Opera Vision will start streaming “Parsifal” from the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen on April 1, 2018. Wagner’s final masterpiece will showcase Christoph Pohl as Amfortas, Stefan Kocan as Gurnemanz, Erin Caves as Parsifal, Kay Stiefermann as Klingsor, and Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as both Kundry and the Voice from Above. Cornelius Meister leads the Symhonish Orkest Opera Vlaanderen. The stream kicks off {…}
Barcelona’s Grand Teatre del Liceu has announced its 2018-19 season, presenting a number of exciting, fully-staged or concert-style productions, as well as a number of recital performances. A full list of all works in the 2018-19 season can be found on Gran Teatre del Liseu’s website. The Ring Without Words Josep Pons will be conducting Lorin Maazel’s 90-minute arrangement of {…}
In 2018-19, Jaap van Zweden, the current Music Director Designate of the New York Philharmonic, will drop the Designate part of that label. And if the concert on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018 is any indication, he is going to be providing audiences with some dazzling music for years to come. In a series of concerts that kicked off on Valentine’s {…}
Anytime the Metropolitan Opera puts on a new production of Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” you better believe that it is a major event. The tetralogy will reappear in 2018-19 for the first time since the 2013 season, and as might be expected, there aren’t very many opportunities to check it out. So here is a rundown of the essential {…}
Opera is rife with sweeping love duets. Some are of passionate bliss while others of a more mature variety. As we celebrate Valentine’s Day, we turn to a handful of opera’s greatest declarations of love between two lovers from the classical repertoire. Continue to find out which of the selected love duets suits your romantic evening (and don’t worry, the {…}
It was 1980, and Hildegard Behrens was at the Metropolitan Opera singing “Fidelio” with Jon Vickers. Gastón Ormazábal was but a student at Columbia University, where he is today a Senior Research Scientist. The two were about to meet for the first time. Neither knew that they would develop a friendship that would transcend Behrens’ lifetime. As Ormazábal, now the {…}
The world is divided into men and women. And only the unification of these two sides, through mutual understanding and respect can bridge the gap and bring about a new world full of equality. Sounds familiar right? It was what François Girard saw prior to 2013, and his vision remains ever true to this day. Perhaps even more prevalent. It {…}
Wagner’s “Parsifal” opens on Feb. 5, 2018, at the Metropolitan Opera in a revival of the successful production by François Girard with Yannick Nézet-Séguin in the pit. René Pape and Peter Mattei reprise the roles that they dominated the last time this production came to the Met, but the other two singers to take on major roles are perhaps less {…}
Many directors who dabble in the lyric theatre seem to think that they know better than the librettist or composer what an opera is about. “Improvements” can range from the introduction of a new character into the drama (eg. Mariusz Treliński’s ubiquitous “Mr. O” in “Yevgeny Onegin” for the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw) to scrawling a specific word onto the {…}
It was close to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. Heldentenor Clay Hilley had already conquered the rage of the ocean, immersed himself in the diary of one who vanished, become one with the earth. He had even forged Siegfried’s legendary sword Nothung. And yet his most challenging role of the evening was right in front him. After some {…}
He’s 36 years old. He lives in an RV that he uses to travel across the US. He’s coming off a summer in which he scored one of his greatest career victories to date. And he’s also that rare breed of dramatic tenor that takes well to Wagner’s operas. He’s so adept at the musical style that he is the {…}
