Jamie Barton has canceled the June 8 performance of “Il Trovatore” at the Royal Opera House. The mezzo took to social media and said, “Y’all… It’s not Azucena-level drama, but your girl’s been going through it a bit herself. A chest cold that required 5 days of full vocal rest, gnarly food poisoning the night before opening, the worst seasonal {…}
Photo: Tristram Kenton Expectations were high for Deborah Warner’s new production of Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck” at the Royal Opera House. Warner’s acclaimed treatment of “Peter Grimes” saw her in similar territory—indeed, the debt owed to Berg’s score by Britten is considerable—in a pair of twentieth-century operas about alienated outsiders, disturbed by the very society that despises them. Both pieces are {…}
The Royal Opera House has unveiled its 2023-24 season. It all kicks off with a production of “Das Rheingold” directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Antonio Pappano. The opera stars Christopher Maltman, Christopher Purves, Sean Panikkar, Marina Prudenskaya, Kiandra Howarth, and Wiebke Lehmkulm. Performance Dates: Sept. 11 – 29, 2023 Next up is “La Forza del Destino” in a {…}
Photo: Marc Brenner/ROH Somnific fiction is the stuff of bedtime stories starring beasts and feasts of the absurd: displays of madness only children could endure pre-slumber. Lumbering imaginations with beguilement, it refrains from the revilement of base villains, wrapping them instead in tangible entrancement. This enhancement of surrealness makes the fairytale the tender tooth’s apéritif: a nightly dose of magical {…}
The UK government plans to extend the Theatre Tax Relief (TTR), Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR), and Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief (MGETR) for an additional two years to continue supporting the cultural sector during the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies claiming tax relief for theatrical productions, orchestral concerts, and museum and gallery exhibitions will be affected. The {…}
The Royal Opera House will spotlight the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia with a public performance. The showcase, set for March 16, 2023, will feature the culmination of two months of choral workshops with Ukrainian participants. In sum, there will be over 130 Ukrainian participants in the performance. The Cathedral Choir of Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of {…}
The Royal Opera House and Staatsoper Berlin have announced conductor changes for their productions of “Don Carlo.” Conductor Daniele Rustioni will no longer conduct the production of the Verdi opera in London, instead taking over the Staatsoper Berlin’s “Don Carlo” which was originally set to be conducted by Daniel Barenboim. In his stead, Bertrand de Billy will lead the Royal {…}
The Royal Opera House has severed its sponsorship relationship with BP after more than three decades. According to the Guardian, the opera house and the oil and gas multinational worked together since 1988. However, in a statement on Wednesday, the opera house said there had been an “agreement” that the funding would not be renewed. In a statement, the Royal Opera {…}
(Photo: INO, Kip Carroll) “Least Like The Other” continues the Royal Opera House’s partnership with Irish National Opera in Covent Garden’s Linbury Theatre, following last year’s “Bajazet.” This new work is centuries away from Vivaldi’s pasticcio and a world apart stylistically, but what binds them both is the unerring pursuit of bracing theatrical intensity. “Least Like The Other, Searching for {…}
A number of opera houses in the United Kingdom have released a joint statement calling for the Arts Council England (ACE) to develop an opera strategy, in conversations with audiences and colleagues across the industry. The statement said, “The boards of the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne Opera, Opera North, the English National Opera, English Touring Opera, and Welsh National Opera are {…}
The Royal Opera House has announced the participants for its 2023-24 Jette Parker Artist Programme. Among those joining in the fall of 2023 are sopranos Isabela Díaz and Valentina Puscas, baritone Grisha Martirosyan, mezzo-soprano Veena Akama-Makia, bass Jamie Woollard, and tenor Ryan Vaughan Davies. Díaz has appeared at the Teatro Colón, Teatro Argentino de la Plata, and the Municipal Theatre {…}