The Teatro Municipale di Piacenza has closed due to the Coronavirus. The company announced that due to orders from the Minister of Health in cooperation with the President of the Emilia-Romagna region, all planned activity at the theater would be closed until March 1, 2020. The company was set to present a new production of Donizetti’s “Lucrezia Borgia” on Feb. {…}
(Credit: © Joan Tomás – Fidelio Artist) In 2019 the Donizetti Opera Festival celebrated its fifth anniversary after winning the prestigious Best Festival at the Oper! Magazine Awards. The festival showcased three works by the famed composer that brought an international audience and a number of rising stars and international singers. It was also the second year for famed conductor {…}
(Credit: Gianfranco Rota) “Lucrezia Borgia” is perhaps one of Donizetti’s most dramatic operas with arguably some of the most unlikeable characters in the artform. However, it ranks as one of his most inventive and one of his most compelling. The music which brings audiences a step closer to early Verdi, sees Donizetti in experimental mode with some of the traditional {…}
Editor’s Note: This piece has been edited as statements have come out regarding the situation. Following accusations of sexual harassment, numerous opera personalities have come in defense of Plácido Domingo. In the wake of accusations by nine women, opera stars have taken to Twitter, Instagram, and news outlets to defend their colleague. Among them is Bulgarian superstar soprano Sonya Yoncheva {…}
Oper Köln has announced its 2019-20 season. Premieres General Music Director François-Xavier Roth will lead the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln during performances of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde,” directed by Patrick Kinmonth. The cast will feature KS Peter Seiffert/Heiko Börner as Tristan, Karl-Heinz Lehner as König Marke, Ingela Brimberg as Isolde, Samuel Youn/Kostas Smorginas as Kurwenal, John Huezenroeder as Melot, Claudia Mahnke as {…}
Riccardo Frizza is one of today’s foremost Italian conductors specializing in the Italian repertoire. He has appeared at all the great opera houses in the world and has interpreted many of the great works by Verdi, Donizetti, Rossini, and Bellini. Recently, he was appointed the music director of the Donizetti Opera Festival and for his first assignment, he took on {…}
Earlier this season, Spanish tenor Airam Hernández took on the role of legendary tenor Enrico Caruso in the world premiere of Dutch composer Micha Hamel’s new opera “Caruso a Cuba.” Following his success in Amsterdam, the tenor will make his highly anticipated U.S. debut and role debut with the Dallas Opera as Fenton in Lee Blakely’s production of Verdi’s beloved comedy “Falstaff.” Hernández recently spoke with OperaWire about his {…}
Riccardo Frizza is one of today’s leading conductors specializing in the Italian repertoire and bringing a fresh and unique approach to the Bel Canto style. Throughout the past years he has reinvigorated the repertory, finding new critical editions and performing complete versions without the standard cuts. He has also performed rarely performed works while bringing new subtleties to standard pieces. {…}
Donizetti certainly had an intimate relationship with England’s Queen Elizabeth I, and with the Tudors in general, who provided him with a rich source of characters and themes for his operas. Three works have substantial roles for Elizabeth, herself; “Maria Stuarda” and “Roberto Devereux” are well-known and receive regular performances, whereas the third, “Il Castello di Kenilworth,” rarely receives a {…}
The Festival Donizetti is set to present a new critical edition of “Lucrezia Borgia” in 2019. The news was revealed by Music Director Riccardo Frizza. According to the conductor, the new version will include new arias and will also showcase Donizetti’s first intentions with the piece. In the interview, the conductor also noted that his intentions with the festival were to {…}
Performances of Bellini’s melodrama, “Il Pirata,” at the Teatro alla Scala have, over the years, been few and far between. Originally written for the theatre in 1827, and starring the celebrated soprano, Henriette Méric-Lalande as Imogene and the famous tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini as Gualtiero, it was roundly deemed to be a success, and quickly received two revivals, one in {…}