Thomas Oliemans Leads Opera Zuid’s ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’

Opera Zuid’s 2024-2025 season is set to begin with Béla Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle.” The one-act opera will showcase baritone Thomas Oliemans making his role debut as Bluebeard and mezzo-soprano Deirdre Angenent as Judith. Philzuid’s chief conductor Duncan Ward will conduct the production by Kenza Koutchoukali. “Bluebeard’s Castle” is a psychological thriller about the question of how much truth love can endure {…}

Nathalie Stutzmann Leads Metropolitan Opera’s New Productions of ‘Don Giovanni’ & ‘Die Zauberflöte’

The Metropolitan Opera is set to close out its 2022–23 season with two Mozart works in new productions. The productions will be “Don Giovanni” with Ivo van Hove directing and “Die Zauberflöte” with Simon McBurney directing. “Don Giovanni,” which will be performed between May 5 and June 2, will star Peter Mattei in the title role, Adam Plachetka, Federica Lombardi, {…}

Sonya Yoncheva, Sondra Radvanovsky, Anna Netrebko & Renée Fleming Headline Metropolitan Opera’s 2022-23 Season

The Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2022-23 season featuring seven new productions. Here is a breakdown of the season. New Productions Sir. David McVicar directs a new production of Cherubini’s “Medea” with Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role. The cast will be rounded out by Janai Brugger, Ekaterina Gubanova, Matthew Polenzani, and Michele Pertusi. Carlo Rizzi conducts. Performance Dates: Sept. {…}

Roderick Williams, Ian Bostridge, Dame Sarah Connolly, Dorothea Röschmann Headline Oxford Lieder Festival’s 2021 Season

The Oxford Lieder Festival has announced its 20th anniversary season, which is set to take place between Oct. 8-23, 2021. Per a press release, the showcase will feature over 80 events with such artists as Ian Bostridge, Dame Sarah Connolly, Dietrich Henschel, Thomas Oliemans, Christoph Prégardien, Dorothea Röschmann, Carolyn Sampson, Anna Stéphany, Camilla Tilling, Robin Tritschler, Roderick Williams, Catriona Morison, Simon Bode, Stuart Jackson, Konstantin Krimmel, and Helen Charlston. In addition to {…}

Marina Rebeka, Annette Dasch & J’Nai Bridges Lead Dutch National Opera’s Reimagined Spring Season

Following the cancelation of its 2020-21 season, the Dutch National Opera has announced an alternate program. The company revealed that it will present “Die ersten Menschen” by Rudi Stephan, directed by Calixto Bieito in his DNO debut. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra will be conducted by François-Xavier Roth and the work will star Kyle Ketelsen, Annette Dasch, Leigh Melrose, and John {…}

International Vocal Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch Postpones Festivals, Announces Mozart Masterclasses

As most theaters worldwide remained closed due to the coronavirus, the International Vocal Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch has announced that their annual competition will be pushed back to 2021, and their biennial Opera / Oratorio competition has been postponed to 2022. The decision is explained by IVC Director Ivan Kalmthout, who cites the impracticality of not only the social distancing measures but {…}

Juan Diego Flórez, Leontyne Price, June Anderson, Leo Nucci, Sondra Radvanovsky Headline Top 10 Operas to Stream This Week

In keeping with last week’s themes of dialogue regarding racial equality in the opera world, we highly recommend checking out the several online shows such as Karen Slack’s “KikiKonversations,” Kenneth Overton’s “Black Opera Live,” and The Sitdown with LB,” hosted by Lawrence Brownlee. There is also a new conversation from Long Beach Opera regarding “Equity & Diversity in the Arts” that is {…}

Nina Stemme, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Danielle De Niese Headline OperaVision’s Summer Gala

OperaVision has announced that it will present a Summer Gala on Sunday, June 21, 2020, at 7 p.m. CET. The gala will be presented in collaboration with several opera companies including the Dutch National Opera Amsterdam, Komische Oper Berlin, Glyndebourne, Teatro Real Madrid, Opéra Comique Paris, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Royal Swedish Opera Stockholm and Polish National Opera Warsaw. Among {…}