(Credit: © Raimond Spekking/Wikimedia Commons) Oper Köln canceled the Dec. 28 performance of Walter Braunfels’ rarely performed opera “Die Vögel” due to multiple sick cases in the opera house. The company did not specify the nature of the illness. The opera was set to star Young Woo Kim, Joshua Bloom, Bjarni Thor Kristinsson, Wolfgang Stefan Schwaiger, Gloria Rehm, Anna Malesza-Kutny, {…}
(Credit: ©Barbara Anmüller) “Comedy today, tragedy tomorrow.” American soprano Sydney Mancasola uttered these words before going to the stage at the Adelaide Festival on March 13 2020, in the role of Bess in opera “Breaking the Waves.” The opera had a second performance on March 15, and at that time the coronavirus pandemic already begun its deadly march across Europe {…}
(Credit: Oper Köln official website) The Oper Köln has announced that it has decided to cancel the rest of its 2020-21 season. “Together with the Mayor Henriette Reker, Head of Culture Susanne Laugwitz-Aulbach and the directors of the Köln Philharmonic, the Köln stages and the Gürzenich Orchestra, it was decided to end the 2020-21 season due to the current pandemic {…}
Oper Köln has announced that Hein Mulders will be the new intendant. Mulders will assume the position at the German house from the 2022-23 season and will take over for Birgit Meyer. The Dutch intendant began his career as an orchestra manager of the Dutch National Youth Orchestra in Amsterdam and then spent 11 years as casting director of the {…}
(Credit: Sven Helge Czichy) The Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden has announced the extension of its shutdown until at least May 1, 2021. “On March 8 we were allowed to resume with rehearsals, but the resumption of performances depends on many factors. We can say that it will be a while before the curtain rises again,” said the opera house in the {…}
(Credit: Oper Köln official website) Two major German opera houses, Nationaltheater Mannheim and Oper Köln have extended their closures until at least May 1, 2021. Both opera houses stated that the decision comes on the heels of a rapidly worsening epidemiological situation. The German federal government and Prime Ministers of German federal states have agreed to extend the lockdown in {…}
(Credit: Opera Online website) Oper Köln has announced that it will remain closed until at least March 31, 2021. The opera house stated that such a decision after broad consultations with the authorities of the City of Köln, and based on the joint decision of the German government and federal states. The German government has extended the national lockdown until {…}
(Credit: Athole Still Artists official website) Conductor Andrew Greenwood has died. Greenwood was born in Yorkshire. He graduated from Clare College, Cambridge. He went on to join the music staff at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden from 1977 until 1984. He then became a Chorus Master at the Welsh Opera until 1990. He served as Artistic Director of the {…}
(Credit: Kirsten Nijhof / Opera Online website / Staatstheater Hannover official website) Oper Leipzig has announced that it will shut down until at least the end of February 2021. The company has joined a growing number of German opera houses and concert halls that have closed until February or March 2021. In the meantime, Oper Köln and Staatstheater Hannover have {…}
Oper Köln has announced it will not extend the contract of Artistic Director Birgit Meyer, with it set to expire by the end of 2022. The decision comes as the company’s renovation of its opera house reaches over 1 billion Euros, a figure which is over four times the initial estimate when the project was approved in 2012. Meyer has {…}
(Credit: Simon Pauly) “The music is giving me what I need. Music has always given me what I needed in my life.” When the COVID-19 hurricane struck humanity in full force in March, tenor Martin Muehle was about to begin rehearsals for the supernatural opera “The Queen of Spades” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. At that moment it was obvious {…}