(© Carlita Sari) Of Antonín Dvořák’s ten operas, “Rusalka,” written around the dawn of the twentieth century and only a few years before the composer’s death, became his most successful. That this highly romantic fairytale (or should one say, water nymph tale?) should be the most courageous of Opera Australia’s (OA) offerings for the second half of this year, tells {…}
(Credit: Deutsche Oper) The Deutsche Oper Berlin has announced its 2025-26 season. Premieres Detlev Glanert ‘s “Die drei Rätsel” will be conducted by Dominic Limburg and directed by Brigitte Dethier. The production will star Martina Baroni, Philipp Jekal, Chance Jonas-O’Toole, Joel Allison, Padraic Rowan, Maria Vasilevskaya, and Alexandra Oomens. Performance Dates: Oct. 11, 2025-Feb. 15, 2026 Sir Donald Runnicles will {…}
San Francisco Opera’s 2025 Summer Season is set to open with Puccini’s “La Bohème.” The company will revive the production by John Caird, and Ramón Tebar will conduct the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. The company will showcase two different casts. The first will showcase Pene Pati as Rodolfo, Karen Chia-ling Ho as Mimì, Andrea Carroll as Musetta, and Lucas Meachem {…}
The Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège has announced its 2025-26 season. Opera Giampaolo Bisanti conducts Gound’s “Faust” in Thaddeus Strassberger’s production. The cast includes John Osborn, Erwin Schrott, Nino Machaidze, Markus Werba, and Elmina Hasan. Performance Dates: Sept. 12-20, 2025 Sieva Borzak conducts Mozart’s “Così fan tutte” with a cast that includes Francesca Dotto, Josè Maria Lo Monaco, Maxim Mironov, Vittorio Prato, {…}
Australian soprano Nicole Car, will perform alongside her husband, French-Canadian baritone Étienne Dupuis, in a Verdi Gala in Melbourne at Opera Australia. The gala will be held on April 30 and May 4, 2025 at Hamer Hall with the repertory spotlighting the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. The duo will be joined by tenor Paul O’Neill, and the gala will be {…}
The Opéra National de Paris has announced its 2025-26 season. The season opens with Puccini’s “La Bohème,” featuring Nicole Car, Yaritza Véliz, Charles Castronovo, Joshua Guerrero, Andrea Carroll, Étienne Dupuis, Xiaomeng Zhang, and Alexandros Stavrakakis. Domingo Hindoyan conducts. Performance Dates: Sept. 12-Oct. 14, 2025 Cecilia Molinari leads Handel’s “Ariodante” alongside Luca Tittoto, Jacquelyn Stucker, Sabine Devieilhe, Rupert Charlesworth, Christophe Dumaux, {…}
The Opéra National de Lyon has announced its 2025-26 season. Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godounov” will be conducted by Vitali Alekseenok and directed by Vasily Barkhatov. The production will star Dmitri Ulyanov alongside soloists from the Opera de Lyon studio. Performance Dates: Oct. 13-25, 2025 Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” will be directed by Damiano Michieletto and will star Joshua Guerrero, Amina Edris, Clémentine {…}
The Dallas Opera has announced its 2025-26 season. Mainstage The season opens with Bizet’s “Carmen.” The company will present the United States premiere of a new production that recreates the original Opéra-Comique production with sets and costumes faithfully designed as they were in 1875. The production will be directed by Romain Gilbert. Marina Viotti sings the title role in her company {…}
Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. It’s about the holidays so this week there is a new Christmas album as well as a final recording by one of the great mezzos of her time, a re-release of a classic recording, a new recording of Massenet’s work, and many baroque {…}
Soprano Nicole Car took to social media to address the events at the Opéra de Paris on March 25, 2024. The company presented “Simon Boccanegra” on March 25, but was forced to stop the performance and send audiences home without completing the opera. The soprano clarified what had happened in her post. Car clarified, “Dear friends, During last night’s performance {…}
(Photo credit: Vincent Pontet-OnP) A few years ago, when Bieito’s staging of “Simon Boccanegra” premiered at the Paris Opera, the reviews were abysmal. Few things are as catchy in the opera world as negative consensus. I got to see the same production with a very similar cast last weekend, and, somehow, I think it was one of the most emotional {…}
