The English Concert announces the details of its spring 2025 spring season.

Soprano Lucy Crowe performs a program of works by Handel and Corelli, under the baton of The English Concert’s founder, Trevor Pinnock.

Performance Date: January 30, 2025 (Wigmore Hall)

Up next sopranos Isabel Schicketanz and Joanna Songi, mezzo-soprano Lucile Richardot, tenor Samuel Boden, and bass Florian Störz solo in Bach’s “Mass in B minor.”

Performance Dates: February 20 & 22, 2025 (St. Martin-in-the-Fields & Bath Abbey)

Soprano Hilary Cronin takes on the title role in Handel’s “Esther.” She is joined by tenors Xavier Hetherington, Hugo Hymas, countertenor Hugh Cutting, and bass Matthew Brook. John Butt directs.

Performance Dates: March 2025 (London and Madrid)

Throughout Holy Week, The English Concert performs Bach’s “St John Passion.” Francesco Corti directs.

Performance Dates: April 18 & 19, 2025 (Wigmore Hall & Turner Sims Concert Hall)

Soprano Louise Alder, countertenor Christophe Dumaux, mezzo-sopranos Paula Murrihy and Beth Taylor, and countertenors John Holiday and Meili Li star in the company’s USA and Europe tour of Handel’s “Giulio Cesare.” Harry Bicket conducts.

Performance Dates: April 27 – May 11, 2025 

The English Concert returns to Garsington Opera to present Handel’s “Rodelinda.” Lucy Crowe takes on the title role. The creative team includes director Ruth Knight, designer Leslie Travers, and conductor Peter Whelan.

Performance Dates: June 13– July 19, 2025

Also at Garsington Opera, The English Concert performs Beethoven’s “Fidelio.” Jamie Manton directs the revival of John Cox’s production, alongside Gary McCann’s stage design. Gérard Korsten conducts.

Performance Dates: June 27– July 22, 2025

The post The English Concert Announces 2025 Spring Season 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.

The concert set for Nov. 11, 2024, at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage in Carnegie Hall will feature soprano Eva Martinez and tenor John Riesen, both making their Carnegie Hall debuts. The concert will also showcase baritone John Brancy.

The performance will feature a rare performance of Orff’s arrangement of “Carmina Burana” for two pianos and percussion, with pianists Amir Farid and Blair McMillen, and the Cathedral Choristers of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

In a statement, Music Director Tritle said, “The sound of the chorus crying out to Lady Fortune, with nearly 190 singers at full voice, will be a thrilling moment! Carmina Burana’s ancient, somewhat forbidden texts explore love, life, and luck – Carl Orff’s magical orchestration for percussion ensemble and two pianos is scintillating. Our soloists for this performance are spectacular, with the remarkable young Eva Martinez and the fabulous John Reisen making their Carnegie Hall debuts. Orff’s masterwork is preceded by gorgeous music of Brahms, Schubert, Libby Larsen, and Oliver Caplan, all sure to please!”

The next performance of the season marks the Oratorio Society of New York’s 150th rendition of Händel’s “Messiah” on Dec. 23, 2024 at Carnegie Hall.

The post Oratorio Society of New York to Open Season with ‘Carmina Burana’ 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.

For the purposes of this article only vocal performances are included.

Soprano Erin Morley will perform at the DiMenna Center Benefit. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham hosts.

Performance Date: September 9, 2024

First up in the Chamber Music Series is “Schubert with Liv Redpath and George Li.” They will present works by Schubert, Strauss, Grieg, and Fauré, with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s chamber ensemble.

Performance Date: October 16, 2024

Soprano Amanda Forsythe serves as soloist in the “50th Anniversary Concert,” featuring the Orchestra of St. Luke’s chamber ensemble and Youth Orchestra.

Performance Date: October 26, 2024

“Spells and Revelations,” presented by baritone John Brancy, includes the world premiere of Matthew’s Aucoin’s “Revelations of Divine Love, Chapter III for baritone and chamber ensemble” and selections from Freya Waley-Cohen’s “Spell Book.”

Performance Date: December 4, 2024

Soprano Ying Fang, baritone Christian Gerhaher, and the Ensemble Altera perform songs and arias by Schubert, Schumann, and Weber. Christopher Lowrey conducts.

Performance Date: January 23, 2025

Up next is Bernstein’s “Kaddish,” featuring soprano Diana Newman, the Bard Festival Chorale, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus. James Conlon conducts.

Performance Date: January 29, 2025

“Rites and Visions” is performed by Eliza Bagg, Catherine Brookman, Kayleigh Butcher, Kirsten Sollek, and Charlotte Mundy.

Performance Date: February 19, 2025

J. S. Bach’s “St. John Passion” stars soprano Joélle Harvey, countertenor Hugh Cutting , tenor Andrew Haji, baritone William Thomas, and bass-baritone  Philippe Sly. Bernard Labadie conducts.

Performance Date: April 10, 2025

Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham gives the New York premiere of Richard Danielpour’s “A Standing Witness.” She is joined by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble and Michael Boriskin at the piano.

Performance Date: April 16, 2025

Soprano Gemma Nha and countertenor Reginald Mobley solo in J.S. Bach’s “Stabat Mater.” Lionel Meunier conducts the Orchestra of St. Luke.

Performance Date: June 3, 2025

The post Erin Morley, Liv Redpath, Reginald Mobley, & John Brancy Lead Orchestra of St. Luke’s 50th Anniversary Season in 2024-25 appeared first on OperaWire.

Adriana Stepien, Scott Rubén La Marca, Philip Stoddard, Katherine M. Carter, and Steven Blier lead NYFOS@North Fork. The concert at Poquatuck Hall will feature music by Strauss, Lehar, Kalman, Weill, Piazzolla, Mauri, Puccini, Kern, Sondheim, Messager, and Sorozabal.

Performance Date: August 25, 2024

Steven Palacio, Blythe Gaissert, Britt Hewitt, and Nathaniel LaNasa lead NYFOS Next Series at the Rubin Museum of Art. The program includes music by Sankaram and White.

Performance Date: Sept. 29, 2024

Robin Steitz, Greg Feldmann, and Nathaniel LaNasa lead NYFOS Next Series at the Rubin Museum of Art. The program includes Songs by Sarah Kirkland Snider, Isabella Gellis, and Joe Rubinstein.

Performance Date: Nov. 3, 2024

“My Brother’s Keeper” will be showcased at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center. The program will include soloists Joshua Blue, Chaz’men Williams-Ali, Justin Austin, Will Liverman, Jorell Williams, Joseph Parrish, and Steven Blier.

Performance Date: Nov. 19, 2024

“A Goyishe Christmas To You!” will feature Favorite Yuletide tunes (performed with a twist) and specialty material by Jewish composers. Soloists include Lauren Worsham, Donna Breitzer, Rebecca Jo Loeb, Alex Mansoori, Cantor Joshua Breitzer, Joshua Jeremiah, Alan R. Kay, and Steven Blier.

Performance Date: Dec. 17, 2024

NYFOS@Juilliard will be performed at Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

Performance Date: Jan. 15, 2025

Nicoletta Berry, Erin Wagner, Daniel McGrew, Samuel Kidd, Steven Blier, and Bénédicte Jourdois lead “Le tour de France” The concert at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center will include songs by Francis Poulenc, Joseph Canteloube, Michel Legrand, Charles Trénet, and others.

Performance Date: Feb. 26, 2025

The Beginner’s Luck: The Artist’s Journey will showcase the young talents of Caramoor’s 2025 Schwab Vocal Rising Stars program performing songs about new beginnings in life, love, and art by Busoni, Strauss, Bernstein, Schubert, and many others. The program will be held at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center.

Performance Date: March 20, 2025

Kara Dugan, John Brancy, Mark Dover, Peter Dugan, and Steven Blier lead Other Worlds: Songs of Fantasy at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center. The program includes songs that explore all that lurks in the depths of the forest, the ocean, and the skies, with music by Schumann, Spohr, Sibelius, and many others.

Performance Date: April 9, 2025

The post New York Festival of Song Announces 2024-25 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

Soprano Eva Martinez makes her Carnegie Hall debut in “Carmina Burana.” She is joined by tenor John Riesen, baritone John Brancy, choristers of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and pianists Amir Farid and Blair McMillen. The concert features works by Orff, Brahms, Oliver Caplan, and Libby Larsen. Kent Tritle conducts.

Performance Date: November 11, 2024 

Up next is Handel’s “Messiah,” with soloists soprano Nola Richardson, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, tenor Joshua Blue, and bass baritone Joseph Parrish. Kent Tritle conducts the Orchestra of the Society.

Performance Date: December 23, 2024

Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s “All Shall Rise” makes it world premiere. Soprano Susanna Phillips, mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford, tenor Jonathan Pierce Rhodes (Carnegie Hall debut), and baritone Steven Eddy serve as soloists. Mendelssohn’s “Lobgesang” is also featured on the concert. Kent Tritle conducts the Orchestra of the Society.

Performance Date: May 5, 2025 

The post Eva Martinez, Lucia Bradford, Joshua Blue, & Joseph Parrish Star in the Oratorio Society of New York’s 2024-25 Season 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.

Fall

Nikola Hillebrand performs alongside Simply Quartet and Musicbanda Franui.

Performance Date: Oct. 4, 2024

Winter

J. S. Bach’s “Das Weihnachtsoratorium” will be conducted by Vinzenz Praxmarer and will star Anna El-Kashem, Stefanie Irányi, Martin Mitterrutzner, and Wilhelm Schwinghammer.

Performance Date: Dec. 8, 2024

Asher Fisch conducts a new production of Puccini’s “La Bohème” with Barbara Lluch. The cast includes Sara Cortolezzis, Raul Gutierrez, Victoria Randem, Tommaso Barea, Liam James Karai, and Jasurbek Khaydarov.

Performance Dates: Dec. 27, 2024-Jan. 5, 2025

Lorenzo Passerini conducts concert performances of Bellini’s “I Puritani” with René Barbera, Marina Monzó, Mattia Olivieri, and Adolfo Corrado.

Performance Dates: Dec. 28, 2024-Jan. 4, 2025

Florian Boesch performs “Die schöne Müllerin.”

Performance Date: Jan. 5, 2025

Michele Spotti conducts the silver konzert with Marina Monzó and René Barbera.

Performance Date: Dec. 31, 2024

Spring 

Asher Fisch conducts a new production of Wagner’s “Parsifal” with Philipp Maria Krenn directing. The production will star Michael Nágy, Falk Struckmann, Brindley Sherratt, Jonas Kaufmann, Georg Nigl, and Irene Roberts.

Performance Dates: April 17 & 20, 2025

Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” will be conducted by Heinz Ferlesch and will star Annett Fritsch, Katrin Wundsam, Paul Schweinester, Daniel Gutmann, Lukas Enoch Lemcke, and Charles Workman.

Performance Dates: April 18, 2025

Summer 

George Benjamin’s “Picture a day like this” will be conducted by Corinna Niemeyer and directed by Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma. The cast will include Hicham Berrada, Xenia Puskarz Thomas, Mari Eriksmoen, Beate Mordal Paul Figuier, and John Brancy.

Performance Dates: July 4 & 6, 2025

Asher Fisch conducts a Wagner gala featuring Act one of “Die Walküre” starring Lise Davidsen, Jonas Kaufmann, and René Pape.

Performance Date: July 5, 2025

Florian Boesch, Christel Loetzsch, and Vera-Lote Böcker star in a double bill of Bartok’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” and Poulenc’s “La voix humaine.” Martin Rajna conducts the production by Claus Guth.

Performance Dates: July 11, 13, & 18, 2025

Asher Fisch conducts concert performances of Verdi’s “La Traviata” with Rosa Feola, Kang Wang, Lucas Meachem, and Luca Salsi.

Performance Dates: July 12 & 27, 2025

Camilla Nylund and Helmut Deutsch perform a Liederband recital.

Performance Date: July 16, 2025

Anita Rachvelishvili and Vicenzo Scalera lead a lieder recital.

Performance Date: July 23, 2025

Asher Fisch conducts concert performances of Verdi’s “Rigoletto” with Ivan Ayon Rivas, Ludovic Tézier, Luca Salsi, Julia Muzychenko-Greenhalgh,  Alexander Köpeczi, and Deniz Uzun.

Performance Date: July 19 & 25, 2025

Asher Fisch conducts Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” in a concert performance. The opera will star Piero Pretti, Mattia Olivieri, Pretty Yende, Elisabeth DeShong, and Alexander Köpeczi.

Performance Date: July 26, 2025

The post Jonas Kaufmann, Lise Davidsen, Pretty Yende, Ludovic Tézier & Luca Salsi Lead Tiroler Festspiele Erl’s 2024-25 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

Metropolitan Opera debuted John Adams’s “El Niño,” with libretto based on original sources by Peter Sellars and John Adams, to a sold out house of past, present, and future opera goers on Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024. “El Niño” is unlike anything John Adams has done before and the historical timing of this debut is uncanny. This is his fourth work to be performed at Met Opera, including “Doctor Atomic” (2008), “Nixon in China” (2011), and “The Death of Klinghoffer” (2014). Met Opera will debut Adams’s newest opera in 2024-25, “Antony and Cleopatra” (2022), also starring Julia Bullock in the titular role of Cleopatra.

“El Niño’s” pulsing themes of birth, life, death and the radical beauty in between, ushers opera as an art form forward to become the dawn of opera’s new era. History was also made on this night because the majority of the cast made their own debuts, including director Lileana Blain-Cruz, conductor Marin Alsop, soprano Julia Bullock, baritone Davóne Tines, countertenors Key’mon W. Murrah and Siman Chung, set designer Adam Rigg, lighting designer Yi Zhao, projection designer Hannah Wasileski, puppet designer James Ortiz and choreographer Marjani Forté-Saunders.

(Photo: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera) 

Music and Libretto Highlights

The libretto is adapted by Peter Sellars and John Adams from poems by Rosario Castellanos, Gabriela Mistral, Hildegard von Bingen, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Rubén Darío, Vicente Huidobro, Martin Luther, and texts from the King James Bible, The Wakefield Mystery Plays and gnostic gospels. This vast spectrum of interpretation creates the body of “El Niño,” resonating a rare fecundity that outweighs efforts of the mind and instead speaks directly to the heart. 

“We are shaken through the music and questioning how we want to be in this world. Looking at the news and the chaos we are experiencing, I think the question at the center of ‘El Niño’ is about who we are as human beings and how we want to move forward. We are capable of such beauty and creativity – we are capable of life. But, we are also capable of utterly horrific acts of destruction, like the slaying of children. If you are watching the news right now, we are living in that moment of creative acts of generosity and also people being capable of doing the most devastating things to the most innocent. When I think about why I want to come to the theater and why I want to come to opera, it’s because I want to reckon with that. Both John Adams and Peter Sellars ask us to feel this in our bones. This is why it’s time for ‘El Niño’ right now,” said Lileana Blain-Cruz.

The opera begins with “I Sing of a Maiden.” Its multi-layered musical perspective includes two guitars, samplers, keyboards and orchestra. This nuanced atmosphere stirs and awakens into the story of the Nativity with Mary and Joseph. Conductor Marin Alsop masterfully maintained a permeating sense of wonder, making it easy for anyone to pick up on what was happening and why the libretto includes multiple perspectives. 

The music tells the story of the Nativity and motherhood, however it is unlimited in its reasoning with humanity and the complexities of storytelling. “El Niño’s” level of inclusivity binds one’s emotions and infinite range of articulation into a musical web of transcendence that tells the story of all that is and what is to come. 

“‘El Niño’ is a multi-dimensional experience. There’s a lot of listening that’s required. It’s a very intense piece. Musically there’s a lot of subtle beauty that’s built out of atmosphere, different moods and colors. The orchestra is incredible. There are two guitars in the center of everything, two samplers, and keyboards. It’s a very ethnic orchestration, more folk music in this way. There’s also a huge orchestra backing it up, so it goes back and forth,” said conductor Marin Alsop. 

The Met Opera Chorus sounded rich and grounded in their polyphonic layers. “I Sing of a Maiden” illuminates Adams’s thoughtful design of layering voices as a tapestry in response to the orchestra’s textures and colors. Already there was a profound artistic aesthetic that without the immaculate set design and lighting, which will be highlighted later in this review, one could not tear their eyes and ears away from the music’s development. 

Conductor Marin Alsop generated a supportive energy of delight while she conducted. There was a palpable lightness in her direction and grace in her mobility, navigating through the growing climax that loomed and blossomed at the end of this opening. An uneasiness took hold and from this point everything came to life.

“Hail Mary, Gracious!” features the voice of Gabriel as the three countertenors Key’mon W Murrah, Siman Chung, and Eric Jurenas. Together their voices intertwined and naturally gave way to the miraculous announcement being shared with Mary, the news of her immaculate conception. “Hail Mary, Gracious!” might be one of the most critical moments in this opera due to the realization of Adams’s composition for three countertenors as a miracle in itself. Listening to these gentle timbres of immeasurable empathy was undeniably inspirational. Murrah, Chung, and Jurenas became a unified presence for all voices to be heard. There were chills of excitement undulating in response to witnessing this live performance, knowing that moments like this are hard to even describe in words. Life changing!

Soprano Julia Bullock’s voice blossomed as she described the story of her discovery in “Hail Mary, Gracious!” Her soprano radiated clarity and lush fertility. There was also a brightness of conscious reflection all throughout her performance. It was as though Bullock’s life force became greater than the whole of the production, drawing upon the score being kept by the body. She was a resonating channel for all.

(Photo: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera)

Interpreting the Body

“‘El Niño’ is a very different work for John Adams. All of his works are thought-provoking. You are changed when you leave the theater after experiencing one of his works. This is what great art is to me. ‘El Niño’ is a piece that has so many different levels, as we all come to it with our own pre-judgement. We all have an idea of what the Christmas story is about – a complex baggage that we bring because each of us, based on what religion you were brought up with and traditions, you have all these things that are coming to the show already. This is a look at the story of the birth of Jesus in a way that’s really unexpected. It’s not simple. The text that is chosen, the Spanish text, is not what you’d think to put in. They have tentacles that go in all different directions. They force you to think about all kinds of different things,” said conductor Marin Alsop.

Mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges as the second Mary makes “El Niño” a plural story about all Marys throughout time. Bridges’s voice revealed the intricateness of Adams’s and Sellars’s ultimate dream, illuminating the role of Mary as universal and accessible in “La Annunciacion.” This is a poem by the Mexican poet Rosario Castellanos. She was a novelist and Mexico’s ambassador to Israel, where she tragically died in a household electrical accident. Castellanos words are haunting and ethereal as “La Annunciacion” recognizes the elusive acts of violence made possible in the darkness by men, and the unobtainable justice of all that is. Castellanos is a female voice in mothering response to the moments that make up life and its most challenging traumas, and J’Nai Bridges is an ideal interpreter. Words cannot articulate how otherworldly experiencing Bridges sing “La Annunciacion” really was. I was also reminded of Bridges’s debut performance at the Met as Nefertiti in Philip Glass’s “Akhnaten.” She is a powerful woman of profound wisdom, gratitude and awareness for how art makes changes in the heart’s of men, lighting fires in the guts of many. J’Nai Bridges is an absolute revelation in her craft and construct.

Director Lileana Blain-Cruz’s dedication to building her production around interpreting the body is what makes “El Niño” timeless and so very urgent as an art form to evolve what opera has been, is, and will be to come. Her intelligently founded team of creatives took this production to the new heights that Met Opera dreams about. Set designer Adam Rigg, costume designer Montana Levi Blanco, lighting designer Yi Zhao, projection designer Hannah Wasileski, sound designer Mark Grey, puppet designer James Ortiz, and choreographer Marjani Forté-Saunders drew inspirations from Afro-Caribbean paintings with a two-dimensional pop of color, vibrancy and density. There was also a Baroque two-dimensional staging mixed with Afro-Caribbean painting influences that made “El Niño” feel romantic and very intimate for such a large stage as the Met. Part one features a lush landscape of tropical beauty, imagining what the Divine might look like was the driving inspiration for this setting. 

The moment when the scene transitioned into “Shake the Heavens,” starring baritone Davóne Tines as Joseph, was extraordinary! Tines’ voice radicalized the foreboding revelations of violence and destruction when in the face of god’s wrath. Despite the direct lines of symbolism meant to portray spirituality as obviously “transcendent,” this production did the opposite of reducing “god’s call” by turning it inside out and maximizing the hell out of it! 

“Shake the Heavens” shocked the Met into a higher vibrational field. Everyone in the audience gasped in thrilling witness. Davóne Tines’ baritone exploded in its range of coverage and conviction. And, as Lileana Blain-Cruz says best, “opera is evolving!!!”

Herod and the Slaughter of the Innocents

In Part two of “El Niño” the libretto pulls from the 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre that took place in Mexico, when a student demonstration ended in a storm of bullets in La Plaza de las Tres Culturas at Tlatelolco, Mexico City. Rosario Castellano’s poem “Memorial de Tlatelolco” is where Part two climaxes, however the lead up to this point must be described first. 

“Pues mi Dios ha nacido a penar” (Because my Lord was born to suffer), a text by the 17th-century Mexican poet Sor Juana is the opening of Part two that foretells the suffering ahead. Already there is a deepening fault line of immeasurable power plays at work and the creation of “El Niño’s” Herod, performed by baritone Davóne Tines, must be unleashed.

Tines as Herod took this entire production beyond what was expected in every way possible. What I mean by this is he stepped out of his role as an opera performer and took on the body of Herod as a compulsive force of darkness and destruction. His face was painted in a ghastly silvery grey and his costume was overloaded with heavy gold medals depicting his ruling iron hand. To say that Herod represents any one person in history would be an absolute waste of describing just how complex and universal Adams’s and Sellars’s libretto actually is in the context of historical references. Here is a man of impending doom, leading his followers to their ultimate death. And Tines was very effective in this role. It was excruciating to watch his energy amass into something so inherently wicked and perverse. One might never forget him hastily downing his glass of champagne as he snorted back a thick line of cocaine. He was ready for his kills, lining up his next big cause.

Herod took the floor out from under the gentleness of Tines as Joseph and some might say this was the turning point of his career. Davóne Tines is an absolute force to be reckoned with! His star is blazing on the rise.

The final Castellanos poem, “Una palmera” (A Palm Tree), set for children’s chorus, conducted by Young People’s Chorus Senior Associate Conductor Emma Sway, and guitars weaves emotional discord into harmony through the naïveté and hope of young voices. The Young People’s Chorus of NYC, founded by Francisco J. Núñez, was the perfect ensemble to sing this concluding moment. Núñez is a major component in developing young voices and inspiring communities through collaborative works and performances here in NYC. This dedication to every young voice made this last song very emotional for me. As I watched the curtain screen gently lower, and the fog machine billow forth its final blow, there was nothing I wanted to separate me from the purity and gentleness of the children’s voices. The “poetry” of this life and the poet as a child.

John Adams’s “El Niño” is changing the course of what opera can and will do for our world, one voice at a time.

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