Benjamin Bernheim, Sabine Devieilhe, Olga Peretyatko, Magdalena Kožená, Klaus Florian Vogt, Nadine Sierra, Elza van den Heever, Michael Volle & Miina-Liisa Värelä Lead Philharmonie de Paris’ 2026-27 Season

The Philharmonie de Paris has announced its 2026-27 season. Here are the vocal performances for the season. Yannick Nezet-Seguin will conduct Elza van den Heever and the Met Orchestra in a program of Strauss music. Performance Date: Sept. 1, 2026 Yannick Nezet-Seguin and Joyce DiDonato team up with the Met Orchestra for Mahler and Kaija Saariaho. Performance Date: Sept. 2, {…}

Mar 15, 2026

Jonas Kaufmann, Anna Netrebko, Sonya Yoncheva, Diana Damrau, Elīna Garanča, Asmik Grigorian, Nicole Car, Nicholas Brownlee, Michael Spyres, Nadine Sierra, & Simon Keenlyside Lead Bayerische Staatsoper’s 2026-27 Season

The Bayerische Staatsoper has announced its 2026-27 season. Premiere Productions The first production of the season will be Wagner’s “Siegfried” with Benjamin Bruns, Matthias Klink, Nicholas Brownlee, Georg Nigl, Timo Riihonen, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Simone Schneider, and Miina-Liisa Värelä. Vladimir Jurowski conducts the production by Tobias Kratzer. Performance Dates: Oct. 29, 2026-July 29, 2027 Nadine Sierra and Lisette Oropesa alternate as {…}

Feb 24, 2026

Jonathan Tetelman & Miina-Liisa Värelä Win Big at 2026 Oper! Awards

The Oper! Awards have announced the 2026 winners. The winners, which were announced on Feb. 24 saw Theater Regensburg win Best Opera House, while Jonathan Tetelman won Best Male Singer. Meanwhile, Miina-Liisa Värelä won Best Female Singer and Best Conductor won Gianluca Capuano. Other winners included Barrie Kosky for Best Director while Erin Morley and Lawrence Brownlee won Best Solo {…}

Nov 26, 2025

Sydney Symphony Orchestra 2025 Review: Siegfried

(Photo credit: Daniel Boud) At the end of Act one of the Sydney Symphony’s “Siegfried,” on November 13th at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, one may have sensed from the onstage performers’ elation that Simon O’Neill as Siegfried, Gerhard Siegel as Mime, and conductor Simone Young knew they had nailed it. The audience’s applause was long and enthusiastic. A {…}

Aug 8, 2025

Bayreuth Festival 2025 Review: Lohengrin

(© Enrico Nawrath) A well-loved conductor at the Bayreuth Festival, Christian Thielemann, who made his début on the Green Hill in 2000 overseeing a dynamic performance of “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,” served Bayreuth as its music director from 2015 to 2020. Therefore, it is good to see him back this year conducting “Lohengrin” which he originally took charge of in {…}

Jul 24, 2025

Klaus Florian Vogt, Andreas Schager, Camilla Nylund, Asmik Grigorian, Michael Volle & Elza van den Heever Lead Bayreuth Festival’s 2026 Season

The Bayreuth Festival has announced its 2026 season. Nathalie Stutzmann conducts “Rienzi” with Andreas Schager, Gabriela Scherer, Jennifer Holloway, Michael Nagy, and Matthias Stier. Magdolna Parditka and Alexandra Szemeredy direct the rarely performed work. Performance Dates: July 26-August 26, 2026 Christian Thielemann will conduct The Ring Cycle, which Marcus Lobbes will curate. Michael Volle, Alexander Grassauer, Klaus Florian Vogt, Anna Kissjudit, Evelin Novak, Christa {…}

Jun 6, 2025

Natalya Romaniw, Michael Volle, Golda Schultz, Ailyn Pérez & Corinne Winters Lead Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia’s 2025-26 Season

The Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia have announced its 2025-26 season. Concerts Daniel Harding conducts a staged version of Wagner’s “Die Walküre” by Vincent Huguet. The opera will star Michael Volle, Miina‐Liisa Värelä, Vida Miknevičiūtė, Jamez McCorkle, Stephen Milling, and Okka von der Damerau. Performance Dates: Oct. 23-27, 2025 Antonio Pappano conducts Natalya Romaniw, Szilvia Vörös, {…}

Jun 4, 2025

Chelsea Lehnea, Anna Bonitatibus, Jeanine De Bique, Stéphane Degout, Samuel Hasselhorn & Lea Desandre Lead Opéra de Rouen’s 2025-26 Season

The Opéra de Rouen Normandie has announced its 2025-26 season. Opera Chelsea Lehnea, Leonardo Sanchez, and Anthony Clark Evans lead Verdi’s “La Traviata.” Dayner Tafur-Diaz conducts the production by Jean-François Sivadier. The opera will be livestreamed on Oct. 4, 2025. Performance Dates: Sept. 26-Oct. 7, 2025 Elsa Benoit and Samuel Hasselhorn lead Brahms’ Deutsche Requiem. Laurence Equilbey conducts the production {…}

May 7, 2025

Elza van den Heever, Joseph Calleja, Nicholas Brownlee, Corinne Winters, Allan Clayton & Anna Princeva Lead Oper Frankfurt’s 2025-26 Season

Oper Frankfurt has announced its 2025-26 season. Premieres Mozart’s “Così fan tutte” will star Teona Todua, Karolina Bengtsson, Kelsey Lauritano, Taehan Kim, Sakhiwe Mkosana, Magnus Dietrich, Andrew Kim, Bianca Tognocchi, Elizabeth Reiter, Liviu Holender, and Sebastian Geyer. Thomas Guggeis conducts the production by Mariame Clément. Performance Dates: Sept. 21, 2025-Jan. 17, 2026 Alexander Tsymbalyuk leads Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” with Karolina {…}

Mar 24, 2025

New Cast Change for the Gran Teatre del Liceu’s ‘Lohengrin’

The Gran Teatre del Liceu has announced a cast change for its performance of “Lohengrin” on March 24. The company said that Miina-Liisa Värelä will sing the role of Ortrud replacing the originally scheduled Iréne Theorin, who currently has an infection in the vocal chords. Värelä already sang the March 17 performance also replacing Theorin. Värelä is a soprano who {…}

Aug 2, 2024

Glyndebourne Opera Festival 2024 Review: Tristan und Isolde

(Photo credit: Glyndebourne’s own official trailer highlights its festival as “No Ordinary Opera”. Certainly, the staging for “Tristan und Isolde” is far from ordinary, courtesy of a visually entrancing setting by Ronald Aeschlimann. The performers are basically encased in an elliptical vortex-type form of concentric circles, which I interpreted to be a depiction of some portal-like presence intended to illustrate {…}

Miina-Liisa Varela