This week, the Grange Festival opens its 2024 summer season with Monteverdi’s “L’Incoronazione di Poppea.” The production will feature several established singers as well as rising stars. Among them is Christopher Lowrey, who will perform the role of Ottone in his Grange Festival debut. Over the years the countertenor has performed with several important companies including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal {…}
Italian soprano Roberta Mameli recently finished a run of performances in the title role of Monteverdi’s “L’incoronazione di Poppea,” a part which lies close to her heart. OperaWire met up with her for a short chat to find out more about the person behind the voice. OperaWire: What was the first opera you saw? Roberta Mameli: I was seven or {…}
(Photo: Studio B12 di Gianpaolo Guarneri) The duet “Pur ti miro, pur ti godo,” which brought Teatro Aligheri’s presentation of “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” to its conclusion, was rightly met with enthusiastic applause from the audience. The sensitivity, emotional depth and detail that countertenor Federico Fiorio and soprano Roberta Mameli were able to bring to their singing was breathtaking. Their voices {…}
(Photo: Laurent Guizard) Soprano Roberta Mameli has a voice that immediately makes an audience sit up and take notice. The fact that she is not even more well-known than she is currently, is no doubt down to the fact that she tends to specialize in baroque and, to a lesser extent, Mozart, with only occasional forays into other repertoire. Hers {…}
The Festival International Opéra Baroque & Romantique in Beaune has announced its 2023 season. First up is “Hail, Bright Cecilia,” which features the Gabrieli Consort and Players under Paul McCreesh. Singers include Zoe Brookshaw, Mhairi Lawson, Lauren Lodge-Campbell, Tim Mead, Jeremy Budd, Matthew Long, Bob Davies, and Ashley Riches. Performance Dates: July 7, 2023 Next up is the oratorio “Theodora” {…}
West Edge Opera has announced its 2023 Summer Opera Festival. NJ Agwuna, who led a production of “The Magic Flute” at the Glimmerglass Festival, will direct “The Coronation of Poppea.” Adam Pearl will conduct the opera and a cast starring Shawnette Sulker and Daniel Moody as the lovers Poppea and Nerone. Other cast members include Sara Couden, Michael Skarke, and {…}
(Photo: Ruth Walz) It never ceases to surprise how Monteverdi’s operas prove themselves time and again to be not just supreme examples of how the art form succeeds as a dramatic medium, able to communicate directly with present day audiences, with characters who resonate so clearly with the modern mind, even over a distance of 400 years, but also the {…}
(Credit: © Raffay Zsófia) The Wiener Staatsoper has announced a cast change for the opening night performance of Monteverdi’s “L’Incoronazione di Poppea.” The company noted that Szilvia Vörös will sing the role of Ottavia on Oct. 6, 2021, substituting Christina Bock. Vörös is an ensemble member of the Wiener Staatsoper who has performed numerous roles with the company and is set {…}
(Credit: Rosetta Greek) The Wiener Staatsoper has announced that Kate Lindsey will sing the role of Nerone replacing Virginie Verrez in an upcoming revival of “L’incoronazione di Poppea.” Lindsey first sang the production by Jan Lauwers at the Salzburg Festival in 2018 and later premiered it at the Wiener Staatsoper in 2021. The mezzo-soprano is well known for her work {…}
(Credit: © Raffay Zsófia) The Wiener Staatsoper has announced a cast change for its June 8, 2021 performance of “L’incoronazione di Poppea.” The company announced that Szilvia Vörös will sing the role of Ottavia replacing Christina Bock. Vörös is a member of the Wiener Staatsoper ensemble and has performed with the Budapest State Opera and Salzburg Festival. Her repertoire includes {…}
(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 {…}