Blackwater Valley Opera Festival Announces 2025 Season

(Photo credit: Sean O’Riordan) The Blackwater Valley Opera Festival unveils programming for its 15th anniversary season. For the purposes of this article, only vocal works are featured. Recitals & Mainstage Performances Festival artists and the Discover Singing Children’s Choir perform in the opening ceremony. Performance Date: May 27, 2025 (Lismore Millennium Park) Purcell’s “Dido And Aeneas” is presented by mezzo-soprano {…}

Meryl Streep, Melody Moore, Magdalena Kožená & Tara Erraught Lead CD/DVD Releases

Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences will get a good helping of baroque favorites and rarities, star-studded albums, world premieres and some fantastic modern works by recognized composers. Rufus Wainwright’s Dream Requiem The new album showcases Wainwright’s “Dream Requiem,” an epic work for orchestra, chorus, soprano, {…}

Q & A: Mezzo-Soprano Sarah Richmond on Her Forthcoming Role as Olga for Northern Ireland Opera

(Photo: Ross Kavanagh) This September, Northern Ireland Opera premieres its new production of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin”, with its quality cast members directed by Cameron Menzies, and conducted by Dominic Limburg. This production looks certain to be another hit with local audiences, following its sell-out productions of “La Traviata” and “Tosca.” OperaWire met up with one of its stars, mezzo-soprano Sarah {…}

Irish National Opera 2023-24 Review: L’Olimpiade

(Photo: Ros Kavanagh) Intricate and convoluted plots are not exactly rare in operas of the 17th and 18th centuries. Usually revolving around mistaken identities, complex love triangles, misunderstandings and deliberate deceptions that precipitate extreme emotions, their narratives career forward, plunging the protagonists into life-threatening and life-changing situations in which the gods, heroes and mythical characters often play their part. Vivaldi’s {…}

Nicholas Brownlee, Sinéad Campbell-Wallace, Amanda Woodbury Lead Irish National Opera’s 2023-24 Season

The Irish National Opera has announced its 2023-24 season. Éna Brennan’s “Breathwork” will star Andrew Gavin, Michelle O’Rourke, and Kelli-Ann Masterson. John McIlduff directs. Performance Dates: Sept. 28-30, 2023 Duke Kim sings the title role of Gounod’s “Faust” alongside Nicholas Brownlee, Jennifer Davis, Gyula Nagy, Mark Nathan, and Gemma Ní Bhriain. Elaine Kelly conducts the production by Jack Furness. Performance {…}