While Benajmin and Crimp’s colleagues on the contemporary opera scene pander to audiences with trendy and timely topics, the British duo returns to truly universal sources—the archetypal myths that transcend time and culture. “Picture a day like this” is an hourlong chamber opera in the pattern of their first creation, “Into the Little Hill”—a dark retelling of “The Pied Piper.”

“Picture” adapts another, less familiar folktale that appears in various guises across the globe. Its plot is deceptively simple: a nameless Woman’s child dies, and the village crones tempt her with a magical solution. If she can track down a truly happy person by the end of the day and cut a button from their clothes, her son will live again.

Crimp’s libretto is reminiscent of “The Little Prince”—the possible candidates on the Woman’s list recall the string of self-deluded grown-ups that Saint-Exupéry’s pint-sized hero encounters. Initially, they seem happy. But as soon as the Woman scratches slightly beneath the surface, she discovers that their happiness is false.

The episodic format offers Benjamin the opportunity to develop a distinct sound world for each of the five contenders. Actually, two distinct sound worlds—one representing their supposed state of felicity and another once the Woman learns the reality of their situation. There’s a moment during each scene when this “switch” occurs, indicated by a drastic change in style and instrumentation.

She first meets two Lovers, a soprano and countertenor, who seem eternally suspended in erotic ecstasy. Their lines, supported by a rustic consort of recorders, intertwine like Poppea and Nerone’s. Benjamin has a way of staggering and overlapping voices that feels both conversational and lyrical—a stylized naturalism that is particularly effective in this duet.

The parodies of swelling Wagnerian climaxes evaporate as soon as the male Lover offhandedly explains that their relationship is open—something the female Lover didn’t entirely agree to. Sputtering brass and side-drum motives intrude, taken up by countertenor Cameron Shahbazi as he stutters out the word “polyamory.” Shahbazi comes off as a smarmy narcissist, yet simultaneously smooth-talking and seductive.

Following the Lovers, the Woman comes across an Artisan—a button-maker, in fact, whose button-covered suit is sonically simulated with a cabasa rattle. Backed by piccolo birdsong, baritone John Brancy ascends into his falsetto, scaling what resembles a natural overtone series.

It’s a delirious and almost giddy happiness that turns out to be, in his words, “dose-related.” To prevent himself from self-harm, the Artisan is dependent on anti-psychotic drugs, which Brancy bellows for with sinister desperation. The strings’ pricking pizzicato and cut-like col legno strokes are uncomfortably suggestive of razor nicks. Brancy offers a performance that is equal parts terrifying and affecting. He reaches a near-shouted A-flat when he exposes the rope-burn around his neck, the ensemble bursting into a fff chord of suffocating intensity.

Crimp wisely follows this with a comic intermezzo featuring an egotistical young composer. Soprano Beate Mordal’s endless self-aggrandizing is accompanied by flashy Vivaldian string figuration. Her execution is hilariously cocky and braggadocious, especially the cartoonish repetitions of “happy, happy, happy” that mask her character’s inner doubt.

The sequence of contrasting musical moments in Benjamin’s score calls to mind “Bluebeard’s Castle,” with its separate sonic palettes for each of the rooms. And as in Bartók’s opera, the scenes are unified by a kind of ritualistic repetition indebted to the structure of fairytales. The beginning of every scene, for instance, is marked by a muted trio of two trumpets and trombone. Its function is akin to the “Promenade” theme between the movements of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” But the little contrapuntal fanfares the trio plays are stylistically closer to medieval music, establishing an archaic atmosphere.

At the close of every scene is a series of clock chimes played on the tubular bells—a reminder that the Woman has until nightfall to carry out her mission. They always toll on the same two pitches, E-flat and D, which emerge as an idée fixe in Benjamin’s score. This descending half-step is first heard in the Woman’s opening line on the phrase “had died” when she relates the passing of her child. The motive’s association with these words, along with it’s keening, downward motion, would seem to connect it to mourning.

But this isn’t a Wagnerian-style leitmotif tied down to a single concept. Benjamin’s approach to musical meaning is closer to the Symbolist movement. It’s why Crimp is such an ideal match for the composer—both artists deal in the inscrutable and the ambiguous, only gradually revealing the half-lit shapes that hover at the edges of our consciousness.

Benjamin’s sonic symbol, though confined to just a pair of pitches, accumulates a vast constellation of associations as the opera progresses. It’s not simply an emblem of sorrow. Rather, it comes to represent the Woman’s obsessive belief that the resurrection of her child will bring her happiness—a notion that we slowly begin to realize is an impossibility, since no happy person exists in her world.

The opera’s cyclicality is momentarily broken halfway through by a solo passage for the Woman—a number that Benjamin explicitly labels “Aria.” Crimp’s ABA-form text would seem to call for a corresponding da capo setting. Yet Benjamin resists this urge. Instead, he traces a wide-ranging emotional trajectory. Mezzo Marianne Crebassa audibly passes through all five stages of grief. Backed by searing quadruple-stop harmonies, she rails against fate, cursing her lot in bitter, sobbing phrases.

Crebassa’s cathartic wail on “I wanted miracles” marks a complete shift in the aria. Her hushed delivery conveys that hollow numbness one feels after weeping. The vocal writing takes on a folksy quality, reminiscent of an Eastern European funeral lament. It closes with a passage of unexpected and unaffected melodic beauty, enveloped in a dewy cloud of harp and celesta. This finely crafted aria is the highlight of a role that is exquisitely tailored to Crebassa’s instrument. Benjamin takes ample advantage of her earthy bottommost register—her groaning low notes are positively gut-wrenching.

Following a Berg-like orchestral interlude on the E-flat/D motive, the Woman finds herself at the twilit home of Zabelle—finally, a truly happy person who dwells in domestic bliss with her family. Benjamin evokes her Edenic garden in lush textures that teem with instrumental activity. As Zabelle, soprano Anna Prohaska describes her paradisiac life in soaring flights of avian coloratura tinged with folk inflections. It’s a performance of such effortless, inhuman perfection that it borders on the impossible.

Indeed, the side drum ricochets that punctuate the scene—which seem to imitate the shimmer of a mirage—hint that all is not what it seems. Zabelle explains that the tableau is merely an illusion, a kind of frozen vision of times long gone. At some point in the past, a group of men invaded her home, seized her possessions, and kidnapped or murdered her husband and children. The details are left purposefully hazy. But considering the Armenian origins of Zabelle’s name, as well as the genocidal allegory of Crimp and Benjamin’s earlier “Into the Little Hill,” it’s likely that she was the victim of an ethnic cleansing. “I’m happy only because I don’t exist,” Zabelle explains before fading away. Meanwhile, the E-flat/D chimes signal that the Woman has failed her task.

Or has she? In the final scene, as the village crones gleefully mock her for trying the undo death itself, the Woman stretches out her hand to reveal a button. Whose? It couldn’t belong to any of the pseudo-felicitous individuals on her list. Nor to Zabelle, who was merely a memory projected into the present. Could it be the Woman’s, cut from her own sleeve? Perhaps she has attained, not happiness—which is dependent entirely on luck and circumstance—but a form of contentment. Or perhaps she’s achieved some Buddhist transcendence of worldly attachment. Benjamin’s closing music again conjures a verdant garden—a personal Eden or Nirvana where the falling half-step motive is transformed into a pastoral cuckoo call on clarinet.

While the libretto of “Picture a day like this” resembles a fable, there’s no pre-packed Aesopian moral at the end. It’s closer to a Zen koan—a paradoxical aphorism or anecdote that isn’t “solvable” in the sense of a riddle, but is meant to inspire meditation. In an age when sanctimonious creators of opera feel compelled to beat listeners over the head with political platitudes, Crimp and Benjamin show genuine respect for their audiences. Their musical myths challenge and provoke, but ultimately allow spectators to glean their own, deeply personal interpretations.

The post CD Review: George Benjamin & Martin Crimp’s ‘Picture a day like this’ appeared first on OperaWire.

Auber’s “Le Domino noir” is set to be conducted by Louis Langrée and will be directed by Valérie Lesort and Christian Hecq. The cast includes Anne-Catherine Gillet, Cyrille Dubois, and Victoire Bunel.

Performance Date: Sept. 20-28, 2024

George Benjamin & Martin Crimp’s “Picture a Day Like This” is set to star Marianne Crebassa, Anna Prohaska, John Brancy, Matthieu Baquey, Lisa Grandmottet, and Eulalie Rambaud. George Benjamin conducts a production by Marie-Christine Soma and Daniel Jeanneteau.

Performance Dates: Oct. 25-31, 2024

Rameau’s “Les fêtes d’Hébé” will feature Emmanuelle de Negri, Lea Desandre, Ana Vieira Leite, Cyril Auvity, Marc Mauillon, Lisandro Abadie, Renato Dolcini, and Matthieu Walendzik. William Christie conducts the production by Robert Carsen.

Performance Dates: Dec. 13-21, 2024

Joyce El-Khoury headlines Cherubini’s “Médée” with Julien Behr, Edwin Crossley-Mercer, Lila Dufy, and Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur. Laurence Equilbey conducts the production by Marie-Ève Signeyrole.

Performance Dates: Feb. 8-16, 2025

Jarrett Ott leads Händel’s “Samson” with Ana Maria Labin, Julie Roset, Laurence Kilsby, and Camille Chopin. Raphaël Pichon conducts the production by Claus Guth.

Performance Dates: March 17-23, 2025

Gluck’s “Semiramis” and “Don Juan” will be conducted by Jordi Savall.

Lea Desandre and Thomas Dunford perform music by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Claude Debussy.

Performance Date: Dec. 20, 2024

Gaëlle Arquez and Susan Manoff perform music by Berlioz.

Performance Date: Feb. 9, 2025

The post Joyce El-Khoury, Lea Desandre, Anne-Catherine Gillet & Jarrett Ott Lead Opéra Comique’s 2024-25 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

Reviewing a new opera is always a hard task. Beyond the many difficulties of reflecting on an extremely elaborate piece of work, after only one or two hearings, there is also a major difficulty for the critic when addressing unavoidable questions like, “is the new work any good?” This often transforms itself into a more dangerous question, “did I like it?”

It is hard to circumvent a subjective level of criticism, so let me be honest from the start. I had a good experience while watching “Picture a Day Like This.” In fact, I liked it so much that I went to see it a second time. Will it be a work for the ages? There, I am no oracle.

What is ‘Picture a Day Like This?’

“Picture a Day Like This” is George Benjamin and Martin Crimp’s fourth collaboration. It is an opera with a parodic tone that takes as its object something mid-way between a medieval morality play and those one-act psychological thrillers like Bartok’s “Bluebeard Castle” and Poulenc’s “La Voix Humaine.” “Picture a Day” has humor, but it is never funny. The music is often intense and even plays with some musical motives, yet it often sounds like an allusion to Stravinsky’s renaissance phase.

The opera depicts the saga of a woman seeking to revive her son, who has died just before the action begins. To do so, she must find a shirt button from a happy person. In the course of her quest, she meets a series of characters who, sometimes despite initial appearances, are never happy. Until she finds Zabelle. Zabelle reveals that she is happy only because she does not exist. The final meeting makes the woman realize that her whole saga has been part of her journey through grief.

Martin Crimp’s libretto is not devoid of charm and presents its ideas with remarkable concision. Crimp moves us seamlessly through skeptical or satirical representations of polyamorous relationships, sexual harassment, drug addiction, and the intellectual shallowness of the art world. Nevertheless, such concision sometimes makes the characters, subjected as they are to parody, seem awfully schematic. The action is often predictable. As is often the case with such Manichean plots, it also lacks psychological intensity.  In no moment during the opera did I feel that the woman was in any peril. There was no danger in her quest and no realization or immense breakthrough. It might be that I simply missed the fun of of it. Only time will tell.

Main Music Asset

To my mind, George Benjamin’s main musical asset is his devotion to the operatic voice. At most moments, his score seems calculated to elevate the talents of his singers. His use of coloratura and the falsettos in the male voices is meant to showcase a certain beauty of tone inside each singer. Sometimes, the singing line is written as an exaggeration of a spoken-word delivery of the text and I can see that being irritating to some. But, it is an interesting way of engaging with a certain tradition of the operatic.

The opera has two main scenes that could each be considered its highlight, by my own criteria. First, is the very dramatic aria “Cold Earth—dead stems,” when the woman almost despairs of her quest. Second, is the transition to the scene in Zabelle’s garden, where the orchestra repeats in a somber mood a musical motif from the woman’s claim for “the door.”

Benjamin knows how to write music for the English language. When I chose my seat to see the opera a second time, I made sure to choose a place where I would not be able to see the subtitles. The text was mostly comprehensible to the extent that operatic singing with melismatic phrases allows.

Benjamin is an opera composer. Let me explain.

There are opera composers, and there are great composers who also compose operas. While the former loves the genre and understands the main technical aspects of how it functions, the latter also enjoys opera in all its possible grandiloquence. Either type is more than welcomed on my ears and many opera composers composed amazing things that were not opera. But, it is evident especially nowadays when we hear music composed by someone that loves opera and understands its functioning.

The opera staging is austere, but aesthetically exuberant. The work of the duo, Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma, plays a lot with darkness and reflection without ever making the scenario uninteresting. The videos of Zabelle’s subaquatic garden were particularly beautiful. This is one of the few times that video projection in opera ornamented the stage lightning without looking like a cheap trick to avoid paying for craftier scenarios.

More than Excellent

The vocal cast is more than excellent and led by the star mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa. With her instrument as beautiful as ever, Crebassa gives the protagonist a tender sense of vulnerability and numbness. Her character is clearly weakened by the circumstances of grief and avoids at all costs descending into any histrionic behavior. Facing harassment, she simply says “no” or asks to leave. Her “operatic” moment is to be confided only to herself and the audience, of course. However, she exposes it to no one else. As a result, she constructs a character that is unashamed of showing her vulnerabilities through her voice. Her low notes were never forced, but timidly sung. Her high notes, with exception of the aria, were unobtrusive. The product of such carefulness was a very limpid and warm voice with language as crystalline as when heard in a long recitative.

John Brancy plays the roles of the Artisan and the Collector with much mastery. Benjamin uses and abuses his baritone voice in the falsetto region, showcasing a sharpening but mesmerizing tone. While both of his characters were men on the verge of severe psychological problems, it was hard to not be impressed by the beauty of his voice.

Beate Mordal and Cameron Shahbazi always sang together. They represented the most humorously narcissistic figures. At first, they incarnated as a pair of lovers who began singing languid and luxurious vocal lines, stressing their inebriating love.  Shahbazi is completely comfortable transitioning from the sharp and rounded sounds of his countertenor register to the lower notes that embody a kind of old-school masculinity that nowadays usually appears only as an object of criticism. Both their vocal and stage chemistry is unerring. In their second appearance, as a composer (Mordal) and her assistant (Shahbazi) the dynamic of their relationship is invert, with Mordal proving that she can also bring to life some of the more objectionable aspects of today’s so-called intelligentsia. Mordal has a tight vibrato and an agile soprano voice, but I was most impressed by the way she captured a certain mode of physical presence, the tight-hipped, short-stepping sexualized repression I see every time I go to a pseudo-fancy event.

Finally, Anna Prohaska sings the insightful Zabelle with much care and attention, especially to the open vowels. I still remember how well the word “day” sounded in her mouth.

Obviously, for this debut, George Benjamin provided the best orchestral reading that the opera has received so far. The Mahler Chamber Orchestra proves why they are one of the most celebrated musical groups nowadays. They play with much attention to the singing lines and with such a diverse range of colors that would have made the opera extremely interesting even as a purely symphonic piece.  I truly want to see “Picture a Day like this” again, in a year or so, to discover if it still makes such a positive impression.

The post Festival d’Aix En Provence 2023 Review: Picture a Day Like This appeared first on OperaWire.

From the traditional to the abstract, every form of love that can be expressed on earth has come to the operatic stage to live. One of those shades is the love shared between those belonging to the LGBT+ community. Some of the best contemporary operas of our time like Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” and Charles Wuorinen’s “Brokeback Mountain” have depicted and dealt with the complexities of the community. 

However, during the 1970s composers like Alban Berg in his 1979 opera “Lulu” were already showcasing the LGBTQ+ community to audiences. Flash forward to the 2010s and operas such as Mark Simpson’s night-club themed opera “Pleasure,” Matthew Aucoin’s “Crossing,” and the four-part “Stonewall Operas” have helped not only normalize but uplift and celebrate the presence of LGBTQ+ themes on the operatic stage.

Most recently, in 2022 the new opera “I have missed you forever” commissioned by The Dutch National Opera took a look at “queer” relationships from an innovative yet entirely human perspective. Additionally, in 2019 the opera “As One,”  a project by American Opera Project, was the first of its kind to deal with transgenderism through opera.

Despite all of these fascinating achievements, there are three operas which stand apart from the rest, whose subject matter deals with gay themes through a historical lens. So to kick off LGBTQ+ month, here is a look at those works.  

Young Caesar (1970)

One of the earliest operas to talk about queerness within the ancient world, composer and theorist Lou Harrison’s second and final opera “Young Caesar” brought a rarely talked about period of history to light. Although best-known for his work in popularizing gamelan music in America and his experiments with microtonality, different tuning systems, and unifying corporeal experiences in music, he was also one of the first to openly include LGBTQ+ themes in opera at a time when being gay was still a condemnable phenomenon. As an openly gay man, Harrison had used his “coming out” as a political act against war in the 1940s during WW2. Shortly after, he wanted to write an opera that explored gay themes.

As a leader in blending Eastern and Western musical traditions, Harrison was attracted towards the relationship between Caesar and Nicomedes IV Philopator, then ruler of Bithynia (present-day Northern Anatolia in Turkey). In 80. B.C.E, Caesar had gone to Bithynia in order to create a fleet there but after spending an elongated amount of time there, rumors began spreading of a gay romance. Denying the rumors, what actually happened is unknown. Yet, one of Nicomedes’ last acts as ruler was to give his entire kingdom to Bithynia. Conceived of as a puppet opera, or puppets against an illuminated background, with gamelan instrumentation, the opera was a representation of the unification of two entirely different worlds. Disregarding the expectations required of him, the opera depicts Caesar as someone who allowed himself to follow the veins of love rather than duty.

Hadrian (2018)

The ancient world had an entirely different worldview on love as both ruler and private citizen were open with who they loved. In Rufus Wainwright and Daniel MacIvor’s 2018 opera “Hadrian,” the first century Roman ruler Hadrian, best known for solidifying Rome’s power and building “Hadrian’s Wall,” focuses on the relationship between Hadrian and his lover Antinous. By all accounts, their relationship was mighty. Having first met in Claudiopolis during Hadrian’s tour through the empire, the pair instantly fell in love due to Hadrian’s fondness for Antinous’ intelligence and sagacity. Together, they traveled for many years throughout the Roman world.  By 130, the relationship had become somewhat rocky as Antinous was growing up. Soon after, under suspicious circumstances, Antinous had died, with some speculating it was a sacrifice, accident, or something else entirely.

In Wainwright and MacIvor’s opera, this complex yet highly impassioned romance is explored through the dynamic love and equally dynamic depression Hadrian felt when Antinous died. As the main lovers, baritone Thomas Hampson and tenor Isaiah Bell were cast, with Hadrian’s formal wife Vibia Sabina being sung by Canadian soprano Ambur Braid. The four-act opera focuses on the last days of Hadrian’s life and the mythical choice of Antinous to become a “savior” for the people of Rome. Critics were pleased with the opera but were unhappy that the music was not powerful enough to be memorable.

Lessons in Love and Violence (2018)

Based on the contested relationship between King Edward II of Britain and Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall as told by English playwright Christopher Marlowe’s 1594 play, George Benjamin’s opera, with a libretto by Martin Crimp,  takes an intimate look into the ways in which their relationship unfolded. The opera foregrounds the demonization of the relationship, one which historically was far more brotherly than overtly gay as history has cemented, based upon the King’s failure to take care of his people. If one looks into the origins of the relationship as told by Marlowe, one comes to see that Medieval reactions toward gay men was one of malice, religiously-motivated condemnation, fears of feminization, and distrust of “compromised” leadership.

As Marlowe’s play tells us, the relationship between Edward II and Gaveston was a highly complex and not entirely well-understood dynamic, then and now. One the one end, the more religious saw it as akin to sodomy and punishable by death, whereas others saw it as a “queer brotherhood” which represented the reduction of Britain’s power to the invading forces of Ireland. But the underlying theme in the story is one of homophobia and the fear of having one’s identity found out and exposed for all to see. Mortimer, the one responsible for the torture and killing of Edward II and Gaveston, was eventually overthrown by Edward III, and is included in Benjamin’s operatic telling of events. The opera was praised by critics, although argued to be too similar to his earlier opera, “Written on Skin.”

The post Exploring Three Operas Based on LGBTQ+ Relationships from History appeared first on OperaWire.

It all kicks off with a production of “Das Rheingold” directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Antonio Pappano. The opera stars Christopher Maltman, Christopher Purves, Sean Panikkar, Marina Prudenskaya, Kiandra Howarth, and Wiebke Lehmkulm.

Performance Dates: Sept. 11 – 29, 2023

Next up is “La Forza del Destino” in a production by Christopher Loy. Mark Elder conducts a cast starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Brian Jagde, Igor Golovatenko, and Evgeny Stavinsky, among others.

Performance Dates: Sept. 19 – Oct. 9, 2023

For “L’Elisir d’Amore,” the company will present Laurent Pelly’s production conducted by Sesto Quartini. The cast stars Liparit Avetisyan, Nadine Sierra, Bryn Terfel, Sarah Dufresne, and Boris Pinnkhasovich.

Performance Dates: Sept. 22 – Oct. 5, 2023

That is followed up by the UK premiere of “Picture a Day Like This” by George Benjamin and Martin Crimp. Corinna Niemeyer conducts a production by Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma. The opera stars Ema Nikolovska, Jacquelyn Stucker, Beate Mordal, Cameron Shahbazi, and John Brancy.

Performance Dates: Sept. 22 – Oct. 10, 2023

“Rigoletto” will be conducted by Julia Jones and Renata Balsadonna. They lead two casts starring Amartuvshin Enkhbat, Simon Keenlyside, Stefan Pop, Saimir Pirgu, Erin Morley, and Pretty Yende.

Performance Dates: Oct. 12 – Nov. 28, 2023

“Jukebox” will be conducted by André Callegaro and Edward Reeve. The opera stars Isabela Díaz, Sarah Dufresne, Valentina Puscas, Veena Akama-Makia, Gabriele Kupsyte, Michael Gibson, Ryan Vaughan-Dabies, Josef Jeongmeen Ahn, Grisha Martiosyan, and Jamie Woollard.

Performance Dates: Oct. 14, 2023

Händel’s “Jephtha” will get a new production by Oliver Mears. Laurence Cummings conducts a cast starring Allan Clayton, Jennifer France, Alice Coote, Cameron Shahbazi, and Brindley Sherratt.

Performance Dates: Nov. 8 – 24, 2023

Damieno Michieletto’s production of “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci” returns with Daniel Oren conducting. Aleksandra Kurzak, Roberto Alagna, and Dimitri Platanias headline the Mascagni work while Fabio Sartori and Anna Princeva star in Leoncavallo’s masterpiece.

Performance Dates: Nov. 30 – Dec. 15, 2023

Anna Stéphany, Hanna Hipp, Anna Devin, and Lauren Fagan star in the title roles of “Hansel and Gretel” as conducted by Mark Wigglesworth.

Performance Dates: Dec. 16, 2023 – Jan. 7, 2024

Christof Loy leads a new production of “Elektra” starring Nina Stemme, Sara Jakubiak, Karita Mattila, Lukasz Golinski, and Charles Workman. Antonio Pappano conducts.

Performance Dates: Jan. 12 – 30, 2024

Ruzan Mantashyan, Angela Gheorghiu, Yaritza Véliz, Saimir Pirgu, Stefan Pop, and Leonardo Caimi headline “La Bohème.” Evelino Pidò and Keri-Lynn Wilson conduct.

Performance Dates: Jan. 24 – Feb. 16, 2024

Ausrine Stundyte, Angel Blue, and Sonya Yoncheva alternate the title role of “Tosca.” They are joined by Marcelo Puente, Russell Thomas, Yusif Eyvazov, Gabriele Vivani, Ludovic Tezier, and Aleksei Isaev. Karen Kamensek, Andrea Battistoni, and Christopher Willis conduct.

Performance Dates: Feb. 5 – 24, 2024; July 1 – 21, 2024

Bryn Terfel, Elisabet Strid, Toby Spence, and Stephen Milling star in “Der Fliegende Holländer.” Henrik Nánasi conducts.

Performance Dates: Feb. 29 – March 16, 2024

The company will present the world premiere of “Woman & Machine” by Eska and Kirsty Housley. Per the official press release, the work is “a ground-breaking binaural opera from Mercury-nominated artist ESKA, Woman & Machine [that] charts her three-month experience in the neonatal unit of King’s College Hospital when her daughter was born at just 26 weeks.”

Performance Dates: March 6 -16, 2024

Asmik Grigorian and Hrachuhi Bassénz star in “Madama Butterfly” as conducted by Kevin John Edusei. They are joined by Joshua Guerrero, SeokJong Baek, Lauri Vasar, Andrè Schuen, Hongni Wu, and Enkelejda Shkoza.

Performance Dates: March 14 – April 15, 2024; July 12 – 18, 2024

Aigul Akhmetshina, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Piotr Beczala, Brandon Jovanovich, Olga Kulchynska, Liana Aleksanyan, and Gemma Summerfield headline “Carmen” in a new production by Damiano Michieletto. Antonio Manacorda and Emmanuel Villaume conduct.

Performance Dates: April 5 – May 31, 2024

Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” is set to star Nadine Sierra and Xabier Anduaga alongside Artur Ruciński and In Sung Sim. Giacomo Sagripanti conducts. Liv Redpath performs the title role in the final performance.

Performance Dates: April 19-May 18, 2024

Eleanor Burke and Harriet Taylor each direct a new production of Martinu’s “Larmes de Coucteau” and Harbison and Yeats’ Full Moon in March.” The operas star Valetina Puscas, Veena Akama-Makia, and Kamohelo Tsotetsi. Edward Reeve conducts the Britten Sinfonia.

Performance Dates: April 24 – May 4, 2024

Daisy Evans directs a new production of Vivaldi’s “L’Olimipiade.”

Performance Dates: May 13 – 25, 2024

There will be a farewell gala for conductor Antonio Pappano.

Performance Dates: May 16, 2024

Antonio Pappano leads David McVicar’s “Andrea Chénier” with Jonas Kaufmann, Sondra Radvanovsky, and Carlos Álvarez.

Performance Dates: May 30 – June 11, 2024

Alexander Soddy conducts “Così fan tutte” with Golda Schultz, Samantha Hankey, Daniel Behle, Andrè Schuen, Jennifer France, and Gerald Finley.

Performance Dates: June 26 – July 9, 2024

The season comes to a close with the Jette Parker Artists Summer Performance.

Performance Dates: July 20, 2024

The post Jonas Kaufmann, Sondra Radvanovsky, Sonya Yoncheva, Angel Blue, Asmik Grigorian Headline Royal Opera House’s 2023-24 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

The full program is below:

The season opens with “The Threepenny Opera” by Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill, and Elisabeth Hauptmann. Maxime Pascal conducts the production by Thomas Ostermeier with a cast that includes Véronique Vella, Elsa Lepoivre, Christian Hecq, Nicolas Lormeau, Benjamin Lavernhe, Noam Morgensztern, Gaël Kamilindi, Birane Ba, Claïna Clavaron, Nicolas Chupin, and Marie Oppert.

Performance Dates: July 4-24, 2023

Sir George Benjamin and Martin Crimp’s “Picture a Day Like This” makes it World Premiere. The work is set to be conducted by Benjamin and directed by Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma. The work will star Starring Marianne Crebassa, Cameron Shahbazi, Fatma Said, John Brancy, and Anna Prohaska.

Performance Dates: July 5-23. 2023

Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte” will star Starring Agneta Eichenholz, Claudia Mahnke, Rainer Trost, Russell Braun, Georg Nigl, and Nicole Chevalier. Thomas Hengelbrock conducts the production by Dmitri Tcherniakov.

Performance Dates: July 6-21, 2023

Berg’s “Wozzeck” will be conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and directed by Simon McBurney. The work will star Christian Gerhaher, Malin Byström, Thomas Blondelle, Brindley Sherratt, and Peter Hoare.

Performance Dates: July 7-21 2023

Stravinsky’s “Russian Ballets” will be conducted by Klaus Mäkelä with films of Rebecca Zlotowski, Bertrand Mandico, and Evangelia Kranioti.

Performance Dates: July 8-12, 2023

Philip Venables and Ted Huffman’s  “The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions” will be conducted by Yshani Perinpanayagam and directed by Ted Huffman. 

Performance Dates: July 8 & 9, 2023

Meyerbeer’s “Le Prophète” will be conducted by Sir Mark Elder and star John Osborn, Anita Rachvelishvili, Mané Galoyan, and James Platt.

Performance Date: July 15, 2023

Jonas Kaufmann, Maria Agresta, and Ludovic Tézier star in Verdi’s “Otello.” Michele Mariotti conducts the Teatro di San Carlo Chorus
and Orchestra.

Performance Date: July 17, 2023

Lisette Oropesa stars in a concert performance of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” alongside Pene Pati, Florian Sempey, and Nicolas Courjal. Daniele Rustioni conducts. 

Performance Date: July 24, 2023

The post Jonas Kaufmann, Lisette Oropesa & Anita Rachvelishvili Lead Festival d’Aix-en-Provence’s 2023 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

The platform features 45 productions as well as 85 behind-the-scenes featurettes. Audiences can stream for 9.99 pounds per month and 99 pounds per year. Some titles will be available in UHD and Dolby Atmos.

Among the launch titles are Frederick Ashton’s “La Fille mal gardée,” Christopher Wheeldon’s “The Winter’s Tale,” Wagner’s “Die Walküre,” Mark-Anthony Turnage’s “Anna Nicole,” and Puccini’s “Tosca.” The behind-the-scenes featurettes will showcase such artists as Antonio Pappano, Jonas Kaufmann, Kristine Opolais, Roderick Williams, Martin Crimp, George Benjamin, and Katie Mitchell, among others.

Brand new titles will appear monthly, including a new production of “Rigoletto” starring Carlos Álvarez and Lisette Oropesa; that production arrives on Oct. 20, 2022.

Here is a full rundown of the launch titles:

DANCES AT A GATHERING (2020)

LA BOHÈME (2020)

RAYMONDA ACT 3 (2019)

DON GIOVANNI (2019)

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (2020)

ANNA NICOLE (2011)

WITHIN THE GOLDEN HOUR (2019)

LA TRAVIATA (2019)

FLIGHT PATTERN (2019)

FAUST (2019)

DIE WALKÜRE (2018)

THE WINTER’S TALE (2018)

THE MAGIC FLUTE (2017)

MANON (2018)

ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND (2017)

TOSCA (2011)

MANON LESCAUT (2014)

GISELLE (2016)

WRITTEN ON SKIN (2013)

SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS (2017)

ANDREA CHÉNIER (2015)

THE DREAM (2017)

NORMA (2016)

RHAPSODY (2016)

CENDRILLON (2011)

LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT (2007)

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN (2015)

INFRA (2008)

DON QUIXOTE (2013)

PARSIFAL (2013)

LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE (2005)

HANSEL AND GRETEL (2008)

COPPÉLIA (2019)

DON PASQUALE (2019)

MACBETH (2011)

SWAN LAKE (2018)

COSÌ FAN TUTTE (2016)

YUGEN (2018)

CORYBANTIC GAMES (2018)

ENIGMA VARIATIONS (2019)

NABUCCO (2022)

ANASTASIA (2016)

ELITE SYNCOPATIONS (2010)

]THE JUDAS TREE (2010)

CONCERTO (2010)

The post The Royal Opera House Launches Streaming Platform appeared first on OperaWire.

“Written on Skin” is considered by some to be British composer George Benjamin’s masterpiece and one of the most important works of the 21^st Century.

The opera, which was written by Martin Crimp, first premiered July 7^th, 2012 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Led by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the piece was an instant success, lauded for its mysterious and unique sound.

Just a year later, Benjamin brought the opera to the Royal Opera House and the Opéra-Comique. More recently, it has been seen at the Philadelphia Opera. The premiere cast saw Barbara Hannigan and Christopher Purves star.

Thematically, the opera is a story of violence and the powerlessness of women in the Middle Ages. Throughout the work, choruses of angels ruminate on God, the Bible, and the tendency of destruction in humans.

Short Plot Summary

“Written on Skin” is divided into three parts and fifteen scenes, with much of the plot driven by the chorus, which also acts as the narrator. Scene one begins with the chorus of angels, who give the setting as 800 years ago (when books were written on the skin of animals).

The chorus also introduces the protagonists—the Protector, his wife Agnès, and the Boy. The Protector enlists the Boy to create a laudatory biography of himself. As the Boy continues working on the book, moving into the Protector’s home, Agnès has become emotionally withdrawn.

Agnès engages in an affair with the Boy. When the Protector asks the Boy about the nature of the affair, he lies to protect Agnès and is encouraged by her to ruin the story of the Protector he has been hired to create.

The Protector discovers the Boy’s affair with Agnès and murders him in revenge. After the Protector tortures Agnès for her infidelity, she commits suicide. 

Watch and Listen

Here is a performance from the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

The post Opera Profile: George Benjamin’s ‘Written on Skin’ appeared first on OperaWire.

The Lyric Opera of Chicago’s has announced its 2020-21 season celebrating its 66th season.

The season will include three Lyric premieres, two Lyric Original productions, nine operas, three concert events and one musical.

Main Stage

The first production of the season will be the famed double bill of Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci.”
Elena Pankratova and Brian Jagde star in Mascagni’s work alongside Ambrogio Maestri and Jill Grove. Meanwhile, Evgenia Muraveva, Russell Thomas, Ambrogio Maestri, Ricardo José Rivera, and Mario Rojas star in Leoncavallo’s work. Carlo Rizzi conducts the classic Elijah Moshinsky production.

Performance Dates: Sept. 17-Oct. 10, 2020

George Benjamin’s “Lessons in Love and Violence” gets its North American Premiere. Written by librettist Martin Crimp, the production will star Georgia Jarman, Stéphane Degout, Gyula Orendt, William Burden, and Jonas Hacker. Sir Andrew Davis conducts the acclaimed production by Katie Mitchell.

Performance Dates: Sept. 27-Oct. 9, 2020

Sondra Radvanovsky and Joseph Calleja star in a new to Chicago production of Puccini’s “Tosca” with Fabian Veloz. Giampaolo Bisanti conducts Louisa Muller’s production. Alexandra LoBianco and Russell Thomas star in one performance.

Performance Dates: Nov. 7-29, 2020

Dmitry Belosselskiy, Tamara Wilson, Matthew Polenzani, and Nicola Alaimo star in Verdi’s “Attila” in a new production by Daniele Abbado. Enrique Mazzola conducts the production.

Performance Dates: Nov. 15-27, 2020

Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s “Proving Up” has its Midwest Premiere with Enrique Mazzola conducting James Darrah’s production. Cast to be announced.

Performance Dates: Jan. 16-23, 2021

Elijah Moshinsky’s Metropolitan Opera production of Saint-Saëns’ “Samson et Dalila” makes its Chicago debut with Clémentine Margaine, Brandon Jovanovich, Quinn Kelsey, Reginald Smith, Jr., and Önay Köse. Emmanuel Villaume conducts.

 Performance Dates: Jan. 23-Feb. 13, 2021

Rosa Feola, Matthew Polenzani, Andrzej Filończyk, and Nicola Alaimo star in Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” with Eun Sun Kim conducting Daniel Slater’s production

Performance Dates: Jan. 30-Feb. 14, 2021

Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” returns to the stage starring Alex Esposito, Ying Fang, Federica Lombardi, Gordon Bintner, Kayleigh Decker, Katharine Goeldner, Brenton Ryan, and Peter Kálmán. Sir. Andrew Davis conducts.

Performance Dates: March 14-April 11, 2021

Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” returns to the Lyric Opera for the first time in more than a quarter-century starring Andrew Staples, Janai Brugger, Luca Pisaroni, and Alice Coote. Sir. Andrew Davis conducts the production by John Cox.

Performance Dates: March 21-April 6, 2021

“Singin’ in the Rain” by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Nacio Herb Brown, and Arthur Freed gets its Lyric Opera premiere with Gareth Valentine conducting a new production by Robert Carsen.The cast for Singin’ in the Rain will be announced at a later date.

Performance Dates: June 4-27, 2021

2020|21 Season Special Performances and Events

Sunday in the Park with Lyric’s Rising Stars will showcase artists from The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center performing  a variety of favorites, accompanied by members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra.

Performance Date: July 26, 2020

The Opening Night 2020 will showcase Renée Fleming in a concert gala.

Performance Date: Sept. 12, 2020

“Jason and the Argonauts” by Gregory Spears and Kathryn Walat will showcase an opera for kids performed in English.

Performance Date: Fall 2020 (dates, times, and venue to be announced at a later date)

Christine Goerke and Malcolm Martineau will join forces for a recital.

Performance Date: March 7, 2021

A Knight to Celebrate will celebrate Sir Andrew Davis’s magnificent two-decade tenure as music director with one of his favorite works, never previously performed at Lyric: Beethoven’s enthralling, life-enhancing Symphony No. 9, the “Choral,” music’s most exalted hymn to the human spirit. Davis will conduct a superb vocal quartet in performance with the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus. The concert will begin with the world premiere of a new a cappella choral work by Sir Andrew’s son, composer Ed Frazier Davis.

Performance Date: April 10, 2021

There will be a Wine Auction that will auction some of the world’s greatest wines, luxury travel, and one-of-a-kind experiences, all on the stage of the historic Ardis Krainik Theatre.

Performance Date: May 8, 2021

The post Renée Fleming, Sondra Radvanovsky & Matthew Polenzani Lead Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2020-21 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

The work, which features music by Robert Schuman and Bernard Foccroulle, tells the story of a young woman at the European border hoping to cross over to Zauberland, away from the Middle Eastern conflict.

The work features text by Heinrich Heine and Martin Crimp and received its world premiere at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord on April 5, 2019. Performances at the Linbury Theatre are set for Oct. 15, 16, and 18, 2019.

It will star Julia Bullock with Cédric Tiberghien at the piano. The work also features actors Ben Clifford, Natasha Kafka, David Rawlins, and Raphael Zari.

Bullock recently appeared in the world premiere of Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

The post Julia Bullock To Star In ‘Zauberland’ At Linbury Theatre This Fall appeared first on OperaWire.