Baden-Baden Festival has announced its 2019-20 season with a number of great performers and concerts. For this article, we have only concentrated on vocal and opera events. here is a look. Fall Festival John Neumeier directs Gluck’s “Orfeo et Eurydice” with Alessandro de Marchi conducting. Performance Dates: Sept. 27-19, 2019 Dorothee Mields sings a program centered on Der Orpheus-Mythos {…}
The line-up for the first-ever Riga Jurmala Music Festival has been announced. The festival will take place in the Latvian cities of Riga and Jurmala this summer in a series of four concert and recital-packed weekends. For the purposes of this article, we will focus primarily on the vocal/opera-related performances. The first weekend of the Festival will kick off at {…}
The Semperoper Dresden has announced its slate for 2019-20, which will include seven new productions to go along with 23 revivals. New Productions Rossini’s “Il Viaggio a Reims” is directed by Laura Scozzi with a cast that includes Elena Gorshunova, Maria Kataeva, Tuuli Takala, Iulia Maria Dan, Taylor Stayton, Edgardo Rocha, Georg Zeppenfeld, Maurizio Muraro, Martin-Jan Nijhof, Christoph Pohl, Tilmann {…}
Opera Naples is set to present a special black-tie-optional evening, including a concert and dinner featuring Joseph Calleja. An Evening with Joseph Calleja will feature the tenor in his Opera Naples debut and maestro Ramón Tebar at the piano. In a press statement, Tebar said, “I met Joseph Calleja five years ago at the Pablo Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto {…}
The Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced its 2019-20 season featuring 10 productions, including four new productions and the Ring Cycle in its entirety. The season will also include one special concert event and one important recital, among other projects. Here is a look at what audiences should expect. Main Stage The season opens with a revival of Rossini’s “Il {…}