Artist Of The Week: Krassimira Stoyanova To Bring ‘Lucrezia Borgia’ To Life At Salzburg Festival

It’s the final week of the Salzburg Festival, but before it concludes “Lucrezia Borgia” will open in two concert performances with a stellar cast that includes Juan Diego Flórez and Ildar Abdrazaov with Marco Armiliato conducting. But it is Krassimira Stoyanova that headlines the performances in the title role and forays once again into the Bel Canto repertoire. Throughout her career Stoyanova has {…}

Aug 14, 2017

Artist Of The Week: Gerald Finley To Showcase Dramatic Power As ‘Lear’

This week Aribert Reimann’s “Lear” makes its premiere at the Salzburg Festival in a new production by Simone Stone with Gerald Finley as the title character. The premiere will see Finley in yet another new role as he continues to expand his varied and unique repertoire. For years Finley has been a big proponent of modern and contemporary works, including the {…}

Aug 9, 2017

Anna Netrebko And Yusif Eyvazov To Sign Album Copies

Salzburg Festival audiences will get an advanced release of Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov’s new album “Romanza.” On August 14, the couple will sign their new CD at the Musik Jathlnigg at 1 p.m. local time. “Romanza” marks the first crossover album for Netrebko and her second duet album for Deutsche Grammophon. The set includes new songs by Igor Krutoy, who composed {…}

Aug 9, 2017

Critics Praise for Kentridge’s Gruesome Production for ‘Wozzeck’ at Salzburg Festival 2017

Following its opening at Austria’s Salzburg Festival, William Kentridge’s production of Wozzeck will be coming to the Metropolitan Opera in 2019. And by the looks of it, Met audiences are primed for a major treat. Shirley Apthorp of Financial Times describes the artistic direction of Kentridge’s Wozzeck as “grim sketches and animations, a return to his earlier medium of charcoal {…}

Aug 8, 2017

Young Brit Wins Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award 2017

Conductor Kerem Hasan is the winner of the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award 2017. The 25-year-old Brit walked away with 15,000 euros and will conduct a Festival concert at the Felsenreitschule in August 2018. Other major winners of the award include, Aziz Shokhakimov (2016), Lorenzo Viotti (2015), Maxime Pascal (2014), Ben Gernon (2013), Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (2012), Ainārs Rubikis {…}

Aug 4, 2017

Salzburg Festival Contributes Money To Refugees

The Salzburg Festival is donating 50,000 Euros to facilitate musical education for Syrian refugee children in Jordan over the next two years. The festival announced that the money being donated to MECI (Middle East Children’s Institute) was the net profit from ticket sales for the dress rehearsal of Verdi’s “Aida” performed on August 3, 2017. The performance starred Anna Netrebko, Francesco Meli, {…}

Aug 4, 2017

Medici.TV To Livestream ‘La Clemenza di Tito’ From Salzburg Festival

Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito” is slated to be live streamed on Medici.tv from the Salzburg Festival on August 4. Starring Russell Thomas as Tito Vespasiano, Golda Schultz as Vitellia and Marianne Crebassa as Sesto, the opera will be recorded by ORF/3Sat and UNITEL in collaboration with the Salzburg Festival. The opera will also be broadcast on August 4, 2017, on ORF 2 and later on August {…}

Jul 31, 2017

Artist Of The Week: Anna Netrebko Brings Her Dramatic Force To ‘Aida’ At The Salzburg Festival

Ever since 2002, Anna Netrebko has been a mainstay at the Salzburg Festival, headlining some of the most acclaimed productions of the showcase. In fact, her productions have often drawn some of the biggest audiences due to her magnetic star power and brilliant stage presence. This week looks to be no different as the diva headlines another new production, Verdi’s {…}

Jul 31, 2017

Q&A: Francesco Meli On His Role Debut As Radamès In ‘Aida’ At Salzburg & His Collaboration With Riccardo Muti

There are a ton of Verdi tenors out there capable of dominating his major roles. But few are like Francesco Meli. The Italian tenor has made the works of the great Busetto genius his bread and better, performing such major works as “La Traviata,” “Il Trovatore,” “Rigoletto,” “Nabucco,” “Macbeth,” “Ernani,” “Don Carlo,” “Luisa Miller,” “Un Ballo in Maschera” and even some {…}

Jul 29, 2017

Viva Verdi – Baritone Luca Salsi on His Undying Love For Italy’s Greatest Composer

For Luca Salsi, there is no composer better than Verdi. No one. Salsi, the Italian baritone, who is slated to sing the role of Amonasro at the Salzburg Festival starting in early August, has repeatedly professed that no composer in the history of Italian opera was able to fuse music and text with the same level of conviction and depth. {…}

Jul 26, 2017

Swarovski To Partner With Salzburg Festival For Aida

Swarovski will once again partner with the Salzburg Festival for the upcoming “Aida.” The glass manufacturer, which was responsible for Anna Netrebko’s dress for her concert performances of “Manon Lescaut” and the Cat suit in “Faust” last summer, will create jewels for Anna Netrebko and will use Swarovski crystals for many of the costumes worn by the principals. The idea for {…}