The Teatro Real opened the 2020-21 season with Verdi’s masterpiece, “Un Ballo in Maschera.” Only the second opera performed at the theatre since the global lockdown due to the pandemic, it marks a hopeful beginning for the company’s season. As the regulations have changed, the production—complete with full sets and dancers—had to be adjusted. Dancers wore protective masks because they {…}
(Credit Javier del Real) This review is for the performance of the 3d of October 2020. Due to the cancellation of a previous soprano, the Teatro Real engaged three additional sopranos for this middle-period Verdi opera: Saioa Hernandez, Maria Pia Piscitelli, and Sondra Radvanovsky. And while all three are fantastic artists in their own right, there was no doubt that {…}
(Credit: Michael Cooper) “People are craving music and all the healing, soothing, and bonding elements it provides.” American-Canadian soprano superstar Sondra Radvanovsky was in Rio de Janeiro on March 13, 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in full force. Radvanovsky was slated to perform at the Theatro Municipal, but the performance ended up being canceled. Faced with a {…}
The Teatro Real de Madrid was forced to cancel its Sunday performance of “Un Ballo in Maschera” after a disturbance broke out in the upper levels of the audience. Per El País, the protest broke out after audience members complained of the lack of social distancing. In the report, an assistant noted that there were 15 straight occupied seats with {…}
The Teatro Real de Madrid announced a cast change for its production of Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera.” The company announced that Sara Blanch will sing the role of Oscar replacing Isabella Gaudí in performances scheduled on Oct. 3, 6, 11, and 14. Blanch is a rising star who has perofrmed at the Teatro de la Zarzuela, Gran Teatre del {…}
(Credit: Studio Amati_Bacciardi) Few singers have dominated the Rossini repertory in recent years the way Daniella Barcellona has. She debuted at the Rossini Festival in 1999 in the title role of “Tancredi,” and has since appeared in recordings of such works as “Sigismondo,” “La Donna del Lago,” “Il Viaggio a Reims,” “Adelaide of Borgogna,” and “Bianca de Falliero;” she has {…}
(Credits: Michael Cooper / Lourdes Balduque / The Israeli Opera official website / Silvia Beltrami – Mezzosoprano Facebook Page) Russian soprano Tatiana Serjan has cancelled performances as Amelia in Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera” at the Teatro Real. Per the official statement on the company’s website, the Russian soprano has withdrawn from the production due to illness. Sondra Radvanovsky, Saioa {…}
(Credit: Ray Burmiston) “One voice in a million.” This is the kind of phrase on which legacies, mythologies, histories are built. And it’s the phrase that continues to crop up whenever Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen enters the operatic conversation. The soprano has definitely played her part in bringing about this idea that her voice is of a unique power. She {…}
(Credit: Opera Naţională Română din Timişoara official website) Romanian soprano Constanța Adriana Mesteș passed away in Bucharest at the age of 64. She graduated from the singing section of the Timișoara’s High School of Arts “Ion Vidu” in 1975. That same year, she got her first job at Opera Naţională Română din Timişoara, at first as a member of the {…}
(Credit: https://inesrivadeneira.jimdofree.com/) Inés Rivadeneira has died at the age of 91 on August 3, 2020. The mezzo-soprano was born in Lugo, Spain but moved to Valladolid at the age of two, where she lived until the age of 18. In Valladolid, she started singing in a choir and when she turned eighteen, Rivadeneira moved to Madrid, to study singing at {…}
Opera Holland Park is postponing its streaming of Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera.” In a press release, the company said, “Opera Holland Park is aware of the #BlackOutTuesday movement among parts of the music industry that began to gather pace yesterday. We are individually and as a company committed to equality and we understand the desire of the music industry {…}
