Sophie Rennert, Anna Bonitatibus, Salvador Simão, Jonathan Eyers Lead Innsbruck Festival of Early Music’s 2026 Season

Innsbruck Festival of Early Music announces its 50th season. This article only features vocal events. Ottavio Dantone leads the Accademia Bizantina Ensemble in a workshop concert. Performance Date: July 25, 2026 Lauren Lodge-Campbell, Nicolò Balducci, and Jonathan Eyers perform alongside Il Gusto Barocco Ensemble under the direction of Jörg Halubek. Performance Date: August 1, 2026 Anna Bonitatibus gives a masterclass. {…}

Mar 2, 2026

Cecilia Bartoli, Ian Bostridge, Maayan Licht & Carlo Vistoli Lead 2026 Monteverdi Festival

(Credit: Fabrice Demessence) The Monteverdi Festival announces its 2026 programming. This article only features vocal concerts. Cecilia Bartoli opens the Festival in a gala concert with Les Musiciens du Prince conducted by Gianluca Capuano. Performance Date: May 28, 2026 The Monteverdi Festival opens with “Vespers Of The Blessed Virgin” under the baton of Leonardo García-Alarcón. Performance Date: June 7, 2026 {…}

Feb 2, 2026

Oper Frankfurt 2025-26 Review: Amor vien dal destino

(Photo: Matthias Baus) Although Agostino Steffani’s music has enjoyed intermittent modern attention—most notably through Cecilia Bartoli’s influential album—fully staged performances of his operas remain strikingly scarce. Written in the 1690s for Hannover, but first performed only in 1709 at the Düsseldorf court, “Amor vien dal destino” stands at a stylistic crossroads. Italianate vocal expressivity, French-influenced orchestral color, and the emerging {…}

Dec 5, 2025

Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik Unveils 50th Anniversary Programming

Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik announces its program for the 2026 season. This article only features opera events. Opening the festival is the workshop concert which features a sneak peak into Ottavio Dantone’s reconstruction of Pietro Antonio Cesti’s “Il pomo d’oro.” This event is presented in a a hybrid format combining elements of concert and rehearsal. The Accademia Bizantina Ensemble {…}

Mar 6, 2025

Staatsoper Berlin 2024-25 Review: Merope

(Photo: Szofi Raffay) Domènec Terradellas, a composer born in 1711 in Catalonia, remains a somewhat elusive figure in the case of 18th-century opera. Following training at the prestigious Naples conservatory, his music flourished in Italy and London prior to his untimely death in suspicious circumstances in 1751. His “La Merope,” a testament to the abiding popularity of Merope’s tragic tale, {…}

Dec 10, 2024

Innsbruck Festival of Early Music Announces 2025 Lineup

Details of the 2025 Innsbruck Festival of Early Music have been made public. For the purposes of this article only vocal performances are featured. Concerts First Prize winner of the 2020 Cesti International Singing Competition Margherita Maria Sala performs works by Galuppi, Marcello, Vivaldi, Ristori, and Handel. Sala is accompanied by the Ensemble Locatelli led by Thomas Chigioni. Performance Date: {…}

Dec 4, 2024

Ravenna 2024 Review: Il Ritorno Di Ulisse In Patria

(Photo: Zani-Casadio) In his program notes, the director, Pier Luigi Pizzi, writing about “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria,” stated that “the opera speaks for itself,” adding, “we must not induce or force its interpretation… It is up to the audience to confront it, to think about it, and to decide for themselves whether or not it is worthwhile.” Even {…}

May 23, 2024

Arianna Vendittelli, Jakub Józef Orliński, Luigi De Donato, & Benedetta Mazzucato Star in the 2024 Innsbruck Festival of Early Music

Programming for the 2024 Innsbruck Festival of Early Music has been announced. This article only features vocal performances. First up is a workshop for the upcoming performances of Giacomelli’s “Cesare in Egitto.” Soloists include Arianna Vendittelli, Emőke Barath, Filippo Mineccia, Margherita Maria Sala, Valerio Contaldo, and Federico Fiorio. Ottavio Dantone conducts the Accademia Bizantina. Performance Date: July 27, 2024 (Tyrolean {…}

May 7, 2024

Opéra de Nice Côte d’Azur 2024 Review: L’Olympiade des Olympiades

(Photo: © Dominique Jaussein) France is currently in the grip of Olympic fever. Although Paris is the official site of the games, every corner of the country is feeling the effects of the event, even in the cultural domain. The Opéra de Nice has thus declared their 2023-24 season to be, at least in part, devoted to the theme of {…}

Aug 14, 2023

Innsbruck Early Music Festival 2023 Review: L’Olimpiade

(Photo: Birgit Gufler) After 13 years in the post, Alessandro De Marchi brings his tenure as the artistic director of the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music to a close with a program dominated by the Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi. Not only do many of the festival’s events feature his music, including the festival’s closing concert “Lieto Fine,” but all three {…}

Nov 16, 2021

Teatro Dante Alighieri, Ravenna 2021 Review: L’Orfeo

(Photo: Zani-Casadio) In the space of three days, Ravenna’s Teatro Tradizione Dante Alighieri performed two operas, both of which involved trips into the afterlife. The first, “Il Viaggio di G.Mastorna” was a contemporary opera by Matteo D’Amico in which the hero Mastorna is killed in an airplane crash and condemned to journey through a modern-day purgatory in search of peace. {…}