The Metropolitan Opera revealed its 2019-20 season on Wednesday afternoon. Among the major announcements were the company’s schedule for its ever-popular Live in HD slate. Here is a look at the list of performances that will be broadcast to audiences around the world. Worthy of note is that of the 10 productions set to screen in cinemas, three will be {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2019-20 season with five new productions, a New Year’s Eve gala, and a recital. Here is a look at what to expect. New Productions The season opens with Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” in a new production by James Robinson. The production stars Eric Owens and Kevin Short sharing the title role of Porgy and {…}
On January 31, the Metropolitan Opera will revive Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” The opera will run for seven performances between January and February before returning for another five in April. Here are some fun facts about the upcoming production. The first cast will showcase four prominent Met Opera debuts. Soprano Aida Garifullina will make her hotly anticipated house debut, taking on {…}
The Den Norske Opera has announced its upcoming 2018-19 season featuring a wide range of repertoire and rising stars as well as some of the leading Norwegian singers in the world. Here is a look. Productions The season will open with Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and Enrique Mazzola conducting Richard Jones’s production. Johannes Weisser, Jakob Bloch Jespersen, Brigitte Christensen, and Anthony Gregory star {…}
The Vienna State Opera has announced the 2018-19 season, which is incidentally the company’s 150-anniversary year. The season will include six new productions, including a world premiere production. Here is a breakdown of what’s to come. New Productions (In Order of Opening) Berlioz’s “Les Troyens” will be the first new production, starting on Oct. 14, 2018. David McVicar directs while {…}
The world is divided into men and women. And only the unification of these two sides, through mutual understanding and respect can bridge the gap and bring about a new world full of equality. Sounds familiar right? It was what François Girard saw prior to 2013, and his vision remains ever true to this day. Perhaps even more prevalent. It {…}
Anna Netrebko graces the small screen on August 13, 2017, as PBS showcases Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” on Great Performances. The soprano received rave reviews when the production was revived in the spring. OperaWire noted, “Netrebko’s interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterwork was an in-your-face reminder that she is singular among modern opera’s elite superstars.” The diva is joined by Peter Mattei in {…}
Peter Mattei and Robert Merrill do not share much in common. Their birthdays are one day apart in different eras, the former born on June 3, 1965, and the latter on June 4, 1917, and despite being baritones, they are a completely different class of that noble voice. Merrill will always be remembered for the darker timbre and weight that allowed {…}
Want some Anna Netrebko in your weekend? Want to see a rising new star who will be a major player in June at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition? Or simply looking for opera on your travels? Here is what is in store this weekend around the world. Austria The Vienna State Opera kicks off its weekend presenting {…}
The Easter and Passover holidays seem to have frozen up the opera world this weekend with only a handful of performances featured around the country. It’s a major turnaround from last weekend when a dozen companies were putting on a show. The Metropolitan Opera continues its unstoppable season with three performances. Friday is the final hurrah for Willy Decker’s production {…}
This review is for the performance on Monday Jan. 10, 2017. Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” is one of the most famous works in the operatic repertoire as well as one of the funniest. It contains some of the most memorable melodies and space for singers to fool around and provide vocal fireworks. In recent years, the Metropolitan Opera has {…}