The Royal Ballet and Opera is set to present Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffman” in a new production by Damiano Michieletto. The production first made its premiere in Sydney and Venice. In a statement, Michieletto said, “The journey of these Contes d’Hoffmann should have started right from London in 2020. The project was then stopped by Covid. But that was just {…}
The Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania has announced its 2024-25 season. Opera The season opens with Bellini’s “Norma” with Leonardo Sini conducting a production by Hugo De Ana. The cast will include Jessica Pratt and Irina Lungu in the title role alongside Antonio Poli, Elisa Balbo, Aya Wakizono, Carlo Lepore, and Alessio Cacciamani. Performance Dates: Jan. 18-26, 2025 Mozart’s “Don {…}
The Royal Opera House has announced its 2024-25 season. Here is a look at the season. Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” will open the season with a cast that includes Luca Micheletti, Ying Fang, Huw Montague Rendall, Jacquelyn Stucker, and Ginger Costa-Jackson. Performance Dates: Sept. 2-15, 2024 Verdi’s “La Traviata” will feature two casts. The first cast will be headlined {…}
(Photo: Clive Barda) In 1943, Italy was a country wracked by the turmoil of war. Not only had the allied armies invaded, but internecine conflict had broken out amongst the Italian people. Communities and families were against each other as the patriots and fascists fought for control. The situation was depicted in Alberto Moravia’s 1957 novel “La Ciociara,” which later {…}
The Welsh National Opera has announced its spring 2022 season. The season opens with a revival of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” with two casts led by Simon Bailey, Joshua Bloom, Marina Monzo, Linda Richardson, Andrei Kymach, Duncan Rock, James Platt, Trystan Llŷr Griffiths, Kenneth Tarver, Sarah Tynan, Meeta Ravel, Harriet Eyley, Isabelle Peters, James Atkinson, and Gareth Brynmor John. Tobias Ringborg and Frederick Brown share conducting duties. Performance {…}
(Credit: Teatro Lirico di Cagliari official website) The Teatro Lirico di Cagliari has announced its 2022 season, featuring five operas. Here is a full slate. Operas Martina Serafin, Marta Mari, Elena Schirru, Antonello Palombi, Mickael Spadaccini, Roberto Frontali, Leon Kim, Giuseppina Piunti, Alessandro Spina, Christian Collia, and Patrizio La Placa star in the Leo Muscato’s production of Licinio Refice’s “Cecilia.” {…}
On Oct. 28, The Welsh National Opera, to a packed Hippodrome, performed its modernized rendition of the Puccinian classic and arguably one of the most controversial operas in the 21st c. canon, “Madam Butterfly.” Notwithstanding the opera’s subject matter, an Asian girl of 15 being coaxed into an international marriage with a man very much her senior while also being {…}
The Teatro Massimo di Palermo has announced its 2022 season featuring opera and concerts. Here is a look at the productions the company will be performing. The season opens with Verdi’s “Les vêpres siciliennes” starring Selene Zanetti, Piero Pretti, Leonardo Caimi, Gezim Mishketa, Luca Tittoto, and Fabrizio Beggi. Omer Meir Wellber conducts the production by Emma Dante. Performance Dates: Jan. 20-26, 2022 {…}
On Oct. 8 and 10, 2021, the Polish National Opera is set to revive Massenet’s “Werther.” The production by Willy Decker will star Leonardo Caimi in the title role and Iryna Zhytynska as Charlotte with Patrick Fournillier. The classic production focuses on the psychological aspects of Werther’s obsessive love with the sets by Wolfgang Gussmann expressing the imprisonment of the {…}
The Israeli Opera has announced its 2021-22 season featuring eight productions. Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” opens the season with Alla Vasilevitsky, Yael Levita, Alasdair Kent, Aaron Blake, Theo Hoffman, Oded Reich, and Beate Ritter. Nimrod David Pfeffer conducts. Performance Dates: Nov. 4-15, 2021 Ira Bertman, Alla Vasilevitsky, Andrei Bondarenko, and Kostas Smorginas lead Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” with Dan Ettinger conducting. {…}
The Polish National Opera has announced its 2021-22 season featuring 6 new productions, 13 operas, 6 ballets, and concerts. Here is a look at the operatic selections for the season. Revivals Torsten Kerl and Ann Petersen lead Beethoven’s “Fidelio“ in a new production by John Fulljames. Gerd Schaller conducts the cast that also includes Krzysztof Borysiewicz, Maria Stasiak, Daniel Sutin, and Krzysztof {…}