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 {…}
Pene Pati is having a breakout season, making important debuts at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera. The tenor has been hailed for his “extraordinary gift for producing a golden thread of sound” and his “round and sunshine-filled voice.” He has won numerous awards around the world including the Opus Klassik Newcomer of the Year Award, Best {…}
The Opéra National du Capitole de Toulouse has announced its 2025-26 season. Opera Hervé Niquet conducts a production of Massenet’s “Thaïs” with Stefano Poda directing. Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Tassis Christoyannis, and Jean-François Borras star. Performance Dates: Sept. 26-Oct. 5, 2025 Thomas Dunford conducts Handel’s “Theodora” in concert with Lea Desandre, Véronique Gens, Hugh Cutting, Laurence Kilsby, and Alex Rosen. Performance Date: {…}
The Teatro alla Scala has advanced plans for the Teatro alla Scala’s 2025-26 season. The season will open with Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” directed by Vasily Barkhatov and Sara Jakubiak. Riccardo Chailly will conduct. In February 2026, the company will give the entire “Ring Cycle” with Simone Young and Alexander Soddy. In April, the company will revive “Turandot” in {…}
Opera Comique has announced its 2025-26 season. Opera The season opens with Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” with Michael Spyres, Héloïse Mas, Amina Edris, and Jean-Sébastien Bou. Pierre Dumoussaud conducts the production by Lotte De Beer. Performance Dates: Sept. 25-Oct. 5, 2025 Gluck’s “Iphigénie en Tauride” will star Tamara Bounazou, Theo Hoffman, Philippe Talbot, Jean-Fernand Setti, Léontine Maridat-Zimmerlin, Fanny Soyer, and Lysandre Châlon. Louis {…}
(Credit: Boston Symphony Orchestra) The Tanglewood Festival has announced the 2025 season. In a statement by Andris Nelsons, the conductor said, “We are excited for another fantastic summer at Tanglewood, full of exceptional music in the beautiful surroundings of the Berkshires. We are delighted to perform Puccini’s ‘Tosca’ with Kristine Opolais and Bryn Terfel, and excerpts from Prokofiev’s ‘Romeo and Juliet; with {…}
Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences will be able to listen to rarities from Massenet, Mozart, and Campra. Love Bade Me Welcome The new album is a collection of choral music from composer J.A.C. Redford exploring spirituality, love, and the human experience. Blending traditional forms with {…}
(Credit: Jennifer Taylor / Met Opera) The Metropolitan Opera is reviving “Rigoletto” for the second time this season. Following a run in the fall, the Met has enlisted a new star cast featuring a promising young tenor and one of the best baritones in the world. The result was a solid evening of music and drama. Hyperactive turntable But before {…}
(Credit: Jennifer Taylor / Met Opera) This week the Met revives “Rigoletto” for the second time this season. The company has assembled yet another star cast that includes one of the most anticipated debuts of the season, Pene Pati. Pati will bring his acclaimed Duke of Mantua, a role he has performed all over the world including at the Wiener {…}
(Photo: Puccini’s most beloved masterpiece is a feast at any time of the year, but as a Christmas treat, promises to deliver many gifts. Alas, like ALL gifts, some are more desirable than others; some special, some expected and some unwanted. As is the case with this fifth revival of Richard Jones’s classic 2017 production, where some presents are more {…}
The Park Avenue Armory has announced its 2025 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. Konstantin Krimmel and Ammiel Bushakevitz lead a program of music by Schubert, Loewe, and Vaughan Williams. Performance Dates: Feb. 22 & 24, 2025 Erin Morley and Gerald Martin Moore lead a program of music by Schumann, Berg, Saint-Saëns, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Ricky Ian Gordon. {…}