The main achievement of Opéra-Comique’s “Armide” production is to blend the staging with the performers’ own personas. That mixture resulted in an elevation of Gluck’s music and Quinault’s text through the performers’ engagement. Don’t get me wrong: Lilo Baur’s staging had some problems and did not aim as high as it could. The opera, however, shone, because its performers brought {…}
This week audiences will get a chance to hear complete recordings of many great operas rare and standard repertoire. Here is a look at the recordings you can not miss. Theodora Lisette Oropesa, Joyce DiDonato, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Michael Spyres, and John Chest star in Erato’s new release of Händel’s “Theodora.” The album features Maxim Emelyanychev, Chief Conductor of the instrumentalists {…}
The Opéra National de Bordeaux has announced its 2022-23 season featuring opera, ballet, concert, and great voices. Opera Paul Daniel conducts Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” with Yoshi Oïda directing. Karah Son, Virginie Verrez, Riccardo Massi, and André Heyboer. Performance Dates: Nov. 10-21, 2022 Roberto González-Monjas conducts Mozart’s Requiem in a production by Stéphane Braunschweig. The cast includes Hélène Carpentier, Fleur Barron, {…}
Spain’s Sinfonica de Galicia has announced its 2022-23 season celebrating its 30th anniversary featuring four world premieres. Here is a look at the vocal highlights for the season. Véronique Gens joins Organ player Juan de la Rubia and conductor Roberto González-Monjas for Respighi’s “Prelude, Choral, and Fugue,” Berlioz’s “Les Nuits d’ete,” and Siant-Saens’ “Organ Symphony. Performance Date: Dec. 16, 2022 {…}
(Credit: © Julia Lamoureux) Opéra Comique in Paris has announced its 2022 season, featuring seven operas. Here is the full slate. Ambroise Thomas’ “Hamlet” opens the season with Sabine Devieilhe as Ophélie and Stéphane Degout in the title role. The cast also includes Laurent Alvaro, Sylvie Brunet-Grupposo, Pierre Derhet, Jérôme Varnier, Yu Shao, Geoffroy Buffière, and Nicolas Legoux. Louis Langrée {…}
The Teatro alla Scala is set to open its fall season featuring three Rossini Operas, a work by Cavalli, and a Donizetti opera. Here is a look at the upcoming fall season. The season opens with Rossini’s “L’Italiana in Algeri” conducted by Ottavio Dantone. The cast includes Mirco Palazzi, Giulio Mastrototaro, Maxim Mironov, Antonino Siragusa, Roberto de Candia and Gaëlle Arquez {…}
(Credit: © Ceric Larrayadieu) Christophe Rousset is set to lead Les Talens Lyriques in a unique 30th anniversary season. For the purposes of this article, our focus will be on opera or vocal performances. Mezzo-soprano Grace Durham will headline a program of music by Couperin, Lambert, Purcell, Leclair, and Stuck at the Festival Antiqua Bozano and in Berlin. Performance Dates: {…}
This week two solo recital albums make up the new releases. One comes from one of the greatest living sopranos and the other arrives from one of the great baroque interpreters of our time. There will also be a box set of recordings by a legendary mezzo-sopranos as well as an electronic opera. Anja Harteros Warner Classics releases Anja Harteros’ {…}
Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège in Belgium has announced its 2021-22 season. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on the vocal works only. Here is the full slate. Opera Verdi‘s “La Forza del Destino” will star Marcelo Álvarez as Don Alvaro, María José Siri as Donna Leonora, and Simone Piazzola as Don Carlo di Vargas. The cast also {…}
Opéra National de Bordeaux has announced its rich 2021-22 season. For the purpose of this article we will focus only on vocal performances. Here is the full slate. Opera A semi-staged version of Meyerbeer‘s “Robert Le Diable” opens the season. The opera stars Erin Morley, Nicolas Courjal, Amina Edris, Nicolas Darmanin, Joel Allison, Paco Garcia, and John Osborn in the {…}
(Credits: Julian Hargreaves / Gregor Hohenberg / Sony Classical / Jürgen Frank / Alexey Kostromin / Sony / Gregor Hohenberg) The famed Austrian venue Musikverein Wien has announced its 2021-22 season, featuring concerts and recitals with some of the greatest performers in the world. Here is the full slate. Baritone Christian Gerhaher performs works by Schönberg and Berlioz alongside seven {…}