Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra have announced they are joining forces and will merge into a single unified arts institution. The merge will be effective March 1, 2026 and will be temporarily led by a transition management team headed by Jan Raes, current CEO of OBV. Opera Ballet Vlaanderen recently named Stephan Zilias as Music Director and {…}
Stephan Zilias has been appointed the new Music Director of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. Zilias, who has been General Music Director of the Hanover State Opera since 2020 and will end his term in August, will take up his position in September. The conductor has built up a strong artistic profile there with productions that encompass both the great Romantic repertoire {…}
Opera Vlaanderen has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the operas and vocal performances. Alejo Pérez conducts Wagner’s “Parsifal” in a production by Susanne Kennedy. Benjamin Bruns, Dshamilja Kaiser, Kartal Karagedik, and Albert Dohmen star. Performance Dates: Sept. 23-Oct. 22, 2025 Vuvu Mpofu leads Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” with Vincenzo Neri, César Cortés, and Emanuel Tomljenović. Andriy Yurkevych conducts. Performance Dates: Nov. 2-14, 2025 {…}
Opera Vlaanderen has announced its 2024-25 season. Here is a look at the season. Opera Elena Guseva and Ana Naqe Star in Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” alongside Łukasz Załęski and Vincenzo Neri. Daniela Candillari conducts the production by Mariano Pensotti. Performance Dates: Sept. 8-Oct. 16, 2024 Gluck’s “Iphigénie en Tauride” is set to star Michèle Losier, Kartal Karagedik, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Wolfgang Stefan {…}
Belgium’s Opera Vlaanderen has announced its 2022-23 season. Here is a look at the opera productions and recitals the season will offer. Opera Kurt Weill’s “Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny” will be conducted by Alejo Pérez and Ivo Van Hove. Leonardo Capalbo, Tineke Van Ingelgem, Katharina Persicke, Maria Riccarda Wesseling, Bongani Justice Kubheka, James Kryshak, Thomas Oliemans, Frederick Ballentine, and Marcel Brunner star. Performance Dates: Sept. 9 {…}
The Opera Vlaanderen in Belgium has announced its 2021-22 season featuring a variety of operatic works and concerts. Here is a look: Kurt Weill’s “Der Silbersee” opens the season with Daniel Arnaldos, Marjan De Schutter, Hanne Roos, Benny Claessens, James Kryshak, and Elsie De Brauw. Karel Deseure conducts. Performance Dates: Sept. 18-Oct. 16, 2021 “La Nuova Euridice” will fetaure music {…}
(Credit: Blandine Soulage) Opera Vlaanderen in Belgium is set to livestream “Dido and Aeneas” on April 24. The live opera film will feature a cast that includes Alix Le Saux as Dido, Guillaume Andrieux as Aeneas, Claron McFadden as Belinda, Erika Stucky as Sorceress, spirit, interludes, Marie Goyette as Juno, and Thorbjörn Björnsson as Jupiter. Bart Naessens will conduct the {…}
(Credit: Simon Pauly) On May 8 Opera Vlaanderen in Belgium will stream a production of Massenet’s “Werther.” The production conducted by Giedre Slekyte will star Enea Scala in the title role. It will be Scala’s role debut and he will be joined by Ivan Thirion as Albert, Rihab Chaieb as Charlotte, and Elisa Soster as Sophie. The production will be {…}
Credit: Bayerische Staatsoper official website The Royal Danish Opera has announced that Italian conductor Paolo Carignani has been appointed the new Chief Guest Conductor, starting in the 2021-22 season. The contract will last for three years. Carignani will replace the late conductor Alexander Vedernikov in his new position. “Paolo has gained great recognition as a conductor at the Royal Theater {…}
(Credit: © Marco Borggreve) The Wiener Staatsoper has announced that bass Tareq Nazmi will take over the role of Bottom in the upcoming run of Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Nazmi will replace bass Matthew Rose. Nazmi will join a cast that includes Lawrence Zazzo in the role of Oberon, Erin Morley as Tytania, Josh Lovell in the role {…}
(Credit: Emelie Kroon) When COVID-19 struck a few months back, one of the final “live” performances to take the stage was a rendition of Wagner’s “Die Walküre” in Sweden. Among the performers in that production was dramatic soprano Elisabet Strid, who took on the role of Sieglinde. Strid, who has performed in such opera houses as the Teatro Real, Lyric {…}
