It’s about the holidays so this week there is a new Christmas album as well as a final recording by one of the great mezzos of her time, a re-release of a classic recording, a new recording of Massenet’s work, and many baroque works with great casts.

Crimson Roses: Contemporary American Choral Music

Naxos releases Musica Viva NY’s latest album. Conducted by Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, the album features a compilation of contemporary American choral music by Joseph Turrin, Richard Einhorn, and Gilda Lyons.

The album also features mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, in her final recording and soloist Erinn Sensenig.

Hasse: Serpentes ignei in deserto

Six virtuoso vocal soloists and the instrumentalists of Les Accents perform in “Serpentes ignei in deserto.”

The recording by Erato features Philippe Jaroussky alongside Julia Lezhneva, Bruno de Sá, Jakub Józef Orliński, Carlo Vistoli, and David Hansen.

inVISIBILI

Baroque orchestra Vespres d’Arnadí releases a new album on Musièpoca. The album features countertenor Xavier Sabata and pays tribute to composers who were forgotten or lived in the shadow of more renowned contemporary figures such as Bononcini, Porta, Sarro, Porsile, and Lotti. Dani Espasa conducts the album.

All is Bright

Living Opera releases “All Is Bright,” a new Christmas album featuring internationally acclaimed soprano Soula Parassidis and tenor Norman Reinhardt. Accompanied by the Benevento Orchestra under the baton of conductor Davide Levi and executive producer Dr. Christos A. Makridis, the album brings together timeless holiday favorites.

The album was recorded in Benevento, Italy.

Puccini: Madama Butterfly

Opus Arte releases the Royal Opera’s production of “Madama Butterfly” featuring Asmik Grigorian, Joshua Guerrero, Ya-Chung Huang, Hongni Wu, and Lauri Vasar. Kevin John Edusei conducts Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s production.

Ferruccio Busoni: Doktor Faust

Naxos releases Buosini’s opera featuring Olga Bezsmertna, Daniel Brenna, Joseph Dahdah, Dietrich Henschel, and Wilhelm Schwinghammer. Cornelius Meister conducts the recording which was made from the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Massenet: Hérodiade

Naxos releases a recording of Massenet’s rarely performed work from the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Nicole Car stars alongside  Clémentine Margaine, Matthew Polenzani, and Etienne Dupuis. Enrique Mazzola conducts the star-studded cast.

Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlo

Verdi’s masterpiece is re-released from a recording made in 1970 by the Wiener Staatsoper. Nicolai Ghiaurov, Franco Corelli, Eberhard Waechter, Gundula Janowitz, Shirley Verrett, Edita Gruberova, Ewald Aichberger, Martti Talvela, Tugomir Franc, and Judith Blegen star in the work alongside Horst Stein conducting.

The recording is famous Herbert von Karajan did not conduct the new production himself and entrusted it to German conductor Horst Stein. Though Stein was a local favorite, on this occasion he was greeted at the curtain call with boos, completely unrelated to his artistic performance.

The post Frederica Von Stade, Philippe Jaroussky, Franco Corelli, Asmik Grigorian & Nicole Car Lead Cyber Monday New CD/DVD Releases appeared first on OperaWire.

The company said that Angelo Villari will sing the role of Don Alvaro replacing Brian Jagde, who must rest due to severe back pain as a result of an injury.

The company also noted that Amartuvshin Enkhbat will sing the role of Don Carlos Di Vargas, replacing Artur Ruciński.

Villari has performed at the Puccini Festival, Festival Verdi in Parma, the Teatro Regio di Torino, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Teatro di Reggia Emilia. Meanwhile, Enkhbat has been performing the role of Don Carlos in the second cast of “La Forza del Destino.”

The two singers will join a cast that includes Anna Pirozzi, Caterina Piva, John Relyea, and Pietro Spagnoli. Nicola Luisotti conducts the production by Jean-Claude Auvray.

The post Gran Teatre del Liceu Announces Cast Changes for ‘La Forza del Destino’ appeared first on OperaWire.

In a statement General Director Christopher Milligan said, “We’re thrilled to invite audiences to experience our 2025 Summer Festival, a season that reflects our commitment to both tradition and exploration. We aspire to offer accessible points of entry to enjoy opera, and we hope that productions like Fiddler on the Roof alongside classics like Rigoletto and Tosca, plus our Studio Sessions series, will open the doors of Music Hall to all who are curious about exploring this inspiring art form.”

The season opens with Verdi’s “Rigoletto” starring Michael Chioldi in the title role, Kathryn Lewek as Gilda, Zach Borichevsky as the Duke,  and Morris Robinson as Sparafucile. Tomer Zvulun directs the new production with John Fiore conducting.

Performance Dates: June 12 & 14, 2025

The season will feature Puccini’s “Tosca” with Karah Son in the title role alongside Matthew White as Cavaradossi and Anthony Clark Evans as Scarpia. Cincinnati Opera will revive its production of Jose Maria Condemi. Conductor Clelia Cafiero makes her U.S. debut leading the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and Henri Venanzi directs the Cincinnati Opera Chorus.

Performance Dates: June 26 & 28, 2025

The acclaimed musical “Fiddler on the Roof” closes out the season with a cast that includes Max Hopp as Tevye, Victoria Livengood as Golde, Rachel Kobernick, Rachel Blaustein, Jennifer Zetlan, Janice Mayerson, Simon Barrad, and Sarah Folsom.

Cincinnati Opera’s new production will be directed by Crystal Manich while Levi Hammer will conduct the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and Henri Venanzi will lead the Cincinnati Opera Chorus.

Performance Dates: July 23-27, 2025

The season will also include Studio Sessions Music Hall’s Wilks Studio, each offering an artist-curated, up-close, and personal performance experience.

Performance Dates: June 17-July 17, 2025

The post Karah Son, Michael Chioldi, Kathryn Lewek & Matthew White Lead Cincinnati Opera’s 2025 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

This article only features vocal works.

Sopranos Emőke Baráth and Lauranne Oliva, countertenor Tim Mead, tenor Robin Tritschler, and baritone Benjamin Appl are soloists in Handel’s “Messiah.” They are joined by The Spiritual Concert orchestra and choir and directed by Hervé Niquet.

Performance Dates: December 11, 2024

Mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre sings Sapho, Iphise and Eglé in Rameau’s “Les Fêtes d’Hébé” at the Opéra Comique. She is accompanied by Thomas Dunford on the lute.

Performance Dates: December 13 – 21, 2024

Lea Desandre performs at the Philharmonie de Paris for the 80th-anniversary concert of William Christie.

Performance Date: December 14, 2024

Soprano Lauranne Oliva and mezzo- soprano Eva Zaïcik present Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater.” Vincent Dumestre conducts.

Performance Dates: January 18, 2025

Florian Sempey takes on the title role in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” Also among the cast are Ana Maria Labin, Léo Vermot-Desroches, Marion Lebègue, Edwin Fardini, Catherine Trottmann, and Louis Morvan. Alexis Kossenko conducts the Ambassadors and The Great Stables orchestra and choir.

Performance Dates: January 20, 2025

Lea Desandre participates in the Gala concert for the 150th anniversary of the Palais Garnier.

Performance Dates: January 24, 2025

Soprano Pretty Yende performs the title role in Handel’s “Semele” in a new production directed by Oliver Mears at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

Performance Dates: February 6 – 15, 2025

Pretty Yende returns to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées alongside the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, under the direction of Pablo Mielgo, for a recital dedicated to the great arias of the musical comedy.

Performance Dates: June 8, 2025

The post Pretty Yende & Lea Desandre Headline Acte 4’s 2024-25 Season appeared first on OperaWire.

The Gran Teatre del Liceu has announced a cast change for its production of Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino.”

The company said, “Mezzo-soprano Caterina Piva will sing the role of Preziosilla in ‘La Forza del Destino,’ replacing Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, who has reached an agreement with the Liceu to leave the production.”

Piva will sing the performances on Nov. 9, 12, 15, and 18, 2024. The mezzo has performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Salzburg Festival, Royal Opera House in Muscat, Teatro di San Carlo, Festival Verdi di Parma, and Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova.

Piva joins a cast that includes Alejandro López, Maria Agresta, Artur Ruciński, Brian Jagde, John Relya, Gabriele Viviani, and Moisés Marín. “La Forza del Destino” opens on Nov. 9 and will run through Nov. 19, 2024 with a second cast headlined by Saioa Hernández and Francesco Pio Galasso.

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Few operas have so inextricably been linked with the name of Maria Callas as “Norma.” The first perhaps in a line of 20th century Neoclassicists, she dusted off every inch of (pseudo-)Romantic mannerism and histrionics, restituting to the playbills an uncompromisingly sympathetic interpretation of tragic grandeur, as if sprung from the pen of Jean Racine himself.

Callas’s following has been eclectic, for the most part, though Bel canto specialists like Joan Sutherland have memorably impersonated the Druid priestess. Most recently, the Latvian Marina Rebeka has laid claim to the role, incl. at the Met’s 2017 run of the Bellinian favorite. For Prima Classic, she turns the notoriously formidable score into a triumphant vision of forward thrust and vocal incandescence.

Supremely Norma

Let us be clear: Rebeka’s Norma is quite simply glorious. In exceptional voice, she sails through the part’s innumerable pitfalls with near unmatched intensity, making her character less of an introspective heroine than the dramatic precursor to Verdian protagonists the likes of Odabella, and possibly even Abigaille.

Editorial changes, though minor, reinforce the impression of Rebeka’s forward impetus. For instance, “Casta Diva” is sung in G major instead of the customary F major (as Roger Parker, in the booklet, ever so eloquently explains). This adaptation is a concession of sorts, as Rebeka’s vocal phenotype thrives on the part’s many jumps into the sonic stratosphere; but it does not naturally lend itself to the trenchant coloraturas of virtuoso performers.

The shading, consequently, is not nearly as sophisticated as Callas’s, and her preghiera’s appeal mainly derives from the sculptural elegance of her line rather than the prismatic colors of the syllables taken individually. Still, dynamic variations are subtly transitioned, and the caressingly sustained diminuendo in the cadenza’s repetition is nothing short of a godsent!

The timbre is flamboyantly lavish, and much more idiosyncratic than just a few years ago when, in Prima Classic’s recording of “La Traviata,” her positively unbridled temper would routinely manifest through a somewhat wobbly pitch. In “Norma,” by comparison, everything falls into place quite naturally. The vertiginous high notes are floated when needed (“Casta diva”), or abruptly attacked in the tercet of “Vanne, si, mi lascia, indegno.”

Dramatic Momentum

Rebeka is equally imposing in the duets. In tenor Luciano Ganci she finds a stentorian Pollione, brimmed with the excitement of a larger-than-life persona. He is indebted to a slightly epigonal fascination with del Monaco whose clarion sound puts at risk the elaboration of interpretive nuance.

More sophisticated perhaps, and akin to the example of Christa Ludwig (who never sang the part of Adalgisa!) Karine Deshayes provides a delightful counterpart to Rebeka’s enthralling priestess. She keeps a dramatic edge even at her most vulnerable (“Mira, o Norma”), while her magnetic timbre never fails to blend with the steely clarity of the remaining cast.

It falls in line with conductor John Fiore’s decidedly ingenuous verve. Fiore builds narrative momentum without having to compromise on either melody or chromatic lyricism. At worst, it feels like a slightly anticipated excursion into Verdian soundscapes (especially of the middle period); otherwise, it serves as the congenial baseline to Rebeka’s exceptionally voiced Norma, domineering, and transcending every component part of Prima Classic’s new release.

The post CD Review: Prima Classic’s ‘Norma’ appeared first on OperaWire.

Central City Opera (CCO) resurges in 2023-24, the institution entering the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, installing Alison Moritz as Artistic Director and bouncing back from a turbulent 2023 marked by labor strife, now buoyed by the new leadership of CEO Scott Finlay. With a reinforced endowment, CCO’s ambitious 2024 summer festival season programmed Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance,” and Kurt Weill’s “Street Scene,” a work with an enormous cast. Nearly as large a human resources lift, Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West” requires eighteen credited singers, all male but the titular heroine and her house lady Wowkle. The fifth oldest extant American opera company, Central City manages to draw internationally-known singers, easily filling with audience its opera house, an intimate architectural treasure built in 1878.

Other than Douglas Moore’s “The Ballad of Baby Doe,” set in Colorado, and premiered here in 1956, no more appropriate an opera for CCO to produce than “Fanciulla” occupies the standard repertory. Central City, Colorado, though petite, presents as Puccini’s mining camp, grown up. Approaching the opera house from a municipal parking lot, walking three blocks, entering the auditorium, and greeting Act one’s set, the Polka saloon, feels like a far shorter trip than, say, encountering Giancarlo Del Monaco’s massive production, accessed via midcentury’s fountained plaza and red velvet womb at the Metropolitan Opera—just one more nineteenth century setting among many there. Bars equipped with digital gambling machines supply Central City’s main commercial activity; “Fanciulla” stars the only American woman who tends bar in a repertory opera, surrounded by tipplers who gamble their scant earnings from mining for gold. Any house willing to meet the daunting challenge of mounting “Fanciulla” qualifies as a great place to see it, but who can name a better venue for Puccini’s Italian Western than Central City?

Alla Polka si beve l’whisky schietto

“Fanciulla” unfolds with propulsive dramatic momentum far exceeding that of “Madama Butterfly” and rivaling “Tosca.” Unlike the slow-ish first act of “Manon Lescaut,” and maybe even some of the boys’ early horsing around in “La Bohème,” Puccini’s genius for rendering atmospheric slices of life has fully matured in “Fanciulla” and advances the drama unerringly. Few other operas make as many dramatic points reaching them as swiftly; Verdi’s “Rigoletto” might be the exemplar on that count. Every micro-scene, all of them smoothly through-composed, sets up something else later in the opera. For example, Sid’s exile from the gambling table for cheating at cards, as Rance effectively saves his life, prefigures and complicates Minnie’s dishonest but necessary triumph over Rance at Cantredraw in Act two, and, it also gives us an early example of the sort of de-escalation the heroine enacts in the denouement. And Rance, the baritone antagonist, though also a grabby officer of the law, presents the audience with dramatic nuance lost on Baron Scarpia in “Tosca” and he manages not to be a complete rat bastard, unlike the Roman chief of police. Too, instead of forming a dozen-headed ensemble, Puccini individuates the miners brilliantly despite allotting tiny amounts of time to each, often with snappy dialogue. Today’s opera producers have found ways to fix the libretto’s sole weakness, a brief but cringy portrayal of the Native couple, Billy Jackrabbit and Wowkle. That said, “Fanciulla” offers something truly remarkable for a 1910 opera about American characters from 1849: the protagonists are an interracial couple, portrayed positively.

Best of all, unlike every other canonical, noncomic Puccini opera, “Fanciulla” refrains from sacrificing the heroine on an artistic altar before us. It also marks a shift to even richer, denser orchestration than we find in Puccini’s earlier hits, and to adventurous tonality, without overeliance on pentatonic like we hear in “Turandot,”—that opera, despite its virtues, a dramatic cul-de-sac into which Puccini painted himself well prior to his final illness. While we associate complicated use of leitmotif in opera foremost with Wagner, Puccini frequently achieves as much or more with greater motivic economy, as with the redemption theme in “Fanciulla,” growing by degrees from Minnie’s Bible lesson. “Fanciulla” works as opera and it works as film music, only the film takes place in live stage action.

For many of the above reasons, similarly to Wagner’s “Parsifal,” and Verdi’s “Don Carlo,” “Fanciulla” has enjoyed a tendency to attract particularly sincere commitment from the companies attempting it. Though perhaps lucky, I haven’t seen a bad performance of this opera. In 2020, even an outfit as small as Winter Opera Saint Louis—that town’s third company, on a shoestring budget with an orchestra pit housing just 26 instrumentalists—gave a pretty good “Fanciulla” led by Karen Kanakis as Minnie. Though aspects of Central City’s performance this week (31 July 2024) could have been stronger, they rose to the occasion overall, giving a compelling reading of Puccini’s difficult score.

Che terra maledetta, quest’occidente d’oro

Fenlon Lamb’s production played “Fanciulla” straight as a flagpole. No problem there—this opera qualifies as its own staging concept, in a way, and loses little by way of a highly representational realization. Please do something new with “Carmen,” or “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” but “Fanciulla” can take care of itself. Supertitles have become an integral part of staging, and Brett Finlay took a consistently figurative tack some distance from Italian. Despite CCO’s minuscule backstage space, Jefferson Ridenour’s sets furnished the staging with sufficient detail. Act one’s Polka Saloon implied a back room via a stage left doorway opposite the bar, vertically encircled by a stairwell purposed for platforming Minnie’s hypertheatrical entrance, breaking up the miners’ scuffle with a warning shot in the air. A sign reading “a real home for boys” topped the bar. Her Act two cabin, the usual table, fireplace, bed, and loft, included an item frequently omitted, the bearskin rug she sleeps on, complete with the bear’s head. Unlike the Met’s famous Act three set, which looks like half a town imported whole from Guadix, CCO’s production returned to the forest clearing specified in the libretto, about sixteen tree trunks centerstage with scarcely a gallows stage right, more of a tall wooden accordion fence topped by a wooden hook, slightly past the fourth wall.

Lighting design by Abigail Hoke-Brady, which may have included the uncredited projections, formed the most effective element of the staging. Act one’s love duet took place under a starry night sky inside the saloon. Many companies delay the winter storm until Wowkle references it in the text, but snowy projections backgrounded all of Act two. And simply but elegantly, the romantic dyad in Act one’s duet and Minnie and Rance’s poker game in Act two took well-calibrated spotlights that alluded to the performance of those moments. Sepia-toned photographs of people in the old West, some Native, followed the opening curtain during the short prelude. Best of all, the projections threw onto Minnie’s cabin walls her and Rance’s poker hands, as if we were watching televised pocket cards in Texas Hold’em on ESPN, less ostentatiously than that sounds in print.

Costumes by Susan Allred borrowed from Utah Opera outfitted Jonathan Burton’s Johnson in a double-breasted tan suit early and a bloodstained white shirt for Act three, a là Tosca’s tortured Cavaradossi. Grant Youngblood’s Sheriff Rance received the usual black three-piece suit. Kara Shay Thomson’s Minnie wore a simple burgundy blouse and dark green skirt, until her slumber party in Act two with Johnson, and then a crimson house robe. The miners looked like miners in a Western movie. Though unadventurous, this staging provided some interesting twists. An armed Sonora stood down and disarmed Sheriff Rance during the climactic concertato, sidelining him. Indeed, Rance faced more guns than he pointed. Minnie pulled her pistol on him during their first act duet warning him away. And Sonora refused to place the noose about Johnson’s neck, leaving him to do it himself, which Ashby later reversed during the forgiveness concerto.

Benvenuto fra noi, Johnson di Sacramento

Most impressive of the principals was tenor Jonathan Burton, as the reforming bandit, Dick Johnson/Ramerrez. Not often do we encounter a performance of an opera requiring a tenor of lirico-spinto or dramatic fach, and the tenor sings best. His recent outings cluster on the spinto side, including a slate of the usual suspects in more-performed Puccini operas, and he delivers a baritonal heft. He entered with a sunny swagger, unperturbed when Rance refused his handshake. After a slight vocal warm-up before us, he let Minnie come to him rather than pressing her in the first love duet—interesting, because Minnie’s unverbalized desire to escape the way her male compatriots have boxed her in frequently seems realized in projections of her desires onto Johnson. (“I can’t read my heart like you can”). You understood his appeal to Minnie in “Quello che tacete,” when Burton shot the A♭ in “una gioia strana” through the firmament of the projected stars in the saloon. They embraced before he proposed the date in her cabin—which she told him and the audience is “closer to God” than the saloon. At the cabin his request for “un bacio, un bacio almen” came with Wagnerian power—indeed, a bevy of secure high notes throughout the second act. Beginning “Or son sei mesi” with his back to her, ashamed, Burton really threw himself into “la mia vergogna,” without having to push vocally. The baritonal weight returned in Act three for “Ch’ella mi creda,” one of the few passages in “Fanciulla” that acts like an aria. With such sincerity speaking of Minnie, “per lei,” Burton gave the aria with a prayerful tone—it is in fact a prayer—to the other men. He built the dynamic contrast from piano with the first “mio solo fiore” and constructed a huge build to the high B♭. After initially participating in roughing him up, the other men less Rance had already boarded the forgiveness train, recoiling when the sheriff kept punching him. “Fanciulla” requires a solid tenor, and Burton met the challenge.

Che c’è di nuovo, Jack?

A CCO veteran of more than two decades, and deeply experienced in Puccini, baritone Grant Youngblood made for an interesting Jack Rance. “Fanciulla” shares some odd parallels with “Tosca,” and some of the same men who portray Scarpia, later get a chance to essay the menacing but less-dastardly western Sheriff. Youngblood instead played Rance as gentlemanly for most of the opera, somewhat wearied by it all, and even a little whiny at Minnie’s romantic rejection. He displayed no rage and little grabbiness towards her until the brink of Act two’s poker game, making this shift more impactful than when the baritone takes a handsier path to the soprano throughout. Puccini excelled at setting up dramatic situations where one character must listen to another. Youngblood’s Rance afforded Minnie some active listening as she outlined her philosophy of love in “Laggiu nel Soledad.” His own aria prior, “Minnie, dalla mia casa son partito” emerged with sorrow and a confessional air, rather than the scattershot masculine nonchalance you’ll sometimes see in this role. Stronger low than high vocally but with a refined sound, Youngblood gave the impression he was more lovestruck by Minnie than lustful for her, at least in Act one. This reinforced the dynamic not only between Rance and Minnie’s new boo Johnson, but between the latter and the whole mining camp, Sherriff included: in their eyes, Johnson’s capital offense isn’t stealing gold, but her.

Tre assi e un paio!

Youngblood and soprano Kara Shay Thomson as Minnie played the buildup to and execution of their climactic Act two showdown skillfully. I cannot name a greater scene in Puccini for dramatic punch, not even the Riddle Scene in “Turandot,” and the poker game affords its participants all sorts of options. After Johnson’s syncope but before the cards were dealt, Youngblood conjured a Sherrill Milnes-ish bluster, finally grabbed her, and then stood down when she again produced her pistol from her bra, retorting with that line about how he knows how to lose like a gentleman (“So perdere come un signore”). Over the propulsive pizzicato of Andrew Bisantz’s orchestra, he shed his overcoat as the quicklime-colored spotlight hit Minnie’s dinner table. She refused to cut the deck and they stared each other down while he dealt. For the last hand, Rance distracted, she withdrew the cheat cards from her garments with measured haste. Upon winning, Thomson smacked a caesura into her golden punchline, “tre assi…e un paio,” and then as Youngblood departed with a curt “buona notte,” she threw the whole deck into the air, the cards snowing down in reflection of the storm outside the cabin. She broke down crying after her Wagnerian shriek to end the act. For drama, Chris Moneymaker and Sam Farha at the 2003 World Series of Poker had absolutely nothing on Minnie’s full house.

Poni dentro al mio petto un puro cuore

Puccini’s heroine stands as one of the greatest achievements in opera and one of the most difficult to perform. When Johnson tells her she has the face of an angel, he’s not dispensing a pick-up line; Puccini and the librettists trust us to take the statement quite literally. She is a messenger (angel) of the staggering power of redemptive love. After her anticipation-generating late arrival in Act one, she stays onstage nearly the entire opera. And of the singing, Neil Kurtzman asserted that “Minnie is more than half way along the road from Tosca to Turandot.” She has to rise over and over above a full-throated orchestra, although the size of CCO’s pit reduces the total instruments you might hear in cavernous spaces like Chicago’s Civic Opera House or San Francisco’s War Memorial. While not quite Turandot or Isolde, the soprano singing Minnie needs big lungs, comfort in a broad tessitura, and dramatic nous.

Kara Shay Thomson succeeded dramatically most of the time, but vocally only in spots. Passaggio problems pestered her all afternoon. Her best moments took place piano, when she lightened her sound with a sort of cherry pie timbre for the Bible lesson, during which, amusingly, Rance and Ashby entered the auditorium to smoke e-cigs. Most high notes she approached from below, scooping, although some impressive exceptions such as the high C in “Laggiù nel Soledad” disrupted the pattern. She delivered “sono una povera Fanciulla, oscura e buona a nulla” pianissimo to lovely effect. But the difficulties with dynamic transitions took hold again in Act two, and her support dropped out with Minnie’s first expression of anger, “vieni fuori,” castigating Johnson about his identity subterfuge. She generally carried the final ensemble well, including the B♭ in “ora quest’uomo è mio come di Dio.” Dramatically, Minnie can go different ways; Thomson leaned into momish rather than sisterly affect towards the miners, drawing a greater contrast in her interactions with Johnson, where she stayed in countryfied ingenue territory. She ended with a weepy timbre as she gave up her gun, having won Johnson from his would-be executioners, and she and Burton departed by way of the house aisles.

Le tuo parole sono di Dio

Sonora, baritone Matthew Cossack, won his big moment, speaking for the group as he told her that God spoke through her. Most impressive among the supporting male cast though, was bass Christopher Job’s Ashby, the Wells Fargo agent, warmed the hall with a gorgeous black walnut timbre and dramatic gravitas. Given Minnie’s exogamous orientation, one wondered if Ashby might have made a suitable mate before the bandit showed up pretending to be from capital city. Look for Job at the Met—he appeared in everything in 2023-24, “Forza,” “Ballo,” “Dead Man Walking,” and some Puccini.

An apprentice artist, tenor Nicholas Lin, ably played the bartender Nick, as a jump-in. The rest of the miners, too numerous to mention individually, formed an affable ensemble, and really shone as a group in the climactic third act. They also surrounded Minnie antiphonally, from the house, at the end of the first act, humming. Mezzo-soprano Natacha Cóndor, also an apprentice artist, brought a pleasant sound to Wowkle, the only other female role besides the beloved bartender. Baritone David Drettwan might be served by waiting to sing a role runwayed as stagily as the balladeer, Jake Wallace; no doubt he’ll grow as a singer, but casting a principal artist rather than a YA in that role makes more sense. There are bit roles, and then there are some of Puccini’s bit roles, and “il cantastorie del campo” is the latter.

Maestro Bisantz’s orchestra took a brisk pace, probably the fastest “Fanciulla” I’ve heard, underlining the dramatic pace of the opera. The brief prelude—Puccini skipped those in “La Bohème,” “Tosca,” and “Turandot”—set up the motivic material and crackled, probably faster than the ♩ = 160 come scritto. Among standouts in the orchestra, Kathryn Harms played beautifully in this harp-iest of operas, especially the backbeat in Wallace’s “Che faranno i vecchi miei”. The ‘celli, led by principal Jon Lewis, and indeed all the low strings impressed consistently, especially when, with the love theme, the ‘celli backed Minnie’s proclamation of “io stessa” as the reading teacher. And timpanist Michael Tetreault blew the small hall’s doors off when required in Act two’s many filmic outbursts.

Addio, mio dolce terra!

Though our heroine might have been better suited vocally to the role, all participants contributed to a meaningful performance of Puccini’s masterpiece. Central City Opera seems to have bounced back from a period of turmoil in the early 2020s. The company demonstrates its worthiness as an operatic travel destination, from further afield than Denver. Whatever they perform next season, it cannot be quite as perfect a marriage of repertory and setting as “Fanciulla” and Central City, but you’ll surely encounter a performance worthy of your journey.

The post Central City Opera 2024 Review: La Fanciulla del West appeared first on OperaWire.

The recording, set to be released on Oct. 4, 2024, will also star Karine Deshayes, Luciano Ganci, and Marko Mimica.

John Fiore conducts the Teatro Real de Madrid Orchestra and Chorus. Meanwhile, the recording is executive produced by Edgardo Vertanessian and Rebeka.

The soprano took to social media and said “Big news! Finally, our NORMA is ready to go out to the world!”

This is the latest complete recording from Prima Classic starring Rebeka. The record label has previously released recordings of “La Traviata” and “Il Pirata.”

Rebeka is well-known for her Norma having performed the opera at the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Gran Teatre del Liceu, and Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, among others. OperaWire has praised her interpretation noting, “Marina Rebeka Makes Powerful Impression.”

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Nearly 300 vocalists with an average age of 28, from 49 countries on five continents applied for the 2024 installment. The 86 singers who have already passed the first selections will gather July 23 to 28 in Portofino and Camogli for further competition. Ten finalists will move onto the final round, when the competition turns into a gala and a popular cultured entertainment for the many tourists in the Gulf of Tigullio. The top three singers will receive cash prizes of €10,000, € 5,000, and €2,500, respectively. Additional cash prizes will also be given for a singer under the age of 25, an audience award, and more.

The jury is chaired by Dominique Meyer, superintendent of the Teatro alla Scala. He is joined by Claudio Orazi, superintendent of the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova; Gianni Tangucci, artistic coordinator of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Peter de Caluwe, general and artistic director of La Monnaie in Brussels; Jonathan Fried, casting manager at the Metropolitan in New York; Carolin Wielpütz, director of artistic planning at MusikTheater an der Wien; Cristiano Sandri, director Teatro Regio di Torino; and the first-time judge Eline de Kat déleguée artistique at Opéra de Monte Carlo.

The gala will feature a performance by the winner of the Paganini Prize, Chinese prodigy, Simon Zhu, accompanied by the Orchestra of the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, conducted by Enrico Fagone. The gala is scheduled to be broadcast live by Ligurian television PrimoCanale and RadioClassica.

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Premieres

Respighi’s “La Fiamma” will be directed by Christof Loy and conducted by Carlo Rizzi. The cast will include Aušrine Stundyte, Georgy Vasiliev, Vladislav Sulimsky, Martina Serafin, Sua Jo, Cristina Toledo, Martina Baroni, Karis Tucker, Caren Van Oijen, Doris Soffel, and Patrick Guetti.

Performance Dates: Sept. 29-Oct. 18, 2024

Enrique Mazzola conducts a new production of Verdi’s “Macbeth” with Marie-Ève Signeyrole directing. The production will star two casts led by Roman Burdenko and Thomas Lehman in the title role and Anastasia Bartoli and Felicia Moore as Lady Macbeth. The cast will be rounded out by Marko Mimica, Byung Gil Kim, Attilio Glaser, and Andrei Danilov.

Performance Dates: Nov. 23, 2024-Jan. 25, 2025

Tobias Krazter directs a new production of Strauss’ “Die Frau ohne Schatten.” The opera will star David Butt Philip, Jane Archibald, Marina Prudenskaya, Jordan Shanahan, and Catherine Foster. Sir Donald Runnicles conducts.

Performance Dates: Jan. 26-Feb. 11, 2025

Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” will star Dean Murphy, Markus Brück, Serena Sáenz, Hila Fahima, Adela Zaharia, Andrei Danilov, Long Long, Gerard Farreras, and Byung Gil Kim. Matteo Beltrami and Ivan Repušić conduct.

Performance Dates: Oct. 31-Dec. 18, 2024

Mozart’s “The Fairy Tale of the Magic Flute” will star Alexandra Oomens, Lilit Davtyan, Hye-Young Moon, Chance Jonas-O’Toole, Kangyoon Shine Lee, Andrew Harris, and Patrick Guetti. Friedrich Praetorius conducts.

Performance Dates: Nov. 22, 2024-April 15, 2025

Elena Stikhina and Sondra Radvanovsky star in Puccini’s “Tosca” alongside Martin Muehle, Fabio Sartori, Lucio Gallo, and Erwin Schrott. Giampaolo Bisanti and Valerio Galli conduct.

Performance Dates: Nov. 6, 2024-June 19, 2025

Zemlinsky’s “Der Zwerg” will be conducted by Sir. Donald Runnicles and will star Elena Tsallagova, Felicia Moore, David Butt Philip, and Philipp Jekal.

Performance Dates: Dec. 1-10, 2024

Alessandro De Marchi conducts Rossini’s “Il Viaggio a Reims” with Lilit Davtyan, Stephanie Wake-Edwards, Hye-Young Moon, Hulkar Sabirova, Kangyoon Shine Lee, Omar Mancini, Joel Allison, Artur Garbas, Philipp Jekal, Kyle Miller, Padraic Rowan, Chance Jonas-O’Toole, Alexandra Ionis, Alexandra Oomens, Davia Bouley, and Jared Werlein. 

Performance Dates: Dec. 27, 2024-Jan. 6, 2025

Janáček’s “The Cunning Little Vixen” will star Joel Allison, Geon Kim, Meechot Marrero, Alexandra Oomens, Arianna Manganello, and Martina Baroni. Marko Letonja conducts.

Performance Dates: Dec. 19, 2024-Jan. 5, 2025

Karis Tucker, Annika Schlicht, Meechot Marrero, and Nina Solodovnikova lead Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” with Burkhard Ulrich, Patrick Cook, Artur Garbas, and Maria Motolygina. Friedrich Praetorius conducts.

Performance Dates: Dec. 13-28, 2024

Sir. Donald Runnicles and Friedrich Praetorius lead Puccini’s “La Boheme” with Andrei Danilov, Attilio Glaser, Kyle Miller, Philipp Jekal, Dean Murphy, Geon Kim, Patrick Guetti, Byung Gil Kim, Maria Motolygina, Elena Tsallagova, Alexandra Oomens, and Nina Solodovnikova.

Peformance Dates: Dec. 6-31, 2024

Andrei Danilov, Etienne Dupuis, Juan Jesús Rodríguez, Brenda Rae, and Hye-Young Moon star in Verdi’s “Rigoletto” with Patrick Guetti, Tobias Kehrer, Stephanie Wake-Edwards, and Lindsay Ammann. Michele Spotti, Friedrich Praetorius, and Giulio Cilona conduct.

Performance Dates: Jan. 10-June 6, 2025

Petr Popelka and Sir. Donald Runnicles conduct “Tristan und Isolde” with a cast that includes Clay Hilley, Albert Pesendorfer, Georg Zeppenfeld, Derek Welton, Ricarda Merbeth, Stéphanie Müther, Thomas Lehman, Leonardo Lee, Jörg Schörner, Irene Roberts, and Annika Schlicht.

Performance Dates: Oct. 27, 2024-Jan. 18, 2025

Saioa Hernández stars in Puccini’s “Turandot” with Clay Hilley, Sua Jo, Maria Motolygina, and Byung Gil Kim. Jordan de Souza conducts.

Performance Dates: Feb. 1-14, 2025

Wagner’s “Der Fliegende Holländer” will star Derek Welton and Anthony Clark Evans alongside Patrick Guetti, Gabriela Scherer, Flurina Stucki, Attilio Glaser, Kieran Carrel, Stephanie Wake-Edwards, Chance Jonas-O’Toole, and Andrei Danilov. John Fiore and Giulio Cilona conduct.

Performance Dates: Feb. 16-April 26, 2025

Thomas Lehman, Padraic Rowan, Karis Tucker, Elissa Pfaender, Davia Bouley, Alfred Kim, Heidi Stober, and Hye-Young Moon star in John Adams’ “Nixon in China.” Daniel Carter conducts the masterwork.

Performance Dates: Feb 28-March 5, 2025

Olesya Golovneva stars in Strauss’ “Salome” with Thomas Blondelle, Evelyn Herlitzius, Jordan Shanahan, and Kieran Carrel. Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts.

Performance Dates: March 8 & 14, 2025

Strauss’ “Elektra” will star Violeta Urmana, Elena Pankratova, Camilla Nylund, Burkhard Ulrich, and Tobias Kehrer. Thomas Søndergard conducts.

Performance Dates: March 22-April 1, 2025

Strauss’ “Arabella” will star Albert Pesendorfer, Doris Soffel, Jennifer Davis, Heidi Stober, Thomas Johannes Mayer, and Sean Panikkar. Sir. Donald Runnicles conducts.

Performance Dates: March 7-20, 2025

Sir. Donald Runnicles conducts Strauss’ “Intermezzo” with Philipp Jekal, Maria Bengtsson, Elliott Woodruff, Anna Schoeck, Thomas Blondelle, and Clemens Bieber.

Performance Dates: March 13-23, 2025

Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” will star Thomas Johannes Mayer, Albert Pesendorfer, Magnus Vigilius, Chance Jonas-O’Toole, Elena Tsallagova, and Annika Schlicht. Ulf Schirmer conducts.

Performance Dates: April 12-27, 2025

Attilio Glaser takes on the title role of Wagner’s “Lohengrin” with Flurina Stucki, Jordan Shanahan, Nina Stemme, Dean Murphy, and Byung Gil Kim. Ivan Repušić conducts.

Performance Dates: April 6-20, 2025

Rued Langgaard’s “Antikrist” will star Kyle Miller, Jonas Grundner-Culemann, Maria Vasilevskaya, Arianna Manganello, Thomas Cilluffo, Martina Baroni, Flurina Stucki, and Thomas Blondelle. Stephan Zilias conducts.

Performance Dates: April 24 & May 2, 2025

Verdi’s “Les Vêpres Siciliennes” will be conducted by Dominic Limburg and stars Hulkar Sabirova, Valentyn Dytiuk, George Petean, and Roberto Tagliavini.

Performance Dates: May 18-31, 2025

Daniel Okulitch, Georgia Jarman, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Anna Werle, and Thomas Blondelle star in George Benjamin’s “Written on Skin” with Marc Albrecht conducting.

Performance Dates: May 4-20, 2025

Paolo Arrivabeni conducts Verdi’s “Nabucco” with Juan Jesús Rodríguez, Amartuvshin Enkhbat, Jorge Puerta, Liang Li, Ewa Płonka, and Karis Tucker.

Performance Dates: May 10-23, 2025

Jonathan Tetelman leads a star-studded cast for Verdi’s “Don Carlo” with Alex Esposito, Gihoon Kim, Patrick Guetti, Federica Lombardi, and Irene Roberts. Sir. Donald Runnicles conducts.

Performance Dates: May 8-29, 2025

Verdi’s “Aida” will star Tobias Kehrer, Judit Kutasi, Hulkar Sabirova, SeokJong Baek, Byung Gil Kim, and George Petean. Paolo Arrivabeni conducts.

Performance Dates: May 3-22, 2025

Tchaikovsky’s “The Queen of Spades” will star Brian Jagde, Sara Jakubiak, Jennifer Larmore, Lucio Gallo, Thomas Lehman, and Karis Tucker. Juraj Valčuha conducts.

Performance Dates: June 21-29, 2025

Gregory Kunde, Pavel Yankovsky, and Sondra Radvanovsky star in Giordano’s “Andrea Chenier.” Axel Kober conducts.

Performance Dates: May 30-June 7, 2025

Mozart’s “Die Zauberflote” will showcase several casts with Tobias Kehrer, Patrick Guetti, Andrei Danilov, Kieran Carrel, Kangyoon Shine Lee, Matthew Newlin, Attilio Glaser, Markus Brück, Padraic Rowan, Michael Bachtadze, Joel Allison, Hye-Young Moon, Lilit Davtyan, Nina Solodovnikova, Hye-Young Moon, Alexandra Oomens, Sua Jo, Philipp Jekal, Artur Garbas, Chance Jonas-O’Toole, Burkhard Ulrich, and Thomas Cilluffo. Petr Popelka and Sir. Donald Runnicles conduct.

Performance Dates: Sept. 15, 2024-July 12, 2025

“Emersion” will showcase Flurina Stucki and Geon Kim.

performance Dates: July 11-13, 2025

Playground Festival will see the Deutsche Oper Berlin transformed into a techno club.

Performance Date: July 19, 2025

Concerts 

Sir. Donald Runnicles conducts a program of Verdi, Respighi, and Nono. The concert includes soloists Lilit Davtyan, Thomas Cilluffo, Federica Lombardi, and Roberto Alagna.

Performance Date: Sept. 10, 2024

Arianna Manganello, Andrei Danilov, and Nina Solodovnikova perform Italian songs alongside John Parr.

Performance Date: Oct. 22, 2024

There will be a Festive opera night for the German Aids Foundation.

Performance Date: Nov. 2, 2024

Hye-Young Moon and Christine Buffle sing Ravel and Strauss with John Parr.

Performance Date: Feb. 4, 2025

Maxime Pascal and Marianne Crebassa lead a program of music by Rimsky-Korsakov and Ravel.

Performance Date: Feb. 10, 2025

Lilit Davtyan, Chance Jonas-O’Toole, and Jared Werlein perform Haydn and Mozart with John Parr.

Performance Date: April 23, 2025

Flurina Stucki, Artur Garbas, Kieran Carrel, and John Parr perform Strauss.

Performance Date: May 7, 2025

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