Berwaldhallen Review 2024: Khovanshchina

(Photo Credits: Maarit Kytöharju) Opening Berwaldhallen’s 2024 Baltic Sea Festival, on August 24th, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Gerard McBurney produced a tastefully contemporary and neo-Wagnerian rendition of Modest Mussorgsky’s unfinished “national music drama,” “Khovanshchina,” to a ravenous public. Awarded, and rightly so, with three ovations, ten soloists from across Europe and three choirs successfully produced one of the most expressive versions {…}

Opera Meets Film: How Andrzej Żuławski’s ‘Boris Godunov’ Shows Past as Prologue

In January 1989, the Polish film director Andrzej Żuławski released his film “Boris Godunov,” a film that cost seven million dollars to create. It featured a live production of the monster opera conducted by the eminent Soviet cellist and conductor, Mstislav Rostropovich. The film would re-conceptualize the opera in a mise en abyme (self-reflection) style, layering the operatic performance inside {…}

Elizabeth Caballero, Yolanda Auyanet, Atalla Ayan, Catherine Naglestad & Martin Muehle Lead Staatsoper Stuttgart’s 2021-22 Season

(Credit: Martin Sigmund) The Staatsoper Stuttgart has announced its 2021-22 season. Here is a look at the operatic and vocal performances. Opera Premieres Paul Dessau’s “Die Verurteilung des Lukullus” opens the season. The complex work stars Friedemann Röhlig, Alina Adamski, Torsten Hofmann, Elliott Carlton Hines, Maria Theresa Ullrich, Linsey Coppens, Philipp Nicklaus, Heinz Göhrig, Jasper Leever, Laia Vallés, Clare Tunney, {…}

Marina Rebeka, Ermonela Jaho, Golda Schultz, Rachel Willis-Sørensen & Ludovic Tézier Headline Radio France’s 2021-22 Season

Radio France has announced its 2021-22 season. For the purpose of this article we will focus only on the vocal works. Here is a look. Operas Ravel’s “L’Enfant et les sortilèges” spotlights  Jodie Devos, Clara Guillon, Adèle Charvet, Marie Lenormand, Élodie Méchain, Antoine Normand, Régis Mengus, and Paul Gay. Mikko Franck conducts. Performance date: Oct. 1, 2021, Philharmonie de Paris {…}

Carmen Giannattasio & Markus Werba Lead Teatro Massimo’s 2021 Season Opening

(Credits: Cory Weaver / Francesco Luciani) Teatro Massimo di Palermo will be live streaming the opening of its 2021 season with the performance of the complex, site-specific opera “Il Crepuscolo dei Sogni.” The opera includes music from Claudio Monteverdi, Henry Purcell, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Gioachino Rossini, Franz Schubert, Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, Modest Mussorgsky, Arrigo Boito, Richard Strauss, {…}

Michael Volle, Brindley Sherratt & Johannes Martin Kränzle Lead Opernhaus Zürich Reopening Night

(Credits: Gisela Schenker / Gerard Collett / © wildundleise.de) Opernhaus Zürich has announced that it will reopen on September 20, 2020, with the fully staged production of Modest Mussorgsky’s gigantic opera “Boris Godunov.” The cast for the opera includes Michael Volle, Lina Dambrauskaité, Irène Friedli, John Daszak, Konstantin Shushakov, Brindley Sherratt, Edgaras Montvidas, Oksana Volkova, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Alexei Botnarciuc, {…}