The Semperoper Dresden is set to stage Meyerbeer’s “Les Huguenots” in a production by Peter Konwitschny. The opera, which opens on Oct. 16 and runs through the 31st for a total of four performances will star Elena Gorshunova, Štĕpánka Pučalková, Jennifer Rowley, Tilmann Rönnebeck, Sergey Romanovsky, and Dimitris Tiliakos. John Fiore conducts the production which also features the Staatskappelle Dresden, {…}
La Monnaie has postponed the opening night of “Les Huguenots” to June 15. The company said that in “recent days we have noticed that the number of COVID cases has increased exponentially in our opera house. Unfortunately, this is also true for the production of ‘Les Huguenots:’ several people from the chorus, orchestra, cast, dancers, and technicians have tested positive.” {…}
(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, {…}
(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 {…}
(Credit: Pierre Petit) When Giacomo Meyerbeer died on May 2 in 1864 in Paris, he was one of the most performed composers of his time. Among the surviving manuscript documents in the Meyerbeer archive in Berlin is to be found a prayer that Giacomo Meyerbeer wrote on 8 December 1863, a few months before his death: “Great almighty God! … {…}
(Credit: BdPortraits.com) The Deutsche Oper Berlin has announced multiple cast changes for its upcoming production of “Les Huguenots,” according to the official statement on the company’s website. For all the performances of the opera, soprano Liv Redpath will take over the role of Marguerite de Valois from Erin Morley, while tenor Anton Rositskiy will replace Yosep Kang in the role {…}
The Metropolitan Opera is about to open its 2018-19 season with “Samson et Dalila,” a work that has not been performed since 2006. The opera, which at one point was one of the most popular vehicles for a tenor-mezzo pairing, fell out of the repertoire for 12 years and is now returning in a new production with a starry cast. {…}
Giacomo Meyerbeer is one of the most influential composers of all time. Such noted composers as Verdi, Wagner, Berlioz, Massenet, Donizetti, Halevy, Dvorak, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Gounod, Thomas, Liszt, and Chopin, among others, came under his spell at one point or another in their respective careers. And yet, Meyerbeer’s works are often neglected in the modern era. Born on Sept. 5, {…}
The Opéra National de Paris has announced its cinema season for the 2018-19 season. Here is a look at the works that you can expect to see on the silver screen. Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots (Oct. 4, 2018): The season begins with Meyerbeer’s grand opera starring Bryan Hymel, Diana Damrau, Ermonela Jaho, and Nicolas Testé. Michele Mariotti conducts Andreas Kriegenburg’s new production. Verdi’s {…}
First premiering in Paris in 1836, “Les Huguenots” is based on the historical events of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572, wherein thousands of French Protestants, called Huguenots, were wiped out by Catholics in an effort to maintain Catholic dominance. The composition of this work follows shortly after the great success enjoyed by “Robert le Diable” and so Meyerbeer {…}
Everyone knows the composer. Verdi’s “Otello.” Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia.” Etc. But few pay attention to the writer, the person who actually provides these great geniuses with the text for their music. Eugene Scribe, born on Dec. 24, 1791, is one of the most notable librettist in all of opera, and yet he doesn’t quite come up in conversations {…}