Valery Gergiev has canceled the August 13, 2019 performance of Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” at the Bayreuth Festival. The festival announced that due to a family bereavement, Gergiev would not be able to conduct the opera. Gergiev was booed during the opening night of the festival and has received mixed reviews for his conducting of the work. As a result, Christian Thielemann will {…}
(Photo: Diane Deschenaux) With Europe once again baking under unpleasantly high temperatures thanks to our lack of interest in dealing with the problems of global warming, what better place to go than high up in the Swiss Alps. Verbier at an altitude 1,500 meters would seem to be ideal. An alpine ski resort, set on a south-facing terrace with splendid {…}
The Vienna State Opera will present Wagner’s final masterpiece “Parsifal” on April 21, 2019. Those not able to make it to Vienna can still check out the performance via the company’s live stream service. Simon O’Neill will appear as the title character with René Pape in his signature role of Gurnemanz. Meanwhile Matthias Goerne, Boaz Daniel, and Elena Zhidkova will {…}
La Filarmónica has announced its 2019-20 season featuring numerous concerts. For this article we will only focus on choral and operatic events. Karl-Heinz Steffens conducts the Prague Opera Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. Soloists will be announced at a later time. Performance Date: Nov. 19, 2019 María Espada and Carlos Mena sing Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater” {…}
(Photo: Brescia/Amisano – Teatro alla Scala) Defeated by the Tsar, the Old Believers gather together, for a final act of defiance as they prepare for their mass suicide. Led by the monk, Dosifey, they crowd the stage and invoke the name of the Lord, in preparation for their deaths. The Moon, slowly moving towards the Earth, explodes into flames and {…}
The Verbier Festival has announced the programming for its 26th edition. While there are undeniably a plethora of incredible performances of all kinds to be found throughout the many weeks of this famed festival, the aim of this article will be to focus mainly on vocal and operatic performances. Baritone Thomas Quasthoff will appear alongside guitarist Wolfgang Meyer and Trombonist {…}
L’Orchestre de Paris has announced its 2019-20 season! For the purposes of this article, we will focus primarily on vocal performances. The season will kick off with a concert led by Karina Canellakis, newly appointed Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Dorothea Röschmann will be featured vocally, performing alongside the orchestra and chorus. The program is set to include {…}
Valery Gergiev is set to give a talk moderated by Conductor Daniel Wachs, Chapman University Associate Professor and Director of Orchestral Activities, at Musco Center for the Arts. The talk, which is scheduled for Oct. 20, 2018, will showcase Gergiev speak about his esteemed work and the future of classical music prior to introducing a recital by his mentees, the {…}
(Credit: Dario Acosta) The 20th century opera diva, a larger-than-life singer that everyone wanted to see, regardless of their like or disdain for her qualities, is not really a concept one would associate with the modern opera world. Unless you are Anna Netrebko. The Russian soprano IS the diva-par-excellence of the modern opera world, her every stop a major event. {…}
It seems like a lot of older conductors are slowly getting a chance to make their Bayreuth Festival debuts these days. This year it is all about Plácido Domingo and his debut in “Die Walküre.” And next year will be about Russian conductor Valery Gergiev. The famed maestro is set to take on “Tannhäuser” in the summer of 2019 with {…}
This week, Anna Netrebko, Barbara Hannigan, Leonard Bernstein and George Gagnidze release new DVDs and CDs. It will be a chance to see some of your favorite singers and conductors in signature roles as well as rarely performed works. Take a look! “Giovanna d’Arco” Anna Netrebko’s celebrated interpretation of Verdi’s early work comes to DVD. The production, which opened the {…}