The Dallas Symphony Orchestra announces its 2026-27 season. This article only features opera-related concerts. Josefina Maldonado solos in “Holidays with the DSO.” Anthony Blake Clark leads the Dallas Symphony Chorus. Bradley Hunter Welch accompanies on the organ. Lawrence Loh conducts. Performance Dates: December 11 -20, 2026 First up in 2027 is Bach’s “St. John Passion.” The Dallas Symphony Chorus is {…}
The Canadian Opera Company has announced its 2026-27 season. Verdi’s “La Traviata” opens the season with a cast that includes Kathryn Lewek, Lucia Cesaroni, Long Long, Luke Norvell, Russell Braun, and Reginald Smith, Jr. Paolo Carignani conducts Arin Arbus’ production. Performance Dates: Sept. 18-Oct. 17, 2026 Laurence Kilsby, Joel Alison, Daniel Okulitch, Lauren Fagan, Martina Myskohlid, and Tracy Dahl lead {…}
(Photo: Michael Bode) For its final production of the year, the Baden-Baden Festival presented Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” from December 19 to 21. It was conducted by Iván Fischer with baton and on the plateau, because the conductor, like Karajan before him, also directed the staging. The foremost quality of this production was undoubtedly the silky smoothness and harmony of the {…}
(Credit: Michael Cooper) The Canadian Opera Company is set to present “The Barber of Seville.” Th opera will be performed between Feb. 5 and 21, 2026 and will be directed by Joan Font, the founding member of the Spanish street theatre troupe Els Comediants. The production will include set and costume designs by Joan Guillén, lighting designed by Albert Faura and {…}
The Canadian Opera Company releases the details of its 2025 Free Concert Series. This article only features classical vocal events. All performances are held in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. “Meet the Ensemble Studio” opens the season. Soprano Emma Pennell, mezzo-soprano Ariana Maubach, tenor Angelo Moretti, baritone Ben Wallace, and bass-baritone Nicholas Murphy will introduce themselves by singing one of their {…}
The Metropolitan Opera is set to revive “Le Nozze di Figaro” for 13 performances. The opera will be conducted by Joana Mallwitz, who makes her company debut and will showcase Richard Eyre’s production. There will be two casts for the work, the first of which showcases Federica Lombardi, Olga Kulchynska, Sun-Ly Pierce, Joshua Hopkins, and Michael Sumel. The second cast {…}
This review is for the performance on March 28, 2023. Roland Barthes once wrote an essay about “the Death of the Author;” David Livermore’s staging of Jacques Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” takes that seriously. Hoffmann is shot dead in the first scene. The author dead, does the opera survive? One of the biggest challenges for a staging “Hoffmann” is how {…}
The Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2023-24 season, which will feature a world premiere. Jamie Barton, Janai Brugger, J‘Nai Bridges, Caitlin Lynch, Nicholas Newton, Michael Mayes, and Joshua Blue star in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s “Intelligence.” Kwamé Ryan conducts the production by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Performance Dates: Oct. 20-Nov. 3, 2024 Reginald Smith, Jr. sings the title role of Vedi’s “Falstaff” with Nicole Heaston, Blake {…}
Opéra de Paris has announced a cast change for its production of “Ariodante.” The company said that Luca Pisaroni will no longer sing the role of il re di Scozia and will be replaced by Matthew Brook, who is making his Paris debut. Brook has performed all over Europe, Australia, North and South America, Far East, and has worked with conductors {…}
LA Opera has announced its 2023-24 season. Lucas Meachem, Guanqun Yu, Isabel Leonard, Anthony León, Craig Colclough, Meigui Zhang, Alan Williams, and Peixin Chen star in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” James Conlon conducts Kasper Holten. Performance Dates: Sept. 23–Oct. 15, 2023 Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” will star Emmett O’Hanlon, Isabel Leonard, Edgardo Rocha, Paolo Bordogna, and Luca Pisaroni. Louis Lohraseb conducts {…}
The Canadian Opera Company is set to present “The Marriage of Figaro.” The Mozart masterpiece will be performed eight times at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts between Jan. 27 and Feb. 18, 2023. The acclaimed Claus Guth production will be revived by Marcelo Buscaino of Brazil; the production had a previous run in 2016 and has also {…}
