(Credit: Marty Sohl / Metropolitan Opera) The Auditorio de Tenerife is set to present Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the second title in Ópera de Tenerife’s 2024-25 season. The opera, which is set to be performed on Nov. 19, 21, and 23, has been sold out for over a month. The company will showcase a production from the Teatro Comunale di Modena {…}
The Staatsoper Hamburg has announced a cast change for its production of “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” The company noted that Kristine Opolais will sing the role of Katerina Ismailova replacing Eva-Maria Westbroek. Opolais also took to social media and said, “I am thrilled to share that I will return to Staatsoper Hamburg next month, to sing Katerina Izmailova in Shostakovich’s ‘Lady {…}
The Ópera de Tenerife has announced its 2024-25 season. Mainstage Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” will star Serena Sáenz, Irina Churilova, Michal König, and Na’ama Goldman. Diego Martín-Etxebarría conducts the production by Nicola Berloffa. Performance Dates: Oct. 15-19, 2024 Kristine Opolais leads Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” with Giorgi Sturua, Alisa Kolosova, and Fernando Campero. Ramón Tebar conducts the production by Stefano Monti. Performance {…}
The Finnish National Opera has announced its 2024-25 season. Premieres Leevi Madetoja’s “The Ostrobothnians”, which is known as Finland’s “national opera” will be directed by director Paavo Westerberg. The cast will include Jukka Rasilainen, Ville Rusanen, Jussi Vänttinen, Johanna Lehesvuori, Maria Turunen, Iida Antola, Päivi Nisula, Tuomas Pursio, Aarne Pelkonen, Ilkka Hämäläinen and Mika Pohjonen. The Orchestra of the Finnish National {…}
Oper Leipzig has announced its 2024-25 season. Premieres Bach’s “Amadis, der Ritter” is set to star Matthias Stier, Daniel Arnaldos, Olga Jelínková, Samantha Gaul, Sarah Traubel, Olena Tokar, Franz Xaver Schlecht, Jonathan Michie, Jonathan Michie, Gabrielė Kupšytė, Nora Steuerwald, and Franziska Zwink. Performance Dates: Sept. 21, 2024-June 15, 2025 Daniele Squeo conducts Bellini’s “Norma” with a cast that includes Dominick Chenes, {…}
(Credit: © Steve J. Sherman 2024) It’s been five years since the New York audiences have heard soprano Kristine Opolais. Once a stalwart at the Metropolitan Opera, the soprano has now dedicated herself to performing mostly in Europe and seeking “something special” in the productions or performances she does. And in her return to New York, the soprano found that {…}
Photo: Winslow Townson The first time my partner watched Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,” he couldn’t believe that the composer ever thought a Stalinist regime would be pleased with the opera. The “in-your-face” power of the work made him—a (handsome) man whose political convictions ponder between socialism and cowboyism—find endearing that ‘Shosta’ could not see his censoring coming. Even today, {…}
“Oh my!” is how one would headline, exasperatingly, the sordid, crude, and entirely inappropriate production of “Tosca” at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien. Severed limbs, some sort of nuclear winter, and an orgy of on-stage violence and sex – the premises to Martin Kušej’s vision of the Puccini melodrama could not be more grotesque and, in essence, detrimental to the {…}
Kristine Opolais’s concert in Kaunas is set to be presented on Arte on Jan. 7, 2024. The soprano took to social media and said, “My dear friends, on January 7th, you can watch a live tv broadcast of my concert with tenor Liparit Avetisyan and maestro Constantine Orbelian with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra at the gorgeous Kaunas Basilica on {…}
This week the Lithuanian National Opera is set to bring a new production of “Aida” this week with one of the most sought-after sopranos of her generation. Kristine Opolais will make her debut with the company in the title role of Aida, a work she last performed completely 15 years ago in Riga. The last time she performed a part {…}
(Credit: Polina Viljun) Kristine Opolais is one of the most sought-after sopranos on the international scene, with an established reputation amongst the world’s preeminent singing actresses. Opolais has appeared at The Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Opernhaus Zürich, and the Royal Opera House. She collaborates with renowned conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Sir Antonio Pappano, {…}