Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences get to hear a new album by one of opera’s leading tenors and watch a video of one of Donizetti’s comic gems featuring a leading soprano and a superstar bass-baritone. Voices from the Other Side The new work from composer {…}
(Photo credit: Merri Cyer) The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Artistic Advisor-at-Large and 2023 Kennedy Center Honoree Renée Fleming have announced the programming of the 2024–25 “Renée Fleming VOICES” series. For the purposes of this article, only classical voice events are included. “The Big Sing,” presented by the Kennedy Center, the Washington National Cathedral, and Levine {…}
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli’s concert film, “Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration,” will be released globally in theaters this fall by Fathom. The film will document the three-day July event honoring Bocelli’s 30th anniversary in music. The event, which is set for July 15, 17 & 19, will take place in Lajatico at the Teatro del Silenzio in Tuscany. The film {…}
On July 14th, Le concert de Paris will take place in celebration of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The open-air classical concert of the French capital will be in front of the iconic Hotel de Ville and will showcase Cristian Macelaru conducting the Orchestre National de France and the Chorus of Radio France. Soloists will include Nadine Sierra, Lang Lang, {…}
A truly packed house, a cast of operatic luminaries and a program of works chosen and compiled by Maestro Pappano himself; a Gala, fit for a KING, surely? Which is just as well because His Royal Highness King Charles III was in the audience as a truly surprise guest of honor, courtesy of a massive covert security operation that even {…}
The Teatro San Carlo announced its 2024-25 season. The season opens with Dvořák’s “Rusalka” in a new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. Dan Ettinger conducts a cast that includes Asmik Grigorian, Adam Smith, Ekaterina Gubanova, Anita Rachvelishvili, and Gábor Bretz. Performance Dates: Nov. 20-Dec. 7, 2024 Verdi’s “Don Carlo” will be conducted by Henrik Nánási and will star Piero Pretti, Gabriele Viviani, Ildar {…}
Deutsche Grammophon’s streaming platform Stage + has released new recordings from Anna Netrebko, Elīna Garanča and Nadine Sierra. The platform released a 2019 recording of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” from the Arena di Verona starring Anna Netrebko, Yusif Eyvazov, Dolora Zajick, and Luca Salsi. Pier Giorgio Morandi conducts the Franco Zeffirelli production. The platform also released a 2021 recording of Verdi’s {…}
Nadine Sierra obtained a great success last season with Bellini’s “La sonnambula,” which by chance was the opening aria of Yende in this concert. But, Pretty Yende made her house debut in Madrid. Both of them are greatly acclaimed around the world and we can say that they are in the top ten list of the best sopranos today. They {…}
Deutsche Grammophon is set to release “Nadine Sierra & Pretty Yende in Concert.” The new album features the two sopranos in a live concert from Paris in 2023. The program includes familiar and timeless works by Leonard Bernstein, Victor Herbert, and Louis Guglielm as well as works by Donizetti, Rossini, Bellini, Delibes, Gounod, and Offenbach. Les Frivolités Parisiennes is conducted {…}
I have more than once commented that OPERA, no matter the tale, should always be about the music; specifically, the singing, above and beyond anything else. It is, after all, what truly defines the art. And in Katie Mitchell’s and Robin Tebbutt’s revival production of Donizetti’s tragic opera, the singing is inarguably superlative. Alas, this is a truly grim tale. {…}
Andrea Bocelli is set to celebrate his 30th anniversary this summer in Tuscany. The superstar tenor will be joined by several personalities from the around the world including opera stars Plácido Domingo, Bryn Terfel, José Carreras, Aida Garifullina, and Nadine Sierra. The program will also include Sofia Vergara, Mateo Bocelli, Virginia Bocelli, Shania Twain, Lang Lang, Russell Crowe, Jon Baptiste, {…}
