The 46th edition of the event will take place from August 10 to 22, 2025.

Operas 

The festival will open with a new production of “Zelmira,” conducted by Giacomo Sagripanti. The production will be directed by Spanish director Calixto Bieito, making his debut in Pesaro. Pretty Yende stars in the title role alongside Andrea Mastroni, Lawrence Brownlee, Enea Scala, Marina Viotti, Gianluca Margheri, Paolo Nevi, and Shi Zong.

Performance Dates: August 10-19, 2025

The season’s second production will be Soirées musicales with “La Cambiale di Matrimonio.”  The first part of the evening will showcase Vittoriana de Amicis, Andrea Nino, Paolo Nevi, and Gurgen Baveyan. The opera will feature Pietro Spagnoli, Paola Leoci, Jack Swanson, Mattia Olivieri, Ramiro Maturana, and Ines Lorans. Christopher Franklin conducts.

Performance Dates: August 11-20, 2025

The season will include a new production of “L’Italiana in Algeri.” Dmitry Korchak conducts Rosetta Cucchi will direct. Giorgi Manoshvili, Josh Lovell, Gurgen Baveyan, Daniela Barcellona, Misha Kiria, Vittoriana De Amicis, and Andrea Nino star.

Performance Dates: August 12, 2025

“Il Viaggio a Reims” will star artists from the Accademia Rossiniana. Alessandro Mazzocchetti conducts Emilio Sagi’s production.

Performance Dates: August 15 & 18, 2025

Concerto Lirici

The first concert will feature Anastasia Bartoli and Vasilisa Berzhanskaya.

Performance Date: August 13, 2025

The second evening will showcase Michele Pertusi in concert.

Performance Date: August 19, 2025

The third evening will showcase tenor Sergey Romanovsky.

Performance Date: August 21, 2025

Concerti di Bel Canto 

Cecilia Molinari will give the first recital of the season.

Performance Date: August 14, 2025

The second recital will be headlined by Marko Mimica.

Performance Date: August 16, 2025

The third recital will showcase Hasmik Torosyan.

Performance Date: August 20, 2025

Concerts  

Giuliana Gianfaldoni and Dave Monaco star in a concert entitled Cantate per voce sola, coro e orchestra. Cesare della Sciucca conducts.

Performance Date: August 17, 2025

Messa per Rossini will include Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Caterina Piva, Dmitry Korchak, Misha Kiria, and Andrea Mastroni. Donato Renzetti conducts.

Performance Date: August 22, 2025

The post Pretty Yende, Lawrence Brownlee, Daniela Barcellona & Vasilisa Berzhanskaya Lead Rossini Opera Festival’s 2025 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

Needless to say, Bellini’s famously endless melody was embraced by conductors of every stripe. Bonynge may have laid claim to the repertory most lastingly; but its latest take, under bel canto specialist Riccardo Frizza, should not be dismissed lightly. Releasing on EuroArts, it proposes a novel, highly dramatized vision of the Bellinian swan song – supported, to its merit, by an astoundingly capable cast of predominantly American soloists.

Flowing Narrative

Frizza is on the fast side of recorded “Puritans.” It noticeably shows in the crispness of “A te, o cara’s” five minutes and 35 seconds; whereas most competitors clock in at well above six minutes, setting the tone for the aria’s dreaminess from the very first bars. Frizza may be accused of foregoing precious moments of music-turned-poetry. Yet within his overall conception of maintaining a maximum of inter-scenic continuity the toned down levels of leitmotivic sweetness seem rather justifiable.

The opera’s drama is also emphasized by the timbral homogeneity of, especially, Lisette Oropesa and Lawrence Brownlee. There is a peerless steeliness to Oropesa’s very corporeal portrayal of Elvira. Her coloraturas in “son vergin vezzosa” are spectacularly executed, though the overall feel of her interpretation appears to foreshadow the vocal aesthetics of Gilda and Violetta more than to hark back to the hardcore lyricism of Riccardo Muti’s Montserrat Caballé (in 1979; for EMI). Her top notes are rock solid, and dazzlingly incisive, allowing the soprano’s silvery timbre to penetrate even the deepest layers of human psychology. Elvira’s mad scene, for instance, strikes a perpetually sizzling balance between emotional frailty and dramatic introspection; each of her flourishes carries some nuance of expressivity.

A High Calibre Cast

In Lawrence Brownlee she finds a congenial partner, with a similarly metallic ring, and a propensity to stress the heroic impetuousness of the Royalist cavalier, Arturo Talbo. After all, his actions are the driving force behind the unfolding narration. Brownlee’s tone soars imperiously, and his “credeasi, misera” dauntingly boasts an air of nonchalance about the tessitura, and specifically about the aria’s notorious High F. Also, his voice effortlessly melds with the remaining singers among whom Anthony Clark Evans stands out for his glorious phrasing, and imposing gravity. His Riccardo aligns with the Golden Age tradition of Cappuccilli and Matteo Manuguerra. He spans indomitably sustained arks, though the flourishes arguably lack the contour of his great predecessors.

In the ever so popular “Suoni la tromba” Evans triumphantly finishes on the optional High G. His hefty sound is complemented by the velvety depths of the Italian bass Riccardo Zanellato, a most sympathetic incarnation of the benevolent Sir Giorgio Valton. His quasi-paternal instinct effectively transpires in the touching lines of “Cinta di fiori,” highlighted by Zanellato’s ability to vary dynamics and even descend into an unmediated parlato of sorts.

Naturally, the opera’s success rests on the choir’s capacity to be an integral part of the action. The MDR-Rundfunkchor, far from being static, becomes a dramatic persona of its own: Led by Frizza’s uncompromising thrust forward, it picks up every shade of expression, from grieving to the celebratory, and even the militant. Combined with its other assets, it makes Riccardo Frizza’s “Puritani” an excitingly competitive addition to a tearfully neglected segment of discographic history. It is doubtlessly one of the best operatic releases in all of 2024.

The post CD Review: EuroArts’s ‘I Puritani’ appeared first on OperaWire.

The new production will be directed by Damiano Michieletto, who is returning to the Bayerische Staatsoper after his acclaimed “Aida.”

The show centers on the search for one’s own identity and Michieletto explains, “The story moves between two levels – nature and the city. Nature as the symbol of an instinctive and spontaneous world and the city as a world of fine manners and high culture. The performance plays these two opposites off against one another, with extravagant costumes and jolly characters, who right at the end, are finally freed from social labels and can happily assume their own identities.”

The production will star Pretty Yende in her acclaimed Marie, Xabier Anduaga as Tonio, Dorothea Röschmann as the Marquise de Berkenfield, famous actress Sunnyi Melles as the Duchesse de Crakentorp, and Misha Kiria as Sulpice.

A second cast will include Serena Sáenz and Lawrence Brownlee. Stefano Montanari conducts.

The production will open on Dec. 22, 2024 and run through July 1, 2025. The show is a co-production with the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, where it will be staged from May 18 to May 27, 2025.

The post Pretty Yende & Xabier Anduaga Lead New ‘La Fille du Régiment’ at Bayerische Staatsoper appeared first on OperaWire.

I sensed two ghosts on the stage of Opéra Bastille last night. Don’t worry—they were as nice as ghosts can be. In fact, they were so congenial that they enhanced the operatic experience, turning what would have been a merely jolly evening into a thought-provoking one. The problem is, no matter how good their intentions, ghosts are still ghosts—and they freak me out.

Let’s name these phantoms. The most ominous was the Zeitgeist of war in Europe and nearby conflicts—issues that, until recently, seemed distant from the continental mind. The second was the shadow of a different kind: the challenge for this revival to live up, musically and dramatically, to its acclaimed 2007 premiere.

Seen from the vantage of any point in history after the great wars, “La Fille du Régiment” is a beautiful yet unsettling opera. Its catchy, earworm-like tunes provoke questions about the legitimacy of war and how it changes lives. It’s not that “La Fille” is explicitly pro- or anti-militarism—arguments can be made for either side—but it is a comedy laced with a political undertone that’s hard to ignore. There are, however, certain moments and dialogues that even the most conservative opera-lovers might agree should be reconsidered.

That’s why it was such a relief when Laurent Pelly’s 2007 staging of the opera premiered with nuanced dialogue and updated political overtones. The excitement was so great that practically every serious opera house felt compelled to stage it in Pelly’s version. It helped that Natalie Dessay embraced the role of Marie with her full theatrical prowess. The production struck a delicate balance: traditional enough for purists, funny through its acting, and modern in its creative staging. It remains Pelly’s greatest triumph and a standout example of globalized opera production.

Now, in a time of ongoing continental wars and political upheaval, “La Fille’s” opening chorus feels far weightier than expected. The soldiers’ quiet crossing of the Alps during Napoleon’s campaigns—led by another charismatic, expansionist war figure—seems to warn us that, no matter our origins, even the privileged will suffer.

Evelino Pidò conducted the performance with elegance and a notable effort during much of the first act not to overpower the audience. This was more than an “efficient” reading; Pidò seemed to understand when the comedy’s dramatic moments demanded serious treatment. Few moments were as poignant as “Il Faut Partir,” performed tenderly, without irony—truly sorrowful. Even with Marie carrying a line of drying laundry, the scene was as melancholy as any bel canto mad scene.

Julie Fuchs must be hailed as the Marie of her generation. She possesses an undeniable stage charisma and vocal technique that seems utterly reliable—even when being dragged onto the stage or carried around, she sustained high notes with remarkable precision. Fuchs’s vocal qualities consistently serve the drama. In the infamous singing lesson trio (“Le Jour Naissait dans le Bocage”), she begins with an intentionally cringeworthy, out-of-tune voice that even Florence Foster Jenkins might envy, only to transform it into perfect intonation by the time she sings “Salut la France.” This clever progression creates a brilliant comedic effect while showcasing Fuchs’s extraordinary control—how many sopranos can navigate such extremes within seconds?

Fuchs’s voice, though light, always has a lyrical core that sets her apart from other French sopranos. For the first time, however, I sensed an echo of another singer: Natalie Dessay. There’s a difference between belonging to a similar school of singing and eerily resembling someone else. While the former is natural, the latter can feel uncanny. This resemblance brought to mind Gérard Corbiau’s “The Music Teacher,” in which a singer shares such identical training with another tenor that they seem to have the same voice. Of course, this is an illusion—voice is body, and no two bodies are identical. Still, it was peculiar to hear Fuchs suddenly sounding like Dessay. Whether this impression arose from the audience’s memory or was a natural effect of their performing similar roles, it added another layer to the experience—and I wasn’t alone in noticing it.

This observation doesn’t detract from Fuchs’s accomplishments. In fact, she may have surpassed any other Marie I’ve seen. The real question is whether, in a production so closely tied to Dessay’s legacy, opera lovers can ever fully separate the two. Does Pelly’s staging summon Dessay’s ghost as much as Fuchs’s own brilliance commands the stage? Whatever the case, Fuchs’s performance was phenomenal.

I left the opera house with two certainties: one day I will die, and Lawrence Brownlee will never miss a high note. Tonio is Brownlee’s playground, and his immense vocal security sometimes makes the character’s clumsiness—so integral to his charm—feel diminished. In other words, we don’t marvel at Tonio’s “miraculous” ability to sing high Cs; we hear in Brownlee’s voice a fortress of unshakable strength.

Despite a prolific career, Susan Graham has never been particularly associated with comedy. It’s the great tragic roles that cemented her place among the all-time greats. Yet, as the Marquise of Berkenfield, Graham doesn’t aim for sitcom-level humor, and somehow, it works. What she lacks in comedic timing, she compensates for with a deeply human portrayal of a character who evolves over the course of the opera, taking accountability for her past mistakes. In a story set during the Napoleonic wars, that message is powerful and rare. Would anyone else willingly own up to their errors when an easy escape is at hand?

Graham sang with weight and intention behind every word. Her voice, though less smooth than in her prime, remains distinct. She focused more on the text’s emotional impact than on creating long, lyrical lines—a fair choice in a score like Donizetti’s.

Lionel Lhote delivered a charming, smooth Sergeant Sulpice, particularly shining in the second act. He brought humor to a role that often teeters on the edge of political incorrectness. Florent Mbia was witty and engaging as Hortensius, while Felicity Lott’s mere presence as the Duchess of Crackentorp was a delight. Even though the role doesn’t showcase Lott’s legendary vocal talents, her stage presence was enough to captivate the audience.

Amid the ghosts of past performances and the phantoms within the opera itself, “La Fille du Régiment” remains an unforgettable experience. What was politically vibrant a decade ago feels shockingly fresh today, reminding us how laughter and reflection can coexist even in the darkest times.

The post Opéra National de Paris 2024-25 Review: La Fille du Régiment appeared first on OperaWire.

Works & Process announces its 40th anniversary season taking place in spring 2025.

For the purposes of this article only opera events are included.

Fortieth Works & Process at the Guggenheim Series – Performance Highlights and Discussions

Excerpts from Sarah Ruhl and Anthony Roth Costanzo’s reimagining of Vivaldi “The Seasons” are performed prior to its world premiere in March at Boston Lyric Opera. Costanzo and Ruhl are joined by director Zack Winokur, and choreographer Pam Tanowitz in a moderated discussion with Boston Lyric Opera’s Artistic Director Nina Yoshida Nelsen.

Performance Date: January 14, 2025

Go behind the scenes with composer Huang Ruo, librettist David Henry Hwang, and director Diane Paulus as they
discuss their newest collaboration, “THE MONKEY KING” (猴王悟空). Excerpts are performed ahead of the
production’s world premiere taking place as part of San Francisco Opera’s fall 2025 season.

Performance Date: March 9, 2025

Ricky Ian Gordon, Lynn Nottage, and Ruby Aiyo Gerber participate in a panel discussion on their work “This House.” A preview performance of the opera is also scheduled. “This House” makes its premiere with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis this season.

Performance Date: April 6, 2025

Soprano Mikaela Bennett performs excerpts from the new opera by Derek Bermel and Sandra Cisneros, “The House on Mango Street.” Bermel and Cisneros participate in a moderated discussion alongside Glimmerglass Festival Artistic and General Director Rob Ainsley and dramaturg Kelley Rourke. “The House on Mango Street” premiere at the upcoming Glimmerglass Festival.

Performance Date: April 7, 2025

Ahead of John Adams’s “Antony and Cleopatra” premiere, Met General Manager Peter Gelb moderates a discussion with the creative team. Members of the cast will perform highlights from the score.

Performance Date: April 28, 2025

Works & Process at National Sawdust

Prior to its world premiere at the 2025 Kilkenny Arts Festival, Kamala Sankaram and Paul Muldoon’s new opera “Custom of the Coast” is performed in excerpts. “Custom of the Coast”  is a culmination of a workshop that was part of
the production’s residency at Potash Hill and sponsored by Works & Process LaunchPAD and Experiments in Opera. The creators sit for a moderated discussion.

Performance Date: February 9, 2025

The post Works & Process Unveils Spring 2025 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

On  Nov. 6, 2024, Opera de Paris Play is set to present Donizetti’s “La Fille du Régiment.”

The production will be streamed in Laurent Pelly’s legendary production. It sets the comedy during the 1914 war rather than the Napoleonic Wars and modernizes the piece without sacrificing a single ounce of its brio.

Julie Fuchs leads the cast in the title role alongside Lawrence Brownlee, Susan Graham, Florent Mbia, and Felicity Lott. Evelino Pidò conducts the production.

Audiences can either subscribe or pay the single performance to watch the stream.

The Paris Opera is set to stream the ballet “Paquita” on Dec. 17, 2024.

“La Fille du Regiment” is set to be performed through Nov. 20, 2024.

The post Julie Fuchs & Lawrence Brownlee Lead Paris Opera’s ‘La Fille du Régiment’ Stream appeared first on OperaWire.

Boston Lyric Opera plans to use its stages and its community position to call attention to and motivate action to mitigate the climate crisis. “Rising Waters/Rising Voices” kicks off Oct. 19 and 20 during Fort Point Open Studios, where the company will welcome visitors to its new Opera & Community Studios space at Midway Artist Studios. These events will feature sneak peek performances of upcoming programming. Also, Artistic Director Nina Yoshida Nelsen will moderate a panel discussion about climate change awareness with leading climate activists and professionals.

For the spring 2025 season, two mainstage productions will focus on this topic. First up is the world premiere of “The Seasons” co-conceived by Anthony Roth Costanzo and Sarah Ruhl.  A free, community-centered performance of Benjamin Britten’s parable opera “Noah’s Flood” will close out the season.

“Rising Waters/Rising Voices” is inspired by the company’s recent expansion into the city’s Fort Point neighborhood, an area considered particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels. The initiative is modeled on the “The Butterfly Process,” which during the 2022-23 season pulled together artists, opera historians, academicians, and prominent Asian and Asian-American leaders to look at the opera “Madama Butterfly.” The participants examined the opera through an anti-racist lens and developed an industry-leading plan for staging intentional and inclusive future productions.

The post Boston Lyric Opera Announces ‘Rising Waters/Rising Voices’ appeared first on OperaWire.

After his 2022 debut on Warner Classics, he takes on a heavily eclectic repertory which he navigates with remarkably executed showpiece notes, and an unerring feel for both language and style.

Vocal Fireworks

The album opens with the title-giving “Nessun Dorma” which by making it into the 1990 UK Singles Chart, has become the unofficial operatic anthem per se. It is a bit of a concession to consumer expectations that Pati would give it such prominence; after all, even brightly colored tenors like Juan Diego Flórez have recently taken to the Puccinian war horse. Yet it is not where Pene Pati’s wonderfully clear voice excels the most. Though his unfailingly reliable breath enables him to manage the score’s uneasy tessitura, and even cut through the orchestral texture with apparent ease, one cannot help thinking that his forte really lies someplace else. In Gounod, Massenet, Donizetti, and – to some extent – Verdi he comes into his own.

Surprisingly perhaps, he adapts to the French style and diction seamlessly. The color of the vowels changes accordingly, and the phrasing has all the rhythmic sprezzatura of the repertoire’s most prominent interpreters. In “Salut! Demeure chaste et pure” he additionally treats us to a near-impossible diminuendo on the often dreaded C executed, so to speak, en passant. For Massenet’s “Manon” and “Werther” the prevailing expression becomes both dreamy and hauntingly tortured – yet without overstepping the boundaries of unprescribed decorum.

Dom Sébastien’s “Seul sur la terre” is a triumphantly rendered tour de force for which he departs from the syllabic preponderance of the French operatic tradition to a typically Belcantist legato. The aria has received something of a discographic revival, as it noticeably featured on recent studio recordings by Benjamin Bernheim (“Boulevard des Italiens,” 2022), Michael Spyres (“Espoir,” 2017), and Lawrence Brownlee (“Allegro io son,” 2016). Pati manages a fully supported top D-flat, garnishing the Donizetti piece with radiating clarion sounds. Criticism, if pertinent at all, would solely touch on his handling of the melismas which here and in “Tombe degli avi miei,” lack the bite of similarly placed tenor voices, incl. Pavarotti’s.

A Family Affair

Pati is aptly supported by his wife Amina Edris and brother Amitai Pati whose faultless performances significantly contribute to the album’s lasting appeal. Edris invests the part of Mascagni’s Suzel with extraordinary tenderness, if not frailty; yet her soprano’s metallic ring also points to interpretive avenues well beyond the type-cast soubrette in turn-of-the century opera. Similarly, Amitai Pati is a generously equipped tenor whose warm timbre effortlessly matches his brother’s Macduff and, in Halévy’s “La Juive,” the fatherly Éléazar.

The trio is sensibly supported by the unpretentious conducting of Emmanuel Villaume. He does not seek to be adventurous, or to depart from the repertory’s well-trodden paths in any shape or form. Instead, his Orchestre National leaves enough breathing room for the protagonist’s exceptionally rounded voice to unfold – and in the process establish itself among the standard bearers of a new generation.

The post CD Review: Pene Pati’s ‘Nessun Dorma’ appeared first on OperaWire.

This week audiences will get a chance to listen to rarely performed works from some of the great operatic composers in the world. There are also many world premiere recordings as well.

Lucie di Lammermoor 

Dynamic releases Donizetti’s French version of “Lucie de Lammermoor” from the 2023 Donizetti Festival. Recorded at the Teatro Sociale on December 1, 2023, the cast includes Vito Priante, Patrick Kabongo, Julien Henric, David Astorga, Roberto Lorenzi, and Caterina Sala. Pierre Dumoussaud conducts the new production by Jacopo Spirei.

Donizetti Song Project

Opera Rara releases the first two volumes in its Donizetti Song Project recording cycle. Vol. 1 features 28 tenor songs performed by Lawrence Brownlee, and Vol. 2 features 26 baritone songs sung by Nicola Alaimo.

Both artists are accompanied by Opera Rara’s Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi who spearheaded the multi-year initiative upon hearing of the company’s Repertoire Consultant, Roger Parker’s lockdown project four years ago.

Mendelssohn: Elijah

LSO Live marks the beginning of its 25th anniversary year with the release of Mendelssohn’s “Elijah.” Sir Antonio Pappano conducts a recording that features Gerald Finley, Sarah Connolly, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, and Allan Clayton.

The Light of Paradise

Berlin Classics releases the new album by the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Christian Erny. The album features the piece by Paul Mealor which was commissioned by the Zurich Chamber Singers, and composed based on the writings of medieval mystic Margery Kempe.

Leoš Janáček: The Excursions of Mr. Brouček

Supraphon releases a recording of Janáček’s rarely performed opera. The cast includes Jaroslav Březina, Aleš Briscein, František Zahradníček, Alžběta Poláčková, Jiří Sulženko, Roman Janál, Helena Tattermuschová, Jiří Brückler, Martin Šrejma, Josef Moravec, Doubravka Součková, and Stanislava Jirků. Jaroslav Kyzlink conducts.

Walter Braunfels: Jeanne d’Arc – Scenes from the Life of Saint Joan

Capriccio will release Braunfel’s opera in three parts and one prelude. This new recording stars Juliane Banse, Martin Gantner, Pavol Breslik, Johan Reuter, Ruben Drole, Thomas E. Bauer, Michael Laurenz, and Tobias Kehrer Manfred Honeck conducts the Salzburger Bachchor, Salzburger Festspiele und Theater Kinderchor, and ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Joachim Raff: Die Eifersüchtigen

Raff’s opera in three acts will be released by Naxos. The recording stars Serafina Giannoni, Mirjam Fässler, Raìsa Ierone, Benjamin Popson, Matthias Bein, Balduin Schneeberger, and Martin Roth. The Orchestra of Europe is conducted by Joonas Pitkänen. This album marks the opera’s world premiere recording.

Coups de Roulis

André Messager, Albert Willemetz, and Maurice Larrouy’s operetta will be released by LBM. The recording features Jean-Baptiste Dumora, Philippe Brocard, Christophe Gay, Irina de Baghy, and Clarisse Dalles. The Frivolités Parisiennes Orchestra and Choir is conducted by Alexandra Cravero.

The post Caterina Sala, Lawrence Brownlee, Gerald Finley & Pavol Breslik Lead New CD/DVD Releases appeared first on OperaWire.

Richard Cox will join the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Voice department in 2025.

Cox will be a Professor of Voice and Executive Chair of the Voice program.

In a statement, Cox said, “I am looking forward to joining the distinguished faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Through the recently expanded multi-genre voice curriculum, SFCM has solidified its investment in cross-training the emerging 21st-century vocal artist.”

“Richard Cox is a consummate artist and pedagogue. He brings with him many successful years in the opera business and on the world’s most important stages, as well as many years of teaching experience. His energy and passion is inspiring and I look forward to him being part of our SFCM community,” added Voice Department Chair Catherine Cook.

Cox is managed by Opus 3 Artists, an alliance partner of SFCM. Cox will also join the roster of voice teachers for the Merola Opera Program and he has already been a part of the San Francisco Opera Center since 2022. Both organizations have deep and long-standing relationships with the Conservatory.

Throughout his career, Cox has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, and Washington National Opera. He also serves on the voice faculty of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and the San Francisco Opera Center Adler Fellowship Program.

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