Opera

Bas Wiegers conducts Michael Jarrell’s “Kassandra” with actress Dagmar Manzel and the Ensemble Modern.

Performance Date: July 23, 2025

Salvatore Sciarrino’s “Macbeth” will be conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni. Cody Quattlebaum, Alice Rossi, Leonardo Cortellazzi, Iris van Wijnen, and Davide Giangregorio.

Performance Date: July 25, 2025

Christophe Dumaux stars in Handel’s “Giulio Cesare in Egitto” with Olga Kulchynska, Lucile Richardot, Frederico Fioro, Yuriy Mynenko, Andrey Zhilikhovsky, and Jake Ingbar. Emmanuelle Haïm conducts the production by Dmitri Tcherniakov.

Performance Dates: July 26-August 17, 2025

Peter Sellars will direct Mahler/Schoenberg’s “One Morning Turns into an Eternity.” Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts a cast that includes Ausrine Stundyte and Wiebke Lehmkuhl. The evening consists of “Erwartung” and “Der Abschied.”

Performance Dates: July 27-August 18, 2025

Cecilia Bartoli, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Lea Desandre, Philippe Jaroussky, and Angela Winkler star in “Hotel Metamorphosis,” a pasticcio with music by Antonio Vivald in two acts. Gianluca Capuano conducts the production by Barrie Kosky. 

Performance Dates: July 31-August 15, 2025

Pene Pati leads in Mozart’s “Mitridate” with Sara Blanch, Elsa Dreisig, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, and Julie Roset. Adam Fischer conducts Birgit Kajtna-Wönig’s semi-staging.

Performance Date: August 4, 2025

Kate Lindsey and Lisette Oropesa star in Donizetti’s “Maria Stuarda” with Bekhzod Davronov, Aleksei Kulagin, and Thomas Lehman. Antonello Manacorda conducts the production by Ulrich Rasche.

Performance Dates: August 1-30, 2025

Peter Eötvös’s “Three Sisters” will feature the talents of Dennis Orellana, Cameron Shahbazi, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Kangmin Justin Kim, Mikołaj Trąbka, Ivan Ludlow, Jacques Imbrailo, Andrey Valentiy, Jörg Schneider, Jens Larsen, Anthony Robin Schneider, and Kristofer Lundin. Maxime Pascal and Alphonse Cemin conducts the production by Evgeny Titov.

Performance Date: August 8-24, 2025

Vladislav Sulimsky and Asmik Grigorian star in Verdi’s “Macbeth“ with Tareq Nazmi, Charles Castronovo, and Joshua Guerrero. Philippe Jordan conducts the revival of Krzysztof Warlikowski’s production.

Performance Date: August 9-29, 2025

Mozart’s “Zaide oder Der Weg des Lichts” will be conducted by Raphaël Pichon and will star Sabine Devieilhe, Lea Desandre, Julian Prégardien, Daniel Behle, and Johannes Martin Kränzle.

Performance Dates: August 17-22, 2025

Piotr Beczala stars in Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier” with Luca Salsi and Elena Stikhina.

Performance Date: August 25, 2025

Helena Sorokina, Marco Sala, Krassimir Sterev, Friederike Kühl, Hugo Paulsson, Jan Petryka, Manuel Alcaraz Clemente, and Alexander Bauer lead a program of music by Beat Furrer, Orlando di Lasso, and Arvo Pärt.

Performance Date: July 20, 2025

Friederike Kühl, Johanna Vargas, Johanna Zimmer, Iva Kovač, Marco Sala, Markus Wallner, David Pirrò, Cantando Admont, and Cordula Bürgi perform Luigi Nono’s “Io, frammento dal Prometeo.”

Performance Date: July 21, 2025

Raphael Höhn, Lionel Meunier, Carine Tinney, Stefanie True, Jan Kullmann, William Shelton, Florian Sievers, Vojtěch Semerád, and Sebastian Myrus lead Bach’s “St John Passion.” The Vox Luminis and Freiburger Barockorchester are conducted by Lionel Meunier.

Performance Dates: July 22-23, 2025

Christoph Waltz, Allan Clayton, Marina Viotti, Michael Volle, and Albert Dohmen star in Stravinsky’s “Oedipus Rex.” Lorenzo Viotti conducts.

Georg Nigl, August Diehl, and Alexander Gergelyfi take on Mozart’s “Nachtmusik.”

Georg Nigl, August Diehl, and Alexander Gergelyfi perform a “A Schubertiade.”

Gianluca Capuano conducts Mozart’s Missa in C minor K. 427 with soloists Mélissa Petit, Patricia Nolz, Anthony León, and José Coca Loza.

Performance Dates: August 6 & 7, 2025

Bogdan Volkov and Manuel Winckhler perform Mozart alongside the Salzburg Bach Choir and Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and conductor Roberto González-Monjas.

Performance Dates: August 9 & 10, 2025

Georg Nigl and Alexander Gergelyfi perform Schubert’s “Die schöne Müllerin.”

Performance Dates: August 14 & 15, 2025

Ying Fang, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Pavol Breslik, and William Thomas lead a program of music by Schubert and Bruckner. The Vienna Philharmonic will be conducted by Riccardo Muti.

Performance Dates: August 15-17, 2025

Regula Mühlemann and Alexander Melnikov perform Mahler and Shostakovich with Utopia and Teodor Currentzis.

Performance Date: August 18, 2025

Sarah Aristidou leads a program of works by Ravel, Boulez, and Varèse with the Klangforum Wien Orchestra and conductor Sylvain Cambreling.

Performance Date: August 23, 2025

Elza van den Heever, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, and John Relyea perform Act one of Wagner’s “Die Walküre.” Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Vienna Philarmonic.

Performance Dates: August 23 & 24, 2025

Masterclass

Julian Prégardien leads a masterclass with participants of the Young Singers Project.

Performance Date: August 3, 2025

Stéphanie d’Oustrac leads a masterclass with participants of the Young Singers Project.

Performance Date: August 15, 2025

The post Lisette Oropesa, Asmik Grigorian, Jonas Kaufmann, Diana Damrau, Cecilia Bartoli & Sabine Devieilhe Lead Salzburg Festival’s 2025 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

The opera will be performed at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage for three performances on Feb. 8, 13, and 16, 2025.

The production will be directed by Morris Panych and conducted by Leslie Dala.

The work will star Cameron Shahbazi in his company debut, Caitlin Wood, Asitha Tennekoon, Andriana Chuchman, Megan Latham, Alex Hetherington, Clarence Frazer, Neil Craighead, and Henry Chen.

In a statement, Tom Wright, General Director of Vancouver Opera said, “Flight is both profoundly moving and wonderfully comedic. We’re delighted to bring this opera to Vancouver audiences as part of our exciting 65th season. This production offers a unique opportunity to experience a story of resilience, connection, and humanity.”

The post Vancouver Opera to Perform ‘Flight’ appeared first on OperaWire.

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.

This week audiences will get to hear one of the great tenors of his generation alongside some of the greatest sopranos in one album dedicated to Puccini. There are also world premiere recordings of new works and one debut album. Here is a look.

Robeson

In a statement, Tines said, “This album is my most personal artistic statement to date. I’ve endeavored to compare and contrast my journey as an artist with that of my artistic ancestor and hero, Paul Robeson, the unparalleled singer, actor, and activist. Standing on his beliefs of egality for the disenfranchised led to governmental and public attacks that almost ended his life. This album is the fever dream of the universal journey to battle internal and external persecution in order to find one’s self and decide what you need to say the most now that you’ve survived.”

Bach: Arias for Alto

Zoltán Daragó makes his long-awaited album debut showcasing the countertenor in 11 arias from well-known and lesser-known cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach. Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset are featured on the album.

The post Jonas Kaufmann, Anna Netrebko, Davóne Tines, Sonya Yoncheva & Zoltán Daragó Lead New CD/DVD Releases appeared first on OperaWire.

The season opens with Dvořák’s “Rusalka” in a new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov. Dan Ettinger conducts a cast that includes Asmik Grigorian, Adam Smith, Ekaterina Gubanova, Anita Rachvelishvili, and Gábor Bretz.

Performance Dates: Nov. 20-Dec. 7, 2024

Verdi’s “Don Carlo” will be conducted by Henrik Nánási and will star Piero Pretti, Gabriele Viviani, Ildar Abdrazakov, Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Varduhi Abrahamyan, and Alexander Tsymbalyuk.

Performance Dates: Jan. 19-31, 2025

Nadine Sierra and Javier Camarena will star in Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette” with Gianluca Buratto, Alessio Arduini, and Caterina Piva. Giorgia Guerra directs the production and Sesto Quartini conducts.

Performance Dates: Feb. 15-25, 2025

Ricarda Merbeth stars in the title role of Strauss’ “Salome” alongside Brian Mulligan, Charles Workman, Emily Magee, John Findon, and Štěpánka Pučálková. Dan Ettinger conducts the production by Manfred Schweigkofler.

Performance Dates: March 20-29, 2025

Anna Pirozzi headlines Puccini’s “La Faniculla del West” alongside Martin Muehle and Gabriele Viviani. Jonathan Darlington conducts Hugo de Ana’s production.

Performance Dates: April 16-29, 2025

Ildar Abdrazakov, Sondra Radvanovsky, Luciano Ganci, and Ernesto Petti lead Verdi’s “Attila” in concert with Diego Cereta conducting.

Performance Dates: April 24-27, 2025

Pretty Yende, Ruzil Gatil, Sergio Vitale, Sonia Ganassi, Eugenio Di Lieto, and Marisa Laurito lead Donizetti’s “La Fille du Regiment.” Damiano Michieletto directs and Riccardo Bisatti conducts.

Performance Dates: May 18-27, 2025

Comarosa’s “Il matrimonio segreto” will be directed by Stéphane Braunschweig and conducted by Francesco Corti. The cast will include Sebastià Serra, Anastasiia Sagaidak, Désirée Giove, Antonia Salzano, Maurizio Bove, Francesco Domenico Doto, Yunho Kim, Tamar Otanadze, Maria Knihnytska, Sayumi Kaneko, Antimo DellʼOmo, and Sun Tianxuefei.

Performance Dates: June 11-17, 2025

René Barbera, Roberta Mantegna, Annalisa Stroppa, and Nicola Alaimo lead Donizetti’s “Roberto Devereux” in a production by Jetske Mijnssen. Riccardo Frizza conducts.

Performance Dates: July 16-25, 2025

Puccini’s “Tosca” will return with multiple casts. Edoardo De Angelis directs and Dan Ettinger conducts. Sondra Radvanovsky, Anna Pirozzi, and Carmen Giannattasio star in the title role alongside Jonas Kaufmann, Francesco Meli, Christian Van Horn, and Claudio Sgura.

Performance Dates: Sept. 10-23, 2025

Anna Netrebko, Piero Pretti, and Ludovic Tézier lead Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera” alongside Elizabeth DeShong and Cassandre Berthon. The other cast includes Valeria Sepe, Vincenzo Costanzo, and Ernesto Petti. Pinchas Steinberg conducts the production by Massimo Gasparon.

Performance Dates: Oct. 4- 11, 2025

George Benjamin’s “Picture a day like this” closes the season with Corinna Niemeyer conducting. Marianne Crebassa, Anna Prohaska, Beate Mordal, Cameron Shahbazi, and John Brancy star.

Performance Dates: Oct. 24-26, 2025

Concerts

Dan Ettinger and Maria Agresta lead a program of music by Richard Strauss and Anton Bruckner.

Performance Date: Nov. 30, 2024

Asmik Grigorian and Lukas Geniušas perform music by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov.

Performance Date: Dec. 1, 2024

The company will present “Aria di Natale.”

Performance Date: Dec. 5, 12, 18, 2024

Lisette Oropesa and Alessandro Praticò perform works by Ravel, Delibes, Massenet, Bizet, Rossini, Mercadante, and Verdi.

Performance Date: Jan. 9, 2025

Michele Mariotti and Ekaterina Gubanova perform music by Mahler and Brahms.

Performance Date: Jan. 24, 2025

George Petrou conducts Franco Fagioli in music by Rossini, Bonfichi, Mantzaros, Nicolini, Mayr, and Mercadante.

Performance Date: Jan. 30, 2025

Rosa Feola and Iain Burnside take on the music of Rossini, Martucci, Respighi, Debussy, Mozart, and Donizetti.

Performance Date: March 30, 2025

Elīna Garanča and Malcolm Martineau perform in recital music by Brahms, Berlioz, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Gounod, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Jāzeps Vītols, Mascagni, Chapí, and Bizet.

Performance Date: May 31, 2025

Luca Salsi and Nelson Calzi perform works by Bizet, Hahn, Martucci, Rossini, Donizetti, and Verdi.

Performance Date: June 6, 2025

Maria Agresta and Marco Armiliato perform a concert featuring works by Brahms, Wagner, and Schumann.

Performance Date: June 28, 2025

Fabrizio Cassi conducts a Rossini concert.

Performance Date: Sept. 18, 2025

Ivano Caiazza conducts Paisiello’s “Don Chisciotte della Mancia” with Tamar Otanadze, Désirée Giove, Maurizio Bove, Francesco Domenico Doto, Maria Knihnytska, Costanza Cutaia, Tianxuefei Sun, and Sebastià Serra.

Performance Date: Sept. 27, 2025

The post Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann, Sondra Radvanovsky, Asmik Grigorian & Francesco Meli Lead Teatro San Carlo’s 2024-25 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

Opera

Josep Pons conducts Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” with Alexei Botnarciuc, Daniel Kirch, Sara Jakubiak, Ángeles Blancas, and Pavel Černoch. Àlex Ollé conducts.

Performance Date: Sept. 25-Oct. 7, 2024

Maria Agresta and Saioa Hernández star in Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” with Artur Ruciński, Amartuvshin Enkhbat, Brian Jagde, Francesco Pio Galasso, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Szilvia-Vörös, John Relyea, Giacomo Prestia, Gabriele Viviani, and Luis Cansino. Nicola Luisotti conducts the production by Jean-Claude Auvray.

Performance Dates: Nov. 9-19, 2024

Sonya Yoncheva, Saioa Hernández, and Ailyn Perez lead Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” with Annalisa Stroppa, Teresa Iervolino, Gemma Coma-Alabert, Matthew Polenzani, Fabio Sartori, Celso Albelo, Lucas Meachem, Thomas Mayer, and Gerardo Bullón. Moshe Leiser i Patrice Caurier direct while Paolo Bortolameolli conducts.

Performance Dates: Dec. 8-28, 2024

Marc Minkowski conducts Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus” with Huw Montague Rendall, Iulia Maria Dan, Michael Kraus, Marina Viotti, Magnus Dietrich, Sandrine Buendia, Leon Kosavic, Krešimir Špicer, and Alina Wunderlin.

Performance Date: Dec. 18, 2024

Nadine Sierra and Ruth Iniesta lead Verdi’s “La Traviata” with Javier Camarena, Xabier Anduaga, Artur Ruciński, Mattia Olivieri, and Lucas Meachem. Giacomo Sagripanti conducts David McVicar’s production.

Performance Dates: Jan. 17-Feb. 2 2025

René Jacobs conducts Mozart’s “Idomeneo” with Emiliano González Toro, Olivia Vermeulen, Polina Pastirchak, Kateryna Kasper, Mark Milhofer, Krešimir Špicer, and Yannick Debus.

Performance Date: Jan. 29, 2025

Romeo Castellucci directs Mozart’s Requiem with Anna Prohaska, Marina Viotti, Levy Sekgapane, and Soloman Howard. Giovanni Antonini conducts.

Performance Dates: Feb. 17-26, 2025

Domènec Terradellas’ “La Merope” will be conducted by Francesco Corti and will star Valerio Contaldo, Emőke Baráth, Francesca-Pia-Vitale, Sunhae Im, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Margherita Maria Sala, and Matthew Newlin.

Performance Date: Feb. 20, 2025

Xavier Sabata sings the title role of Handel’s “Giulio Cesare.” He is joined by Jan Antem, Teresa Iervolino, Helen Charlston, Julie Fuchs, Cameron Shahbazi, José Antonio López, and Alberto Miguélez Rouco. William Christie conducts the production by Calixto Bieito.

Performance Dates: May 25-June 7, 2025

Josep Pons leads Dvorák’s “Rusalka” with Piotr Beczała, Ryan Capozzo, Karita Mattila, Asmik Grigorian, Verity Wingate, Alexandros Stavrakakis, and Okka von der Damerau. Christof Loy directs.

Performance Dates: June 22- July 7, 2025

Antoni Ros-Marbà’s “Benjamin a Portbou” will star Peter Tantsits, Marta Valero, Marta Infante, Joan Martín-Royo, Pau Armengol, Serena Sáenz, Elena Copons, and David Alegret. Anna Ponces directs and Antoni Ros-Marbà conducts.

Performance Dates: July 19 & 21, 2025

Nadine Sierra and Juan Diego Flórez lead Bernstein’s “West Side Story” in a concert performance with Isabel Leonard, Jarrett Ott, Milan Perišic, Cristofol Romaguera, Jan Antem, Pau Camero, Montserrat Seró, Laura Brasó, and Tanit Bono. Gustavo Dudamel conducts.

Performance Dates: July 29 & 31, 2025

Concerts

Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts a concert with Sondra Radvanovsky and Piotr Beczała.

Performance Date: Oct. 24 & 27, 2024

Elina Garanča and Malcolm Martineau perform in recital.

Performance Date: Nov. 22, 2024

Camila Provenzale leads a program of music entitled “Amazônia.”

Performance Date: Nov. 26, 2024

Daniel Montané  conducts the 62è Concurs Tenor Viñas.

Performance Dates:  Jan. 24 & 26, 2025

Ermonela Jaho and Rubén Fernández Aguirre perform a recital.

Performance Date: Feb. 16, 2025

Pretty Yende and Nadine Sierra team up for a concert with Pablo Mielgo

Performance Date: April 6, 2025

Marina Rebeka performs with the London Symphony Orchestra and Gustavo Dudamel.

Performance Date: May 10, 2025

Lise Davidsen and Matthias Goerne join Josep Pons for a program of music by Wagner and Strauss.

Performance Date: July 2, 2025

Micro Opera

Òh!pera will be directed by Àlex Ollé.

Performance Dates: July 25 & 27, 2025

Microòperes d’avui will be performed.

Performance Dates: Feb. 8 & 9, 2025

The post Nadine Sierra, Saioa Hernández, Piotr Beczała, Sonya Yoncheva, Xabier Anduaga & Juan Diego Flórez Lead Gran Teatre del Liceu’s 2024-25 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

The company revealed that due to a record number of ticket sales for its 2024 edition, it will add an August 13 showcase of the Händel work. Many of the tickets will be made available to those who signed up for the Under 30s program, which offers “heavily subsidized tickets to 16-29 year-olds to support the next generation of opera-goers.”

“We want as many people as possible to experience opera, so we’re working hard to respond to, and grow, demand,” said Richard Davidson-Houston, the Managing Director of Glyndebourne, in an official press statement. “Even before we added an extra performance of ‘Giulio Cesare’ to the schedule, capacity at this year’s Festival was higher than in 2023, and our new approach to pricing has enabled us to offer more tickets at lower prices while maintaining our box office potential, which is vital given that the Festival receives no public subsidy.”

The Händel opera stars Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Louis Alder, Johanna Wallroth, Svetlina Stoyanova, Cameron Shahbazi, Luca Tittoto, Sam Carl, Beth Taylor, Ray Chenez, and Thomas Chenhall. Laurence Cummings conducts a production directed by Sir David McVicar.

The post Glyndebourne Festival Adds Performance of Händel Opera Following Record-Breaking Ticket Sales 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.

New Productions

The season will feature Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” in a production by Caterina Panti Liberovici. Simone De Felice conducts. The opera stars Bozidar Smiljanic, Donato Di Stefano, MIkolaj Tabka, Liviu Holender, Pablo Martinez, Brayan Ávila Martínez Martínez, Bianca Tognocchi, and Clara Kim.

Performance Date: Sept. 23 – Oct. 15, 2023

Next up is “Le Nozze di Figaro” as conducted by Thomas Guggeis and Alden Gatt. Tilmann Köhler directs a cast starring Kihwan Sim, Bozidar Smiljanic, Elena Villalón, Danylo Matviienko, Adriana González, Kelsey Lauritano, and Helene Feldbauer.

Performance Date: Oct. 1, 2023 – Jan. 21, 2024

Ligeti’s “Le Grand Macabre” will get its first performance in Frankfurt. Thomas Guggeis conducts and Vasily Barkhatov directs. The opera stars Simon Neal, Peter Marsh, Eric Jurenas, and Anna Nekhames.

Performance Date: Nov. 5 – Dec. 2, 2023

“Aida” will be directed by Lydia Steier and conducted by Erik Nielsen. Stefano La Colla, Alfred Kim, Guanqun Yu, Claudia Mahnke, Agnieszka Rehlis, Andreas Bauer Kanabas, and Kihwan Sim.

Performance Date: Dec. 3 – Jan. 20, 2023

Mozart’s “Ascanio in Alba” gets its first Frankfurt performance. Alden Gatt and Lukas Rommelspacher conduct a production by Nina Brazier. The opera stars Kateryna Kasper, Cecelia Hall, Karolina Bengtsson, Andrew Kim, and Anna Nekhames star.

Performance Date: Dec. 17, 2023 – Jan. 3, 2024

Offenbach’s “Die Banditen” gets its first Frankfurt performance in a production by Katharina Thoma. Karsten Januschke conducts a cast starring Gerard Schneider, Yves Saelens, Jonathan Abernethy, Michael McCown, and Magnús Baldvinsson.

Performance Date: Jan. 28 – March 15, 2024

Another opera to get its first Frankfurt performance is Zemlinsky’s “Der Traumgörge.” Tilmann Köhler directs and Markus Poschner conducts a cast starring AJ Glueckert, Zuzana Marková, Magdalena Hinterdobler, and Liviu Holender.

Performance Date: Feb. 25 – March 31, 2024

Fortner’s “In Seinem Garten Liebt Don Perlpimpín Belisa” will be conducted by Takeshi Toriuchi and directed by Dorothea Kirschbaum. The opera stars Sebastian Geyer, Karolina Bengtsson, Helene Feldbauer, and Anna Nekhames.

Performance Date: March 22 – April 7, 2024

Lawrence Zazzo, Pretty Yende, Zanda Svede, Bianca Andrew, and Nils Wanderer star in “Giulio Cesare in Egitto.” Simone Di Felice conducts a production by Nadja Loschky.

Performance Date: March 24 – May 18, 2024

Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” will star Marco Jentzsch, Christina Nilsson, Dshamilja Kaiser, and Domen Krizaj. Thomas Guggeis conducts and Matthew Wild directs.

Performance Date: April 28 – June 2, 2024

Ambur Braid, John Osborn, Gerard Schneider, and Monika Buczkowska star in “La Juive.” Henrik Nánási conducts and Tatjana Gürbaca directs.

Performance Date: June 16 – July 14, 2024

Revivals

The season opens with a revival of “Daphne” starring Maria Bengtsson, Gerard Schneider, Katharina Magiera, and Peter Marsh. Lothar Koenigs conducts the production by Claus Guth.

 Performance Date: Sept. 17 – Oct. 3, 2023

Verdi’s “Don Carlo” stars Otar Jorjikia, Magdalena Hinterdobler, Andreas Bauer Kanabas, Dshamilja Kaiser, and Domen Krizaj. Thomas Guggeis conducts.

Performance Date: Oct. 7 – Nov. 4, 2023

Nadja Stefanoff, Svetlana Aksenova, Alfred Kim, Bianca Tognocchi, and MIkolaj Trabka star in “Fedora.” Carlo Montanaro conducts.

Performance Date: Oct. 15 – Nov. 17, 2023

“Martha” will star Monika Buczkowska, Katharina Magiera, Sebaster Geyer, and AJ Glueckert. Victorien Vanoosten conducts.

Performance Date: Nov. 11 – Dec. 22, 2023

 Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Christmas Eve” will star Georgy Vasiliev, Julia Muzychenko, Enkeledja Shkoza, and Alexey Tikhomirov. Lawrence Foster conducts.

Performance Date: Dec. 15 – 31, 2023 

Ambur Braid headlines “Salome.” She is joined by AJ Gluekert, Nicholas Brownlee, and Claudia Mahnke. Leo Hussain conducts.

Performance Date: Jan. 6 – Feb. 3, 2024 

Elena Villalón, Karolina Bengtsson, Magnus Dietrick, Kudaibergen Abildin, and Clara Kim headline “Die Zauberflöte.” Marie Jacquot, Takeshi Moriuchi, and Alden Gatt conduct.

Performance Date: Feb. 2 – June 27, 2024

Varduhi Abrahamyan headlines “Carmen” under the musical direction of Giuseppe Mentuccia. She is joined by Abraham Bréton, Nicholas Brownlee, Nombuelo Yende, and Kateryna Kaster.

Performance Date: March 2 – April 13, 2024 

“L’Italiana in Londra” will star Monika Buczkowska, Biana Tognocchi, Theo Lebow, Mikolaj Trabka, and Jarrett Porter. Julia Jones conducts.

Performance Date: March 30 – May 3, 2024

Aile Asszonyi stars in “Elektra” with Thomas Guggeis conducting. The cast also stars Susan Bullock, Magdalena Hinterdobler, and Kihwan Sim, among others.

Performance Date: May 9 – June 9, 2024

 Sesto Quartini conducts and Nino Machaidze stars as Desdemona in both of Verdi and Rossini’s “Otello.” First up is the Rossini iteration Machaidze and Quatrini are joined by Theo Lewbow, Francisco Brito, and Levy Sekgapane.

Performance Date: May 17 – June 15, 2024

Then for the Verdi iteration of the classic Shakespeare play, Quatrini leads a cast starring Machaidze, Alfred Kim, and Iain MacNeil.

Performance Date: June 22 – July 12, 2024

The season ends with Mozart’s “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” starring Adela Zaharia, Bianca Tognocchi, Magnus Dietrich, and Michael Porter, among others. Giedre Slekyte conducts.

Performance Date: June 29 – July 13, 2024

Concerts

Paula Murrihy and Tanya Blaich will perform in recital.

Performance Date: Sept. 26, 2023

Andrè Schuen will perform alongside Daniel Heide.

Performance Date: Dec. 19, 2023

Kicking off the New Year will be a recital featuring Cameron Shahbazi and Malcolm Martineau.

Performance Date: Jan. 16, 2024

Adriana González will perform alongside Iñaki Encina Oyón.

Performance Date: Feb. 20, 2024

Nicholas Brownlee will be joined by Aurelia Andrews.

Performance Date: March 19, 2024 

Samuel Hasselhorn will join forces with Doriana Tchakarova.

Performance Date: April 23, 2024

Christiane Karg will perform alongside Malcolm Martineau.

Performance Date: June 11, 2024

Finishing off the Oper Frankfurt recital series will be John Osborn and Beatrice Benzi.

Performance Date: July 8, 2024

The post Adriana González, Elena Villalón, Pretty Yende, Nino Machaidze, Varduhi Abrahamyan Headline Oper Frankfurt’s 2023-24 Season 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.