This weekend, audiences not able to head to Munich will get a chance to see a live performance of Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” from the Staatsoper. The performance kicks off at 9:45 p.m. CET, though the performance officially kicks off at 6 p.m. local time on Sunday July 9 and features Kirill Petrenko at the podium, leading the production by Romeo Castellucci. {…}
There will be a new Fricka in town when the Boston Symphony Orchestra takes on Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” at Tanglewood. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe is stepping in to replace Dame Sarah Connolly for the July 15, 2017, performance which will be conducted by Andris Nelsons. According to reports, Connolly is withdrawing due to illness. The performance is slated to be a major highlight {…}
Wolfgang Windgassen is one of the greatest Wagnerian tenors of the 20th century. Known for his intelligence of interpretation and exactness of tone and musicality, he quickly built up a legacy that remains among the most fascinating on record. Perhaps the most fascinating bit of information about the tenor is that he sang every major Wagner role there is to {…}
Of the four operas that comprise “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” perhaps none is more famous than “Die Walküre.” Not only does the work contain the best-known piece of music that Wagner ever wrote (The Ride of the Valkyries), but it contains some of the most compelling and unforgettable musico-dramatic moments in the entire canon. Moreso, of the four operas, none {…}
Nowadays, performing Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” exactly as the composer intended is looked down upon. In fact, in today’s opera climate, historically accurate performances are far from the norm and somewhat of a lost, if not dead, art. But Kent Nagano doesn’t care and alongside the Concerto Köln, he is looking to exhume that past and give it new life. That {…}
We can look at Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger,” which premiered on June 21, 1868, and marvel at its glorious music. Or its fascinating Schopenhauerian philosophy. Instead, let’s just look at the opera’s face value and marvel at the fact that this is an opera about singers. There are many operas laden with characters that sing within the context of the opera, {…}
Eva Marton and Iréne Theorin. Two sopranos with gargantuan voices from different eras born on the same day. For Marton, it was June 18, 1943 while Theorin was born exactly 20 years later. Two sopranos with huge voices like these two women are bound to share some repertoire and the truth is that they have. Here is a look at {…}
Throughout her career, Helen Traubel was widely considered one of the great Wagnerian sopranos. Traubel, born on June 16, 1899, was particularly well-known for her Brünhilde in the Ring Cycle and Isolde in “Tristan und Isolde.” Do you know what else she was known for? Things that had little to do with opera. Here are some of Traubel’s extra-operatic talents. {…}
When Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” premiered on June 10, 1865, it changed the world of music and art forever. Not only did it feature some of the most breathtaking music ever committed to a score, but it changed the way music could be written. The celebrated “Tristan” chord, which shattered the musical concept of a stable key, was only the {…}
Alan Gilbert is saying goodbye to the New York Philharmonic as music director. It ends a tenure that brought significant new works and experimented with the standard repertoire alongside one of the finest orchestras in the world. But Gilbert has made sure to make opera a mainstay for the New York Philharmonic so it is no surprise that he ends his {…}
The Miami Music Festival has announced its 2017 season, which will feature five operas, among other programs, starting on June 6, 2017 and ending on July 31, 2017. The program, which will enter its fourth season and offers “an intensive training program for the next generation of classical musicians to work with mentors and gain performing experience,” will feature 250 {…}