By David Salazar
The Theater Erfurt has unveiled its 2022-23 season.
First up is Strauss’ “Elektra.” The opera will star Aile Asszonyi in the title role with Cheryl Studer as Clytemnestra and Jessica Rose Cambio as Chrysothemis. Ewandro Stenzowski takes on the role of Aegisthus and Kakhaber Shavidze will be Orestes. Alexander Prior conducts and Giancarlo del Monaco directs.
Performance Dates: Oct. 10 – Nov. 25, 2022
Offenbach’s “Die Schöne Helena” will be conducted by Yannis Pouspourika and directed by Ulrich Peters. It will star Julian Freibott, Almeria Delic, Katja Bildt, and Rainer Zaun, among others.
Performance Dates: Nov. 5 – Dec. 26, 2022
Nester Taylor’s “Elena” will be conducted by Myron Michailidis and directed by Guy Montavon. Jessica Rose Cambio headlines the production alongside Brett Sprague, Candela Gotelli, Kakhaber Shavidze, and KS. Máté Sólyom-Nagy, among others.
Performance Dates: Dec. 3, 2022 – Jan. 15, 2023
Rossini’s “Le Siège de Corinthe” will be directed by Markus Dietz with Yannis Pouspourika conducting. Kakhaber Shavidze, Jessica Rose Cambio, Yuri Batukov, and Jörg Rathman, headline the opera.
Performance Dates: Jan. 28 – March 3, 2023
Richard Rodgers’ “The Boys of Syracuse” will be directed by Geertje Boeden. The opera will star Tobias Weis, Daniel Gerstenmeyer, Candela Gotelli, Katja Bildt, Livio Cecini, and KS. Máté Sólyom-Nagy.
Performance Dates: March 11 – April 8, 2023
Gluck’s “Telemaco ossia L’Isola di Circe” will star Valeria Mudra, Julian Freibott, Candela Gotelli, Evelina Liubonko, and Daniela Gerstenmeyer. Alexander Prior conducts and Thomas Thieme directs.
Performance Dates: April 22 – May 21, 2023
Next up is Felix Weingartner’s “Orestes” with Alexander Prior in the pit and Guy Montavon directing. The opera will star Kakhaber Shavidze, Siyabulela Ntale, Ilia Papndreou, Brett Sprague, and Daniela Gerstenmeyer.
Performance Dates: May 20 – June 9, 2023
Concerts
Baritone John Brancy will headline a concert featuring Schubert’s “Winterreise” as well as music by Fausto Romitelli, John Adams, and Alexander Prior, who will also be conducting the concert.
Performance Dates: Feb 23 & 24, 2023
Yannis Pouspourikas will present “Opera Meets Nature” alongside tenor Andreas Schager and the Erfurt Philharmonia Orchestra.
Performance Dates: June 24, 2023
By Francisco Salazar
The 58° Concorso Internazionale Voci Verdiane Città di Busseto has announced its winners.
The first prize entitled “Carlo Bergonzi” went to soprano Sara Cortolezzis. The 31 year old won € 5.000 after performing Leonora’s aria “Siam giunti…d’amor sull’ali rosee… tu vedrai che amore in terra” from “Il trovatore.” Cortolezzis also won the special award “Renata Tebaldi,” which was given by the Associazione Verdissime.com.
The second prize went to 32-year-old baritone Badral Chuluunbaatar who performed Gran Dio! Costor sui sepolcrali marmi… Oh de’ verdi anni miei” from “Ernani.” The Mongolian singer took home a € 2.500 cash prize sponsored by Lions Club Busseto “Giuseppe Verdi.”
Finally, the third prize went to 28-year-old Huan Hong. The Chinese singer took home € 1.000 after performing “Uldino! Uldin!… Mentre gonfiarsi l’anima… Oltre a quel limite” from “Attila.” Additionally, the winners, semifinlaists, and finalists will have a chance to perform in productions, concerts or other programs from the Festival Verdi and Verdi Off 2022.
The winners were announced on June 25, 2022 at the end of a concert featuring the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini conducted by Fabrizio Cassi.
The jury was presided by Gianni Tangucci (Coordinatore artistico Accademia del Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino) and comprised by Anna Maria Meo (Direttore generale del Teatro Regio di Parma), Peter Heilker (Direttore artistico Theater an der Wien), Fulvio Macciardi (Sovrintendente e Direttore Artistico del Teatro Comunale di Bologna), Natascha Ursuliak (Responsabile casting Opernhaus Zürich), Eline de Kat (Segretaria artistica Opéra de Monte-Carlo), Franziska Maria Kaiser (Responsabile Casting Royal Danish Opera), and Andrea Rinaldi (Lions Club “Giuseppe Verdi” di Busseto).
By Logan Martell
On September 3, 2022 Semperoper Dresden will open its 2022-23 season with the premiere of “Chasing Waterfalls,” a multimedia program which centers around, and was partially composed and written by, artificial intelligence.
The work will see a computer-generated algorithm perform a number of roles, such as supporting the singers with its “voice” in real time, as well as perform the main part of the piece itself. The project is spearheaded by director and media artist Sven Soren Beyer with Berlin arts collective phase7 performing.arts. Other collaborators include writer Christiane Neudecker who created the libretto and experimented with AI text generators, video artists Frieder Weiss and Ployz, and Berlin design studio Eigengrau.
The computer-generated voice of the AI will be comprised from samplings from Norwegian soprano Eir Inderhaug, which the AI will use to create its own unique “singing” for each performance.
Among other technological innovations are a real waterfall being planned, as well as an eight-meter kinetic light sculpture made from LED panels which will hang above the stage and “embody” the AI. The audience can also become part of the scenography as volunteering visitors will be 3D-scanned before each performance and integrated into the stage design.
The project will be presented in Dresden as well as at Hong Kong’s New Vision Arts Festival in November.
By Afton Wooten
(Credit: Studio Amati_Bacciardi)
Italain mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona and conductor Alessandro Vitiello will teach the Amici Gioventù Musicale Opera Singing Masterclasses for a second time.
Events will take place August 25 through 30 at the Sala della Piccola Fenice in Trieste.
Registration is open to students and graduates of high schools, conservatories, and private or charter Music schools. Excelling students will be given the opportunity to participate in the “CultoMusica2022″ final concert on August 31.
The masterclass is organized by the Amici Gioventù Musicale in collaboration with the Fondazione Teatro Lirico “Giuseppe Verdi” of Trieste and with the AMO Academy of the Fondazione Teatro “Coccia” of Novara.
Barcellona made her debuted at the Rossini Festival in 1999 in the title role of Rossini’s “Tancredi.” She has gone on to perform and record many Rossini and Verdi roles. This season Barcellona is singing with the Opéra National de Paris, Teatro alla Scala, ABAO Bilbao Opera, and Liceu Opera Barcelona.
By Nicolas Quiroga
Sue Fitzsimmons has been named the new Executive Director of Edmonton Opera.
Through her experience and senior leadership of over 15 years, she helped Edmonton Opera fulfill its mission of bringing the community together through arts experiences.
Fitzsimmons is an experienced choral singer, with a Ph.D. from the University of Alberta. She has been a professor at the same University and at the University of Winnipeg, where she has taught musical methods. Additionally, she has held leadership positions with Medicine Hat College and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
“We are fortunate to have Sue join the team at such an important time. We will all benefit from her leadership, generosity and experience. She will mark the difference,” said Joel Ivany, Artistic Director of Edmonton Opera, in an official press statement.
Edmonton Opera’s new season kicks off on October 22 of this year with soprano Karen Slack as the headliner.
In another gesture of solidarity with the victims of the war in Ukraine, the Metropolitan Opera and the Polish National Opera will gather leading Ukrainian musicians into the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra for a European and American tour July 28–August 20, including stops in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, before culminating with concerts in New York and Washington, DC. (For tour details and tickets, click here.) Under the leadership of Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, the orchestra will perform a program that includes Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s Seventh Symphony and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with Ukrainian virtuoso Anna Fedorova. Leading Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska, who sang the title role of Turandot at the Met in the spring, will perform the great aria “Abscheulicher!” from Beethoven’s Fidelio, a paean to humanity and peace in the face of violence and cruelty.
The orchestra will include recent refugees, Ukrainian members of European orchestras, and some of the top musicians of Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and elsewhere in Ukraine. The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine is supporting the project by addressing the organizational issues of allowing male musicians to put down weapons and take up their instruments in a remarkable demonstration of the power of art over adversity.
The tour has been assembled with the cooperation of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Ministry of Culture, and money raised from the tour will go to support Ukrainian artists. Donations can be made to the Ministry of Culture at https://donate.arts.gov.ua/en.
The Ukrainian Freedom Tour is generously supported by the Ford Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and United Airlines.
Tour Schedule and Tickets
July 28: Warsaw (Teatr Wielki–Polish National Opera)
July 31: London (BBC Proms)
August 1: Munich (Isar Philharmonic Hall)
August 2: Orange, France (Chorégies d’Orange Festival)
August 4: Berlin (Konzerthaus)
August 6: Edinburgh (Edinburgh International Festival)
August 8: Snape, England (Snape Maltings)
August 11: Amsterdam (Amsterdam Concertgebouw Festival)
August 13: Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie)
August 15: Dublin (National Concert Hall)
August 18 and 19: New York (Lincoln Center)
August 20: Washington, DC (Kennedy Center)
TENET Vocal Artists has announced its 2022-23 season.
First up is a program entitled “Motets of J.S. Bach” with such soloists as Jolle Greenleaf, Molly Quinn, Clifton Massey, Thomas Parsons, James Reese, Aaron Sheehan, Charles Wesley Evans, and Jonathan Woody. The showcase will take place at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
Performance Date: Sept. 18, 2022
Next up is “Polifonía de las Américas” which will include Works by Capillas, de Lienas, Guerrero, Padilla, Salazar, and Victoria. Soloists include Jolle Greenleaf, Paulina Francisco, Rebecca Meyers, Timothy Parsons, Elisa Sutherland, Nickolas Karageorgiuo, James Reese, Steven Hrycelak, and Enrico Lagasca.
Performance Date: Oct. 22, 2022
“Sound of Trumpet” will feature music by Henry Purcell and others. Soloists include Jolle Greenleaf, Molly Quinn, Elisa Sutherland, Corey Shotwell, and Jonathan Adams.
Performance Date: Nov. 19, 2022
Jolle Greenleaf, Elisa Sutherland, Timothy Parsons, Sumner Thompson, Jason McStoots, Thomas McCargar, and Steven Hrycelak star in “TENEbrae: Lassus’ Lagrime di San Pietro.”
Performance Date: Feb. 25, 2023
For “Magnificat” and “Easter Oratorio,” audiences will hear Jolle Greenleaf, Margaret Haigh, Sarah Yanovitch, Timothy Keeler, Elisa Sutherland, Kate Maroney, Haitham Haidar, Aaron Sheehan, Gene Stenger, Jonathan Adams, Charles Wesley Evans, and Enrico Lagasca are the vocal soloists.
Performance Date: April 29, 2023
The season comes to a close with “Rejoice, Rejoice!” and music by William Byrd, John Sheppard, Thomas Tallis, and Robert Whyte. Soloists include Jolle Greenleaf, Madeline Healey, Rebecca Myers, Sylvia Leith, Timothy Parsons, Elisa Sutherland, Andrews Fuchs, Nathan Hodgson, Jacob Perry,Thomas McCargar, Edmund Milly, Steven Hrycelak, and Enrico Lagasca.
Performance Date: May 20, 2023
By David Salazar
The New York-based American Classical Orchestra has announced its 2022-23 season.
For the purposes of this article, our focus will be on vocal and operatic performances.
In an official press statement, Thomas Crawford said, “The American Classical Orchestra’s musicians are masters of the period instrument, performing classics anew— with zeal and authenticity. This season will offer a wonderful opportunity for our audiences to experience Baroque and Classical masterworks on the very instruments heard in concert halls when they were first performed and will also reveal how the sound and nuances of these original instruments can bring the music of great Romantic composers to life in different ways.”
The season kicks off with Mozart’s Requiem featuring Yulan Piao, Heather Petrie, Lawrence Jones, and Joseph Charles Beutel. The concert also features the world premiere performance of Thomas Crawford’s “Elegy.” This showcase, which will be conducted by Artistic Director Thomas Crawford, will take place at Alice Tully Hall.
Performance Date: Oct. 28, 2022
Next up, audiences will hear such works as Bach’s “An Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats, BWV 42,” “Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18,” and “Schwingt freudig euch empor, BWV 36. Crawford conducts. The performance will take place at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer on Lexington Avenue at 66th Street. Soloists will be announced at a later date.
Performance Date: March 2, 2023
By David Salazar
The Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts has announced its 2022-23 season.
For the purposes of this article, we will only focus on vocal and operatic performances.
Countertenor Reginald Mobley will appear alongside pianist Simone Dinnerstein and the Ensemble Baroklyn for music by Bach.
Performance Date: Oct. 20, 2022
Vox Luminis will perform a program of sacred works by Claudio Monteverdi.
Performance Date: Oct. 22, 2022
The Orlando Consort will present “1521: Josquin’s World,” which will feature music by Antoine Brumel, Josquin Desprez, Pedro de Escobar, Hayne van Ghizeghem, Pierre de la Rue, Martin Luther, and Jean Mouton, among others.
Performance Date: Nov. 19, 2022
The Tallis Scholars will feature in “Hymns to the Virgin.” The concert will include music by Josquin Desprez, Francisco Guerrero, Henrich Isaac, Orlande de Lassus, Matthew Martin, Arvo Pärt, and Igor Stravinsky.
Performance Date: Dec. 10, 2022
The company’s Composer Portraits will spotlight the music of Suzanne Farrin, including the world premiere of “Their Hearts are Columns for soprano, harp, ondes Martenot, percussion, and double bass. There will also be other compositions for soprano and harp as well as another for countertenor and ensemble. The showcase will feature the International Contemporary Ensemble as well as excerpts from the opera “Dolce la morte.”
Performance Date: Feb. 2, 2023
The Gesualdo Six will present “English Motets” by William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Morley, Sheryngham, Thomas Tallis, Thomas Tomkins, Thomas Weelkes, and Robert White.
Performance Date: Feb. 18, 2023
Another concert will spotlight the music of Nicole Mitchell. Lisa E. Harris will be the vocal soloist in the performance, which will also showcase the International Contemporary Ensemble.
Performance Date: March 30, 2023
Stile Antico will showcase “England’s Nightingale: The remarkable music of William Byrd,” which will also include music by Thomas Morely, Peter Philips, and Thomas Tomkins.
Performance Date: April 29, 2023
By Francisco Salazar
Opera Parallèle is set to collaborate with SFJAZZ for Philip Glass’ opera “Beauty and the Beast.”
The opera is based on the epic 1946 romantic fantasy film by French poet and filmmaker, Jean Cocteau. The production, which is set to be performed on July 14, 15, 16, and 17 at SFJAZZ, will fuse opera and film.
In a statement, Opera Parallèle’s Director and Concept Designer Brian Staufenbiel said, “The synergy of film and opera is deep in the DNA of Opera Parallèle’s aesthetic and history of past productions. Our privileged relationship with Philip Glass has inspired us to finish his Cocteau-trilogy with this new version of La Belle et la Bête. OP’s approach has been to respond to the dream-like conscious and subconscious elements with our own filmed sections and live action on-stage. We explore the questions —like Cocteau— of what is true beauty, and in the greater context of this dream-tale, what is good and evil? Cocteau understood what it was like to live with a mask, in fear of showing his true self and sexual orientation, hence his greater allegorical question: can we go beyond external appearances and categories (the conscious, the beast) and discover what beauty lies inside the soul, (the subconscious). When I take this mask off, will you love me for who I am?”
The opera’s cast will feature soprano Vanessa Becerra in her San Francisco operatic debut as La Belle and baritone Hadleigh Adams as La Bête/Le Prince/Avenant. Baritone Eugene Brancoveanu and soprano Sophie Delphis will join the cast.
The MANA Saxophone Quartet, keyboardists Keisuke Nakagoshi (OP’s resident pianist), Kevin Korth and Taylor Chan and Kjell Nordeson on percussion perform the score.
Nicole Paiement conducts Brian Staufenbiel’s production.
