(Credit: Royal Opera) I suppose anything with “Destiny” in the title will always be a bit profound. In fact, “La Forza” is about as profound and gloomy, if not downright dark as it gets, even by Verdi’s standards. At around four and a half hours, it’s also his longest work. It’s a story of love, death, and revenge. Mainly revenge. {…}
Andrea Bocelli is set to drop two more opera recordings on Apple Music. The tenor recently released a recording of “Lucia di Lammermoor” under the musical direction of Andriy Yurkevych and the Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova. That recording dates from Bocelli’s debut as Edgardo in the opera back in 2018. He stars alongside Zuzana Marková who takes {…}
Photo: Fay Fox Brian Jagde spent his early voice coaching years under his teachers’ misguided notion that he was a baritone. Born in Long Island, New York, and raised just outside New York City, he eventually obtained both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in voice. Under the guidance of New York voice coach Michael Paul, he switched to tenor and went {…}
In very direct terms: Paris’s “La Forza del Destino” is the best production of the opera company this season so far. The success is living proof of the golden rule of opera: great music with great musicians make opera (always) great. It seems to be an easy rule, but it is often forgotten. “La Forza” is an Opera with capital {…}
The final production of the Festival Verdi was “La Forza del Destino,” one of the most difficult of Verdi’s work to present. Aside from its massive cast, the work also requires multiple set changes and an epic landscape. How a director goes about approaching it can be a huge challenge. For the Festival Verdi, they found a great director in {…}
Regents Opera, formerly known as Fulham Opera, has announced its new Rory Fazan directed staging of Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino,” featuring a new orchestration for 11 instruments by Ben Woodward. The show will run from February 16-Mar. 5, 2022. Verdi’s opera is the first production to be staged by Regents since its merger with Fulham Opera in autumn 2020. {…}
Jonas Kaufmann has canceled the first performance of Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” at the Bayerische Staatsoper. The tenor took to social media to inform his fans that he contracted a tracheal infection and that he was advised by the doctors to rest his voice. He added that he hoped to sing the second and third performances of the opera {…}
Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège in Belgium has announced its 2021-22 season. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on the vocal works only. Here is the full slate. Opera Verdi‘s “La Forza del Destino” will star Marcelo Álvarez as Don Alvaro, María José Siri as Donna Leonora, and Simone Piazzola as Don Carlo di Vargas. The cast also {…}
I’m going to kick off this week’s edition of the top 10 operas to stream by saying that it is probably among the most varied from a repertory standpoint. You have your Verdi, Mozart, Strauss, and Wagner, of course. But then you also have music by African American composers, a baroque opera, a modern operatic classic, and even a recital {…}
(Credit: Opera Australia official website) The Baluarte auditorium in Pamplona has announced a second cast change for its upcoming semi-staged performances of Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut.” The Spanish opera house announced that tenor Walter Fraccaro will take over the role of Des Grieux, replacing Roberto Aronica. This marks the second high-profile replacement after soprano Ainhoa Arteta was forced to cancel due {…}
(Credit: Opera Australia official website) Celebrated Australian opera director Elijah Moshinsky has died at the age of 75. Moshinsky graduated from the University of Melbourne and made his operatic debut in 1975 at the Royal Opera House with a production of Britten’s opera “Peter Grimes.” The famed director went on to stage a number of highly successful productions at the {…}