Niamh O’Sullivan, Emma Bell, Michael Mayes, Christine Rice & Nardus Williams Lead English National Opera’s 2025-26 Season

The English National Opera has announced its 2025-26 season. The season opens with “Mozart’s Women: A Musical Journey,” which will be directed by ENO’s Artistic Director Annilese Miskimmon and will star international opera soloists. The concert will be hosted by TV and radio presenter Lauren Laverne and filmed for future broadcast on Sky Arts TV. Performance Date: Sept. 12, 2025 {…}

Jan 31, 2025

Opera Australia 2025 Review: La Traviata

(Photo Credit Guy Davies) Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata” directed by Sarah Giles for Opera Australia (OA) was performed in three Australian states, before it arrived at the Sydney Opera House in the first days of 2024. Given its overall success, it comes as no surprise that a revival in Sydney took place barely a year later. It is a stylish {…}

Jan 7, 2025

Samantha Clarke & Lorina Gore to Headline Opera Australia’s ‘La Traviata’

Opera Australia is set to present “La Traviata” in Sarah Giles’ luscious production. The opera, which will be presented between Jan. 23 and March 27, 2025, at the Sydney Opera House, will star Australian sopranos Samantha Clarke and Lorina Gore as Violetta. They will be joined by Korean tenor Ji-Min Park and Australian Iain Henderson as Alfredo and baritones José Carbó {…}

Nov 27, 2024

Pinchgut Opera 2024-25 Review: Julius Caesar

(Photo: BrettBoardman) Undoubtedly, Sydney is coming of age as a culturally vibrant city, with thought-provoking, often superior productions of concerts, musicals, plays and operas. This long-awaited but most welcomed process is well illustrated by two excellent opera performances within less than a week that would be hailed anywhere in the world: a few days after Richard Wagner’s “Die Walküre” had {…}

Jan 11, 2024

Opera Australia 2024 Review: La Traviata

(Photo: Keith Saunders) Sarah Giles’s production of “La traviata,” currently playing at Sydney Opera House, comes across as a very intelligent piece of theater. Already seen at Opera Queensland, State Opera of South Australia and West Australian Opera, this production opened Opera Australia’s 2024 summer season on January 2. Much of its effectiveness was achieved through devices that increased our {…}

Nov 27, 2023

Sydney Symphony Orchestra 2023 Review: Das Rheingold

(Photo credit: Daniel Boud) Concert performances of “Das Rheingold” by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) in the Opera House Concert Hall November 16-18 were the most recent events in what is shaping up to be a bit of a Wagner year in Australia. Next month sees Opera Australia’s much-awaited new “Ring cycle” in Brisbane, delayed twice previously by COVID. Back {…}

Oct 20, 2023

Monteverdi Choir to Present Works by Bach & Handel on U.S. Tour

After a successful European tour, maestro Dinis Sousa takes Monteverdi Choir on the road, with a U.S. tour featuring performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Handel’s “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moder” before moving on to London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields. Inspired by Milton’s poetry and compiled in a libretto by Charles Jennens, Handel’s work captures a spectrum of human {…}

Oct 30, 2020

Sir John Tomlinson, Emma Bell & Louise Alder Lead Grange Festival 2021 Edition

(Credits: Opera Online website / Paul Foster-Williams / Gerard Collett) The Grange Festival has announced its 2021 edition which will feature several opera productions headline by opera’s greatest stars. Here is the breakdown of what’s in store for 2021. Britten’s operatic masterpiece “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will open the festival. The opera will feature Alexander Chance in the role of {…}