Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Angel Blue, Diana Damrau, Sarah Dufresne & Erin Morley Lead Orchestre Métropolitain de Montreal’s 2026-27 Season

The Orchestre Métropolitain de Montreal has announced its 2026-27 season. Here are the vocal performances. Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts Sarah Dufresne in Massenet and Auber. The program also includes music by Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and Grandval. Performance Dates: Nov. 11-15, 2027 Léa Moisan-Perrier conducts the Noël choral à la Basilique with the Chœur Métropolitain. Performance Date: Dec. 8, 2027 Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Des airs de fêtes {…}

Apr 14, 2026

Royal Opera House 2025-26 Review: Siegfried

(Credit: ©2026 Monika Rittershaus) Despite the numerous positive accounts of Barrie Kosky’s “Siegfried” that gave me hope for a rich and nuanced performance, I found the singing, acting and stage design to be flat, unconvincing and shallow. As a devoted Wagnerite, I do not feel that most of the performers truly understood the vast musical work that they were performing. {…}

Mar 12, 2026

Joyce El-Khoury, Rose Naggar-Tremblay, Julien Dran & Etienne Dupuis Lead Opéra de Montréal’s 2026-27 Season

The Opéra de Montréal has announced its 2026-27 season. Puccini’s “Turandot” opens the season in Francesca Zambello’s production. Paolo Arrivabeni conducts a cast that includes Maida Hundeling, Andrea Shin, Joyce El-Khoury, Raymend Aceto, Nathan Keoughan, and Rocco Rupolo. Performance Dates: Sept. 26-Oct, 4, 2026 Julien Dran leads Massenet’s “Werther” with Julie Boulianne, Sophie Naubert, Hugo Laporte. Jacques Lacombe conducts Alain {…}

Feb 22, 2026

Patricia Westley, J’Nai Bridges, Sarah Dufresne & Eric Ferring Highlight Seattle Symphony’s 2026-27 Season

The Seattle Symphony has announced its 2026-27 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. The World of György Kurtág will include Will Langlie Miletich, Lucy Fitz Gibbon, and Ryan MacEvoy McCullough with Lembit Beecher and Seattle Symphony musicians. Performance Date: Nov. 6, 2026 Xian Zhang conducts Mozart’s “Requiem” and Joe Pereira’s Timpani Concerto. Soloists include Eric Schweikert, Mei Gui Zhang, Sarah Larsen, {…}

Feb 19, 2026

Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Elisabeth Teige, Karen Cargill & Louise Alder lead Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s 2026-27 Season

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s 2026-27 season. Here are the vocal performances. Gustavo Gimeno conducts María Toledo and Eric Abramovitz in a program of Falla, Stravinsky, and Jose Gonzalez Granero. Performance Dates: Oct. 1 & 3, 2026 Gustavo Gimeno and Rachel Willis-Sørensen team up for Strauss’ “Four Last Songs.” The program also includes Mahler and Beethoven. Performance Dates: Nov. 12 & 14, {…}

Dec 18, 2025

Cast Change: Sarah Dufresne & Andriana Chuchman Join Cast of ‘Rigoletto’ at the Canadian Opera Company

The Canadian Opera Company has announced a cast change for its production of “Rigoletto.” The company said, “Soprano Andrea Carroll has withdrawn from the COC’s upcoming production of Rigoletto. The COC welcomes sopranos Sarah Dufresne and Andriana Chuchman to share the role of Gilda for the duration of the performance run.” Dufresne will perform on Jan. 24, 28, and Feb. {…}

Apr 18, 2025

Aigul Akhmetshina, Michael Fabiano, Marina Rebeka, Pretty Yende, Sara Blanch & Jessica Pratt Lead Tiroler Festspiele Erl’s 2025-26 Season

The Tiroler Festspiele Erl has announced its 2025-26 season. Autumn Season Holger Falk will perform alongside Herbert Schuch, Vivi Vassileva, and Musicbanda Franui. Performance Date: Oct. 2, 2025 Julian Prégardien, Herbert Schuch, and Musicbanda Franui will perform in concert. Performance Date: Oct. 3, 2025 Winter Season Johann Sebastian Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium will be performed by Elisabeth Breuer, Ulrike Malotta, Gideon Poppe, {…}

Feb 4, 2025

Michael Chioldi, Tracy Dahl & Jonelle Sills Highlight Vancouver Opera’s 2025-26 Season

The Vancouver Opera has announced its 2025-26 season featuring three productions. In a statement, Tom Wright, Vancouver Opera General Director said, “For our 66th season, we’re bringing operas by the art form’s greatest composers to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage. These timeless works run the gamut—in some cases the gauntlet—of emotions, while exploring social norms and the consequences of personal choice. {…}

Dec 17, 2024

London Symphony Orchestra 2024-25 Review: La Rondine

(Photo: Mark Allan) Puccini called his work “La Rondine” a “commedia lirica,” effectively COMIC opera, but I consider it a TRAGEDY that this work isn’t performed more in the opera house. “La Rondine” comprises some of the most exquisite, emotive music the maestro ever penned. Alas, devoid of the dramatic impact and impetus of his more famous, regularly performed works, {…}

Apr 30, 2024

Royal Opera House 2023-24 Review: Carmen

(Credit: Camilla Greenwell) At the very opening of Damiano Michieletto’s new production of “Carmen,” I was struck by a very vivid sense of déjà vu! Before the curtain rises, a very sombre, spectral lady enters the stage, dressed in black with lace mantilla. For a brief instant, I thought I was back, four days PREVIOUSLY in the same house, where {…}

Sep 26, 2023

Royal Opera House 2023-24 Review: L’Elisir d’Amore

(Photo credit: Clive Barda/Royal Opera House) Nestling zest into impressionable appetites, bel canto master Donizetti’s “L’elisir d’amore” is a succulent confectioner’s delight: a cavalcade of strawberry and rhubarb shades that never age out of their calorific bubble. High on hyperactive captures of unravelling roulades and supercilious trills, its teasing feast of overblown, meringue-like vows empowers risk-taking directors. Decking his décor {…}