Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week, audiences will get to hear several world premieres, rarities, and several complete opera recordings. Giacomo Puccini: Manon Lescaut C Major releases Puccinios’ breakthrough opera with a cast that includes Liudmyla Monastyrska, David Bizic, Gregory Kunde, and Carlos Chausson. The Gran Teatre {…}
The English National Opera has announced its 2023-24 season. Gwyn Hughes Jones, Elizabeth Llewellyn, and Simon Bailey star in Britten’s “Peter Grimes” with Martyn Brabbins conducting David Alden’s production. Performance Dates: Sept. 21–Oct. 11, 2023 Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Iolanthe” returns to the company with Chris Hopkins conducting the production by Cal McCrystal. Samantha Price, Ellie Laugharne, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Marcus Farnsworth, John Savournin, {…}
Credit: Raftermen / Mihaela Bodlovic for Theatre of Sound/KSU The Atlanta Opera staged a powerful production of Daisy Evans and Stephen Higgins’ interpretation of Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle,” bringing to light the heartbreaking truth of people living with dementia and their caregivers. In this new production, instead of a collector of wives, Duke Bluebeard is the loving husband of his one and {…}
The Atlanta Opera’s Discoveries Series is set to kick off the 2022-23 Season with Bela Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” on October 7- 9. The opera, which will be presented in association with Atlanta State University School of Music from Kennesaw, will star Michael Mayes and Susan Bullock. It will be directed by Daisy Evans and conducted by Stephen Higgins. “We’ve been {…}
The Scottish Opera has announced its 2022-23 season featuring new productions, pop operas, and opera in concert. Opera The season opens with Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” starring Roland Wood, Jonathan McGovern, Zachary Altman, Hye-Youn Lee, Keel Watson, Pablo Bemsch, Shengzhi Ren, Kitty Whately, Lea Shaw, and Emyr Wyn Jones. Stuart Stratford conducts the production by Sir Thomas Allen. Performance Dates: May 28-June {…}
The Atlanta Opera has announced its 2022-23 season featuring some of the great classics in the repertoire. Mainstage Season Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” opens the season with Timothy Myers conducting the production by Tomer Zvulun. Yasko Sato stars in the title role with Gianluca Terranova, Nina Yoshida Nelsen, Julius Ahn, and Allen Michael Jones. Performance Dates: Nov. 5-13, 2022 Arthur Fagen {…}
(Credit: Sim Canetty Clarke/ Christina Raphaelle) Gerald Finley and Susan Bullock are two world-class artists who have performed at all the major opera stages the world over. Collectively, they have appeared at The Metropolitan Opera, the English National Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, Canadian Opera Company, Carnegie Hall, Opera North, La Scala, Sydney Opera, La Monnaie, {…}
Lockdown has meant more people than ever consuming opera through streams, broadcasts, and archive videos, often from leading houses. It has proved a mixed experience for many. The spectacle of opera, and its broad-brush gestures, can feel boxy on the small screen; so too can its emotional climaxes feel oddly overblown out of a theatrical context. There have been innovative {…}
Returning in a digital format after a three-year hiatus, the Rosenblatt Recitals will present a season of eight, short concerts which will benefit Target Ovarian Cancer, the leading ovarian cancer charity in the U.K. The season, titled “Rosenblatt Recitals at Home,” will be hosted by Suzy Klein and Petroc Trelawny, and will feature a number of prominent artists performing from {…}
(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 {…}
Grange Park Opera has announced that it will be filming Benjamin Britten’s “Owen Wingrave,” with audiences able to view the work between September and December 2020. The opera will be filmed on location in haunted houses throughout Surrey and London. “The opera requires a dozen interiors, which are well-nigh impossible to achieve on a theatre stage. However, filmed on location, {…}