(Photo credit: Frances Marshall) What’s opera about? Passion? Drama? Politics? Sex? All the above, of course, and it’s been that way since 1597, even in the face of censorship. Yet, the prohibitions around taboo topics such as politics and sex caused composers and librettists to get creative when including such material in their operas. Opera critic, author, and historian par {…}
(Credits: © Julien Benhamou / Kamil Szkopik) The Festival de Pâques will present a night of baroque music to be live-streamed on March 31, 2021 at 8:30 p.m. The performance will star mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre and counter-tenor Jakub Józef Orliński. The two singers will perform works by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Giulio Caccini, Henry Purcell, Georg Friedrich Händel, Thomas Dunford, Reynaldo Hahn, {…}
(Credits: Simon Fowler / Staatsoper unter der Linden official website / Nicola Allegri) The Staatsoper unter der Linden has announced that it will live stream the premiere of Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro.” The opera will star Elsa Dreisig in the role of Countess Almaviva, Gyula Orendt as Count Almaviva, Nadine Sierra in the role of Susanna, Emily D’Angelo as {…}
(Credit: Klaus Frahm) The Senate of Berlin has postponed part of the pilot project for reopening theaters, concert halls, and opera houses in Berlin due to the new regulations crafted by the German federal government and Prime Ministers of German federal states. The Staatsoper unter der Linden and Deutsche Oper Berlin have subsequently announced that their participation in the project {…}
(Credit: Staatsoper unter der Linden official website) UPDATE: The Staatsoper unter der Linden will live stream Mozart’s opera “Le Nozze di Figaro” on April 1, 2021. The live stream will be available at 5 p.m. CET on the company’s official website, as well as MEZZO TV. The Staatsoper Berlin has announced that it will cancel all performances until at least {…}
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 {…}
The Royal Opera House has announced a new streaming program as part of its ongoing #OurHouseToYourHouse. The company will present Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” in a production from 2015. The opera stars Erwin Schrott in the title role alongside Sophie Bevan as Susanna, Stéphane Degout as Count Almaviva, Ellie Dehn as Countess Almaviva, and Kate Lindsey as Cherubino. The {…}
David Stern’s opera company, Opera Fuoco, recently released a 14-part online series of “The Marriage of Figaro” which is set in 2020. The series was created in response to the new technological developments and the new streaming era of opera which has grown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stern is a firm believer that in the Netflix-era, people want/need to {…}
(Photo Credits: © Wiener Staatsoper / Michael Pöhn / Bayerische Staatsoper official website / Chen Reiss official website) The Wiener Staatsoper has announced the next slate of operas that will be presented on its streaming platform over the next week. The week opens with three operas by Leoš Janáček. First up is Leoš Janáček’s operatic masterwork “Káťa Kabanová” with Angela {…}
(Credits: © Aymeric Giraudel / Seattle Symphony official website) Mezzo-sopranos Karine Deshayes and Delphine Haidan will give a recital at Opéra de Vichy on Feb. 19, 2021. The program for the concert includes the works by Adolpha Le Beau, Brahms, Strauss, Gounod, Delibes, Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky, and Rossini. Due to the French government’s COVID-19 regulations, the concert will be held without {…}
(Credits: Opera Australia official website / Opera Online) The Teatro Verdi di Padova has announced that it will livestream Franz Léhar’s “Die Lustige Witwe.” The showcase will star Omar Montanari in the role of Baron Mirko Zeta, Ruth Iniesta as Valencienne, Alessandro Safina as Count Danilo Danilovitsch, and Anastasia Bartoli as Hanna Glawari. The cast also includes Matteo Roma, William {…}