(Credit: Javier del Real) To close out its run of “Il Trovatore,” the Teatro Real de Madrid presented a cast featuring Saioa Hernández, Celso Albelo and Artur Ruciński (Marina Rebeka was originally scheduled but cancelled). Celso Albelo who took charge of the title role has an exceptional, unique voice. High voices are lighter and smaller, their middle range is usually {…}
The Liceu Opera+ has announced its 2026-27 streaming season. The season opens with “Aida” with Anna Pirozzi, Ksenia Dudnikova, Piotr Beczała, and Igor Golovatenko. Shirin Neshat directs the production. Stream Date: Oct. 25, 2026 Adrian Noble directs Bellini’s “I Capuleti e I Montecchi” with Marko Mimica, Lisette Oropesa, Raffaella Lupinacci, and Iván Ayón Rivas. Stream Date: Nov. 22, 2026 Giacomo {…}
The Gran Teatre del Liceu has announced its 2026-27 season. Shirin Neshat directs Verdi’s “Aida” with four sopranos taking on the title role. Anna Netrebko, Anna Pirozzi, Olga Maslova, and Ewa Plonka star alongside Ekaterina Semenchuk, Ksenia Dudnikova, Fiorenza Cedolins, Yusif Eyvazov, Piotr Beczała, Arsen Soghomonyan, Artur Ruciński, Igor Golovatenko, Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar, Riccardo Fassi, George Andguladze, Manuel Fuentes, Alexander Köpeczi, {…}
The Gran Teatre del Liceu is set to stream “La Gioconda” through its platform Liceu+ on March 8, 2026. The opera, which is directed by Romain Gilbert, stars Saioa Hernández, Ksenia Dudnikova, John Relyea, Violeta Urmana, Michael Fabiano, and Gabriele Viviani. Daniel Oren conducts. Of the production, OperaWire said, “This was a beautiful production of ‘La Gioconda,’ albeit poorly staged. The stellar {…}
Ponchielli’s masterpiece, “La Gioconda,” was presented at the Gran Teatre del Liceu with a double cast of stellar singers and a beautiful production. Production Details The sets by Étienne Pluss were beautiful and meaningful. The stage was surrounded by walls of stone and wooden beams. There were realistic elements for each scene, including a big marble staircase in the first {…}
The Palau de les Arts has announced its 2025-26 season. Lorenzo Viotti conducts Gounod’s “Faust” in a production by Johannes Erath. Iván Ayón-Rivas, Alex Esposito, Ruth Iniesta, Florian Sempey, and Ekaterine Buachidze. Performance Dates: Oct. 3-15, 2025 Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s “La descente d’Orphée aux enfers” will star Josipa Bilić, Camille Chopin, Sarah Fleiss, Tanaquil Ollivier, Sydney Frodsham, Richard Pittsinger, Bastien Rimondi, Attila {…}
(Photo credit: Javier del Real) And I’m back to report on the second cast for the Teatro Real de Madrid’s “Adriana Lecouvreur.” You can check my thoughts on Cast A here. The Italian soprano Maria Agresta performed the titular role, Adriana. Her voice has developed into a pure lyric soprano, as a result of incorporating heavy roles in later years. {…}
The Gran Teatre del Liceu is set to open its 2022-23 season with Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.” Maestro Riccardo Frizza will lead the opera for 10 performances with two different casts and will mark his latest foray into Verdian repertory since the Festival Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra.” In an official statement, Frizza said, “Taking a look back over this year, it has {…}
This week audiences will get a chance to listen to albums of modern music as well as classics by Haydn and Brahms. There is also a new DVD of Cilea’s verismo masterpiece. New York Pretending to be Paris Albany Records presents “New York Pretending to be Paris,” a new album featuring contemporary poetry transformed into captivating art songs by New {…}
The Maggio Musicale has announced streaming for the month of June. The company will stream a number of operas through itsart.tv/it starting with its recent production of “Rigoletto” starring Luca Salsi, Javier Camarena, and Enkeleda Kamani. Riccardo Frizza conducts the production by Davide Livermore. Audiences can start streaming it now. On June 6 the theater will stream “La Forza Del {…}
Those who want a major dose of operatic classics will not be disappointed by this week’s list. And what’s more, the slate is full of opera’s major superstars in these prominent works. But there is also a special performance this week, courtesy of the Houston Grand Opera. So without further ado, here are the top 10 operas to stream this {…}