(Credit: Piotr Beczała official website) The Wiener Staatsoper has announced a cast change for the premiere of Calixto Bieito’s production of Bizet’s “Carmen.” The company announced that Piotr Beczała will replace Charles Castronovo in the role of Don José. Castronovo was recently hospitalized due to COVID-19 and is currently recovering. Therefore, he will not be able to make all scheduled rehearsals. {…}
This review belongs to the performance on the 24th of November 2020 The times when the quality of the first cast at the Teatro Real de Madrid was supposed to be “superior” to that of the second cast are long past. In more recent times we saw it in “Ballo in Maschera” last month with soprano Sondra Ravdanovsky in the {…}
(Credit: Javier del Real) This review belongs to the third performance of cast A on the 16th of November 2020 After an absence of nearly a hundred years, “Rusalka” returned to the stage of Teatro Real, with a new production directed by Christof Loy in co-production with Säschsische Sttaatsoper Dresden, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, {…}
The Teatro Colón will stream Antonín Dvořák’s “Rusalka” on its digital platforms on Sunday, Oct. 25 starting at 8 p.m. local time in Argentina, as part of its celebration of World Opera Day. The cast of the performance from the 2017 season included soprano Ana María Martínez in the title role, tenor Dmitry Golovnin as the Prince, bass Ante Jerkunica {…}
Credits: (Dragana Branković / Intermusica Official website / Egils Silins official website) The Staatstheater Kassel has announced the complete casts for its 2020-21 season. Here is the full rundown. Premieres “L’Ultimo Sogno,” one act opera by Giuseppe Verdi and Carlo Ciceri will feature Vlada Borovko in the role of Violetta Valéry, Giordano Lucà as Alfredo Germont, while Cozmin Sime and {…}
(Credit: Boris Streubel) The famed German mezzo-soprano Doris Soffel will appear in the role of Klytämnestra in Richard Strauss’ opera “Elektra” at the Wiener Staatsoper on September 8, 2020. Doris Soffel is one of the leading Wagnerian and Straussian singers, having taken on such roles as Kundry in “Parsifal,” Ortrud in “Lohengrin,” and Fricka and Erda in the composer’s iconic {…}
(Credit: Národní divadlo official website) The entire 62-member chorus of the Opera of the National Theater in Prague has been sent into a two-week quarantine after it was revealed that several members of the ensemble had contracted COVID-19. As a result, the performance of the Bedřich Smetana’s opera “Libuše” has been canceled. Janáček’s opera “Jenůfa” and Dvořák’s opera “Rusalka” will {…}
(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 {…}
As Renée Fleming, “America’s Diva,” introduced the third to last piece in a program that ranged from Handel to Cantaloube to Harold Arlen, the beloved singer sighed deeply. It was a testament to the magic and beauty she had spun singing one of the standout numbers of her concert, “O mio babbino caro” from Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi.” She sang the {…}
The Royal Opera House continues its #OurHouseToYourHouse program with a screening of ZooNation’s family-friendly “The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party” on Friday, July 31 at 7:00 p.m. BST. ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company, a British hip-hop influenced dance company, reimagines Lewis Carroll’s classic tale with a 21st-century twist, zeroing in on perceptions of mental illness and the concept of “normality.” ZooNation {…}
The Academy of Classical Music has announced that that annual Antonín Dvorák Prize will be given to soprano Gabriela Beňačková for her lifelong service to the legacy of the famed composer. The soprano will be presented with the award at Prague’s Rudolfinum on April 21, 2020 in a gala concert that will feature a recital by Polish tenor Piotr Beczala. {…}