Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences will get to hear one of the great tenors of his generation alongside some of the greatest sopranos in one album dedicated to Puccini. There are also world premiere recordings of new works and one debut album. Here is a {…}
(Credit: Vincent Beaume) We are in the middle of Sesto’s aria “Parto, Parto,” mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa sharing center stage with excellent clarinetist Nicola Boud, when we hear an explosion. As a long-time resident of the United States, my first thoughts were the most dreadful—gunshots, bomb, the apocalypse. Raphäel Pichon peacefully kept conducting, with longer pauses, perhaps, but, as the fear {…}
The Philharmonie de Paris has announced its 2024-25 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. Orchestre de Paris Klaus Mäkelä conducts music by Beethoven, Peteris Vasks, and Tchaikovsky. Lisa Batiashvili is the soloist. Performance Date: Sept. 11, 2024 Stanislav Kochanovsky conducts a program of music by Tchaikovsky, Ravel, and Alexandre Tcherepnine. Golda Schultz stars. Performance Date: Oct. 9, {…}
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2024-25 season. Here are the vocal performances. Nicholas Kraemer conducts a program that includes the music of Händel, Beethoven, and Mozart. Soloists include Amanda Forsythe, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Josh Lovell, and Michael Sumuel. Performance Dates: Oct. 17-19, 2024 Fabien Gabel and Konstantin Krimmel team up for a program of music by Britten, Mahler, {…}
(Photo Credit: Jean-Louis Fernandez) Reviewing a new opera is always a hard task. Beyond the many difficulties of reflecting on an extremely elaborate piece of work, after only one or two hearings, there is also a major difficulty for the critic when addressing unavoidable questions like, “is the new work any good?” This often transforms itself into a more dangerous {…}
Today, Pierre Audi announced the program for the seventieth-fifth Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. The festival will take place between the 4 th and 24th of July, 2023, staging six works, three operas in concert, and many recitals. The full program is below: The season opens with “The Threepenny Opera” by Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill, and Elisabeth Hauptmann. Maxime Pascal conducts the production {…}
The Palau de les Arts in Valencia has announced its 2022-23 season featuring opera, zarzuela concerts and inetrnational stars. Opera Jamie Man’s “Zelle” will be showcased with countertenor Steve Katona, Ryoko Aoki, Jackie Janssens, Asko|Schönberg, Wiek Hijmans, Joey Marijs, and Tatiana Rosa. Man conducts his work. Performance Date: Sept. 16, 2022 Alex Esposito, Eleonora Buratto, Silvia Tro Santafé, and Ismael {…}
The Teatro de la Zarzuela has announced its 2022-23 season. Zarzuela The season opens with “La Celestina” by Felip Pedrell. The concert version will star Ketevan Kemoklidze, Miren Urbieta Vega, Andeka Gorrotxategi, Juan Jesus Rodriguez, Simon Orfila, and Sofia Esparza. Guillermo García Calvo conducts. Performance Dates: Sept. 9 & 11, 2022 Barbieri’s “Pan y toros” will be conducted by Guillermo García {…}
The Berliner Philharmoniker has announced its 2022-23 season featuring some of the greatest singers in the world. Here is a look at the vocal highlights of the season. Georg Nigl, Dirk Rothbrust and Vilde Frang are the soloists in the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Vladimir Jurowski’s concert. The program includes music by Iannis Xenakis, Béla Bartók, and Gustav Mahler. Performance Date: {…}
Ópera de París has announced its 2022-23 season featuring numerous new productions and international stars. Gustavo Dudamel and Paolo Bortolameolli lead a revival of Puccini’s “Tosca” with Saioa Hernández, Elena Stikhina, Joseph Calleja, Brian Jagde, Bryn Terfel, Gerald Finley, and Roman Burdenko. Performance Dates: Sept. 3-Nov. 26, 2022 Dmitry Korchak, Vito Priante, Carlo Lepore, Gaëlle Arquez, and Luca Pisaroni star in Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” with Diego Matheuz conducting. Performance Dates: Sept. {…}
(Credit: Speranza Scappucci official website) The Teatro alla Scala has announced that conductor Evelino Pidò has withdrawn from the production of Bellini’s “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” due to a health emergency. As a result, Speranza Scappucci, the Music Director of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, will take over in the pit. Scappucci will lead a cast that includes Marianne {…}