Lucy Crowe, Barbara Hannigan, Andrew Staples & Magdalena Kožená Lead London Symphony Orchestra’s Second Half of 2021-22 Season

(Credit: © Ranald Mackechnie) The London Symphony Orchestra has announced the second half of its 2021-22 season at the Barbican and LSO St Luke’s, taking place between January and July 2022. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on vocal works. Soprano Siobhan Stagg, the London Symphony Chorus and London Symphony Orchestra perform works by Julian Anderson, Mahler, {…}

Dec 18, 2021

Pretty Yende, Barbara Hannigan, Magdalena Kožená & Xabier Anduaga Lead Festival de Saint-Denis’ 2022 Season

(Credit: Festival de Saint-Denis official website) The Festival de Saint-Denis has announced its 2022 season. For the purpose of this article we will focus on the vocal works only. Soprano Selene Zanetti, mezzo-soprano Marianna Pizzolato, tenor Xabier Anduaga, and bass Gianluca Buratto perform Mozart’s “Ave Verum” and Rossini’s “Stabat Mater” alongside conductor Myung-Whun Chung, the Chœur de Radio France, and {…}

Dec 13, 2021

Peter Mattei, Freddie De Tommaso, Angela Meade & Ekaterina Semenchuk Headline Verbier Festival’s 2022 Season

The Verbier Festival has announced its 2022 season, featuring operas and several concerts. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on vocal works. Operas Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni” kicks off the festival with Olga Peretyatko as Donna Anna, Magdalena Kožená as Donna Elvira, Bogdan Volkov as Don Ottavio, Mikhail Petrenko as Leporello, Alexandros Stavrakakis as Il Commendatore, Julien {…}

Dec 5, 2021

Anna Netrebko, Javier Camarena, Roberto Alagna & Nadine Sierra Lead Teatro Colon’s 2022 Season

The Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires has announced its 2022 season featuring opera, concerts, and great performers. Opera The season opens with Puccini’s “La Bohème” with Verónica Cangemi, Alexandra Grigoras, Saimir Pirgu, Behzod Davronov, Giuliana Gianfaldoni, María Belén Rivarola, Alfonso Mujica, Armando Noguera, Fernando Radó, Lucas Debevec Mayer, Juan Font, Felipe Carelli, Sergio Spina, and Iván Maier. Alain Guingal conducts the {…}

Nov 25, 2021

Magdalena Kozená, Piotr Beczala, Ramón Vargas, Veronica Cangemi Headline Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo’s 2022 Season

The Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in Bogotá, Colombia has announced its 2022 programming. For the purposes of this article, our focus will be on vocal performances. Tenor Ramón Vargas will kick the season off with a recital performance. Performance Date: Jan. 27, 2022 Soprano Veronica Cangemi will also perform in recital. Performance Date: April 8, 2022 Superstar tenor {…}

Oct 30, 2021

Rolando Villazón to Celebrate 50th Birthday

Rolando Villazón will celebrate his 50th birthday with a concert “Cinquentañero.” The concert, which will be held on Feb. 21, 2022, one day before his 50th birthday, will take place at the Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg. Many of Villazón’s closest collaborators will celebrate the famed tenor’s milestone birthday including Daniel Barenboim, Plácido Domingo, Charles Castronovo, Magdalena Kozena, Regula Muehlemann, Fatma Said, {…}

Oct 28, 2021

Anna Prohaska, Magdalena Kožená, Max Emanuel Cenčić, Eva Zaïcik & Reinoud Van Mechelen Lead Staatsoper Berlin’s Barocktage 2021

(Credit: Staatsoper Unter den Linden / Marcus Ebener) The Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin has announced its Barocktage. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on vocal works only. Here is a look. Baritone Adam Kutny kicks off the festival with the children opera “Theseus’ Reise in die Unterwelt.” Carolina Nees is the moderator. Performance Dates: Nov. {…}

Sep 10, 2021

Magdalena Kožená & Ian Bostridge Headline New CD/DVD Releases

This week audiences will get a chance to hear new albums from two famed singers. They will also get to experience two rarely performed operas. Here is a look a the new releases. Respighi Songs – Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini PENTATONE releases Ian Bostridge and Saskia Giorgini’s latest album dedicated to rarely-recorded songs by Ottorino Respighi. This selection of songs {…}

Jul 17, 2021

Festival d’Aix-En-Provence 2021 Review: Innocence

(Photo: Jean-Louis Fernandez) Postponed from last year, owing to COVID restrictions, Kaija Saariaho’s new opera “Innocence” finally received its world premiere at this year’s Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and it did not disappoint. The libretto, written by Sofi Oksanen, interweaves two narratives which relate to a school shooting. One focuses on the students and their teacher who were present at the time {…}

Jul 12, 2021

Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Pretty Yende, Sasha Cooke, Piotr Beczała Headline Top 10 Operas to Stream This Week

Those yearning for a lot of big name opera gems will certainly be satisfied with this week’s offerings which include a bit of a deviation from our usual format – we included three productions from the same company. But there are still several other unique offerings from around the world. We hope you have a fulfilling week of operatic experiences. {…}

Jul 8, 2021

Festival Aix-en-Provence to Live Stream Kaija Saariaho and Sofi Oksanen’s New Opera ‘Innocence’

Photo credit: Toni Härkönen Festival Aix-en-Provence is set to live stream Kaija Saariaho and Sofi Oksanen’s new opera, “Innocence,” on July 10, 2021 at 2:00 pm EDT on Arte Concert. The opera had its in-person world premiere at the Festival on July 3. Directed by Simon Stone, Saariaho and Oksanen’s opera presents the story of a fictional school shooting in {…}