(Photo: Pádraig Grant) Each year the Wexford Factory, the festival’s young artist program, produces an opera for the main stage, allowing its participants to gain experience in major roles as well as providing them with the opportunity to play smaller roles in the company’s headline productions. In previous year’s, the Factory’s productions have included successful performances of operas such as {…}
(Photo: Ali Wright) Opera Holland Park has made a name for itself rummaging around in the cupboard of verismo and polishing up the gems they find. Puccini’s seldom-performed “Edgar” featured in the 2024 summer offering – to mixed reviews, mostly ascribed to the uneven quality of the work than the artistry – now complemented by a striking new double bill {…}
Credit: Julie Smith Delaware Valley Opera Company (DVOC) presented a unique triple-bill on August 13, 2023, which included the Philadelphia debut of Misha Dutka’s “The Stronger.” This was accompanied by Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Leoncavallo’s “I Pagliacci.” The operas were performed at the Venice Island Performing Arts & Recreation Center in Philadelphia. It’s no small job to showcase three operas {…}
(Credit: Studioline Photography / Xavier Sabata official website / Ascolta Artists official website) The Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España has announced that it will perform a version of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” for two pianos and the percussion on Feb. 12-14, 2021. The showcase will be presented by the Coro Nacional, and the percussion section of the Orquesta Nacional {…}
(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 {…}
(Credit: Marco Borggreve) Famed Russian conductor Alexander Vedernikov has died at the age of 56, after having been diagnosed with COVID-19. Vedernikov died on Friday, Oct. 30 after being put on a ventilator for few days following the diagnosis. Born in Moscow, Vedernikov was the son of the bass Alexander Filipovich Vedernikov and Natalia Nikolaevna Gureeva. The conductor went on {…}
The Atlanta Opera (TAO) website greets visitors with an invitation: “JOIN US AT THE BIG TENT!” Cool. The company’s staging its 2021 productions in an enormous tent. But wait a minute; is that a circus tent? Yes, it is, and unlike the Met’s new-ish production of “Così fan tutte” in which the circus entered the opera house, The Atlanta Opera’s {…}
(Credit: © Dario Acosta) Soprano Anna Netrebko will perform a double recital at the Philharmonie de Paris on Nov. 11, 2020. The soprano will give the first recital at 5:00 p.m CET, and the second one will follow at 8:30 p.m. at the Grande salle Pierre Boulez. Anna Netrebko will be joined onstage by the mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova. Giovanni Andrea Zanon {…}
(Credit: Oliver Ostermann/Brian Cheney) Austrian Composer Oliver Ostermann and American Tenor Brian Cheney have teamed up during the COVID-19 pandemic to create the album “ I Sang My Heart to the Moon.” The album features eight pieces in total with lyricist and acclaimed poet Nancy Fitz-Hugh Meneely offering up poetry suited for this time. “Love Apart,” “I Sang My Heart {…}
(Credit: Timothy White for Decca) Wearing a shiny taupe gown that reflected minimized images of the lights above, soprano Renée Fleming and pianist Gerald Martin Moore entered to applause that showed they have fans in this desert city. They opened with a Valentine befitting February 14th: George Frideric Handel’s enticing “Bel Piacere è Godere.” Fleming followed its fast, tricky coloratura {…}
Established in 1994, Teatro Grattacielo’s mission has always centered spotlighting often-overlooked Italian operas between the years of the 1890’s and the 1930’s, with the hope of reintroducing them to the public’s consciousness. On Sept. 28, 2019, the company kicked off its 25th season with an anniversary celebration, presenting Ruggero Leoncavallo’s “La Boheme,” Alfredo Catalani’s “Loreley,” and Ottorino Respighi’s “The Sleeping {…}