By Francisco Salazar
Italy’s Teatro Comunale di Sassari has announced its 2022 season.
The season opens with Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” Sergio Alapont conducts a cast that includes Vincenzo Nizzardo (Don Giovanni), Francesca Pusceddu (Zerlina), Karen Gardeazabal (Donna Anna), Santiago Sanchez (Don Ottavio), Carmen Buendìa (Donna Elvira), Davide Giangregorio (Leporello), Alberto Petricca (Masetto), and Mariano Buccino. Paolo Gavazzeni and Piero Maranghi directs.
Performance Dates: Oct.14 & 16, 2022
Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi” will be presented in a production by Antonio Ligas. Carlo Lepore, Sara Rossini, Chiara Tirotta, and Giuseppe Infantino star. The cast is rounded out by Marco Puggioni (Gherardo), Maria Ladu (Nella), Nicola Ebau (Betto), Francesco Musinu (Simone), Matteo Loi (Marco) e Lara Rotili (La Ciesca), and William Hernández (Spinelloccio/Amantio). Jacopo Brusa conduct.
Performance Dates: Oct. 22 & 23, 2022
Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” will star Francesco Leone (Don Pasquale), Marco Puggioni (Ernesto), Matteo Guerzè (Malatesta), and Airi Sunada (Norina). Mariano Bauduin’s production will be revived by Marjolaine Uscotti and Cesare Della Sciucca conducts.
Performance Date: Nov. 11 & 13, 2022
Verdi’s “La Traviata” will be conducted by Stefano Ranzani. Claudia Pavone leads the cast which includes Antonio Poli and Marco Caria.
Performance Dates: Dec. 2 & 4, 2022
The season concludes with Piero Pretti in a concert conducted by Stefano Ranzani.
Performance Date: Dec. 7, 2022
By Francisco Salazar
(Photo : Vincent Pontet)
San Francisco Opera’s Centennial Season is set to continue with Francis Poulenc’s “Dialogues des Carmélites” at the War Memorial Opera House.
The production by Olivier Py, which is set to run between Oct. 15 and 30, will be conducted by Music Director Eun Sun Kim.
The Poulenc opera will star Heidi Stober in her role debut as Blanche de la Force and Michelle Bradley in her company debut and role debut as Madame Lidoine. In her house and role debuts, Michaela Schuster will sing the role of Mother Superior, Madame de Croissy and Melody Moore will take on Mother Marie.
Soprano Deanna Breiwick makes her San Francisco Opera debut as Sister Constance while Ben Bliss returns as the Chevalier de la Force. Bass-baritone Dale Travis is Blanche’s and the Chevalier’s father, the Marquis de la Force and mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook is Mother Jeanne.
The staging is a co-production between companies in Paris and Brussels and will be mounted for San Francisco Opera by stage director Daniel Izzo.
There will be a total of five performances with the Oct. 21 performance will live streamed (only available in the USA and Canada). The performance will be available to watch on-demand for 48 hours beginning on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 10 am PT.
By Afton Wooten
Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter will perform two recitals at the Schubert’s Club International Artist Series.
Von Otter and pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout’s performances will feature both vocal and piano works by Franz Schubert, W.A. Mozart, and Swedish composer Adolf Fredrik Lindblad. Bezuidenhout will use the Graf(Rieger) piano from Schubert Club’s historic keyboard collection.
The Swedish mezzo-soprano has made an international career on the opera stage, as a recital singer, and is one of today’s most recorded artists.
The recitals which open the concert series will be held on Nov. 1 & 3 at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, MN.
Upcoming vocal-centered concerts in the International Artists Series include “Bach Collegium Japan” featuring Masaaki Suzuki and baritone Roderick Williams.
By Francisco Salazar
Cornelius Meister has extended his contract as General Music Director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart.
Meister has been General Music Director of the Württemberg State Theater since the 2018-19 season and is set to continue with the company through 2026.
As Music Director Meister has conducted new productions of Richard Wagner’s “Lohengrin” and Hans Werner Henze’s “Der Prinz von Homburg,” which was released on DVD, as well as the premieres of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Don Carlos” and Pietro Mascagni’s/Salvatore Sciarrino’s “Cavalleria Rusticana/Luci mie traditrici.”
He recently directed the first two parts of the new Stuttgart “Ring des Nibelungen.”
As the Music Director, he has also increased the position of the Stuttgart State Orchestra as a concert orchestra with Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, and Mahler cycles. He has also created chamber music concerts and numerous formats have been created since 2018.
In a statement, Meister said, “My family and I feel very comfortable here. I look forward to many more happy hours with the wonderful State Orchestra, the wonderful State Opera Chorus, and the wonderful ensemble, and to serving the State Opera Stuttgart and its unique audience in the years to come.”
By Chris Ruel
New York’s Heartbeat Opera has announced its 2022-23 Season, which includes a video premiere and the company’s Spring Festival, featuring significant adaptions of Puccini’s “Tosca” and Verdi’s “Macbeth.”
The Season kicks off with a free video premiere of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” featuring over 100 incarcerated singers from six prison choirs. Ethan Heard adapted and directed this re-imagining of the opera in the era of Black Lives Matter. The premiere will be available on METLiveArts’ YouTube page. The cast includes Derrell Acon (Roc), Curtis Bannister (Stan), Kelly Griffin (Leah), Victoria Lawal (Marcy), and Corey McKern (Pizarro).
Performance Date: Oct. 11, 2022
Heartbeat’s Spring Festival kicks off with Puccini’s “Tosca” co-adapted by Iranian-American director Shadi Ghaheri and Heartbeat’s Interim Artistic Director Jacob Ashworth. Heartbeat’s Music Director, Daniel Schlosberg, created a new arrangement of Puccini’s score. The opera is set in a modern-day religious authoritarian dictatorship. Shadi Ghaheri stage directs. Full cast TBA.
Performance Dates: April 11-23, 2023
The second opera in the company’s Spring Festival is “Lady M.” Stage director Emma Jaster strips away the clichés that surround Lady Macbeth in Ethan Heard and Interim Artistic Director Jacob Ashworth’s 90-minute adaptation of Verdi’s “Macbeth.” The staging comes after a series of highly creative virtual soirees in 2020, which reached over 1,000 individuals across five continents. “Lady M” features six singers, six players, and a trio of virtuosic female soloists as the witches in this new electronics-infused orchestration. Full cast TBA.
Performance Dates: April 12-22, 2023
By David Salazar
The Semperoper Dresden is set to stage Meyerbeer’s “Les Huguenots” in a production by Peter Konwitschny.
The opera, which opens on Oct. 16 and runs through the 31st for a total of four performances will star Elena Gorshunova, Štĕpánka Pučalková, Jennifer Rowley, Tilmann Rönnebeck, Sergey Romanovsky, and Dimitris Tiliakos.
John Fiore conducts the production which also features the Staatskappelle Dresden, and the State Opera Chorus. This is the first time that Fiore conducts the production.
This is the first revival since the 2019 premiere of this very production. Back then Bachtrach noted that “despite the disappointment of those who were hoping to feel outraged, the production was both beautiful and effective. The direction of the singers was accurate and precise, which gave a sense of unity to the work.”
Rowley appeared in that original staging, which also featured John Osborn and Venera Gimadieva.
By David Salazar
Baritone Sidney Outlaw and pianist Warren Jones will present “LAMENT” live at the Manhattan School of Music on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.
The showcase will explore the legacy of black composers in opera and art song and features works by Ricky Ian Gordon, Robert Owens, Dorothy Rudd Moore, and Harry T. Burleigh.
Outlaw has performed at numerous international venues and companies, including Carnegie Hall, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Aix-en-Provence, and the New York Philharmonic. He recently appeared in “La Bohème” with Florentine Opera and “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” with Pensacola Opera.
Jones has performed alongside such artists as Stephanie Blythe, Samuel Ramey, Christine Brewer, Carol Vaness, Tatiana Troyanos, Thomas Hampson, James Morris, and Marilyn Horne, among others.
By Francisco Salazar
The Washington National Opera is set to present Richard Strauss’ “Elektra.”
The opera, which is set to run between Oct. 29 and Nov. 12, 2022, will be directed by Artistic Director Francesca Zambello in her first staging of the work, and led by Principal Conductor Evan Rogister.
In a statement, Zambello noted, “Strauss’ dramatic one-act opera promises 100 minutes of psychological thriller-meets-Greek tragedy. Our internationally acclaimed cast, led by brilliant soprano Christine Goerke, lends the vocal power to hasten the full-tilt action toward its harrowing and soaring finale. The grandness of the adventure is accented by extravagant Greek-inspired costumes by legendary designer Bibhu Mohapatra.”
The opera will also feature new costumes by Bibhu Mohapatra.
Christine Goerke will sing the title role, which she has performed to great acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. OperaWire noted, “Christine Goerke is powerful.”
The soprano will be joined by Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, tenor Štefan Margita, soprano Sara Jakubiak, and soprano Katarina Dalayman.
By Francisco Salazar
Guild Hall and Bel Canto Boot Camp’s 2022 Resident Artist series will conclude with a recital featuring baritenor Michael Spyres alongside resident artists soprano Teresa Castillo and tenor Samual Keeler.
The concert, which is set to take place on Oct. 15, is part of a series that supports an emerging generation of opera singers while bringing operatic performances and community engagement programs to the East End.
The performance will take place at the Hoie Hall at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and will showcase Spyres performing arias and songs by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi.
In a statement said Bel Canto Boot Camp co-founders, Derrick Goff and Rachelle Jonck said, “Michael Spyres joins Bel Canto Boot Camp in a journey through his favorite bel canto repertoire including opera and song. As a singer with an extraordinary range the world is his oyster,
and a voice like this does not come along all that often. We are privileged to have a long history with Michael – he was the lead tenor in the first professional opera production Derrick ever worked on as a pianist and coach and had worked with Rachelle for many years at the same company (Bel Canto at Caramoor). He is a champion of bel canto rarities as well as excellence in singing, all while being a down-to-earth colleague and friend. We are thrilled to work with him again at Guild Hall!”
By Francisco Salazar
The Ravenna Festival is set to celebrate its 10th anniversary with Mozart’s Da Ponte trilogy.
The festival will present the trilogy from Oct. 31 through Nov. 6 at the Teatro Alighieri. The festival will join forces with two of Europe’s oldest theatres, the Swedish Drottningholms Slottsteater and the Opéra Royal de Versailles.
On the podium of the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra, will be Giovanni Conti, Erina Yashima, and Tais Conte Renzetti. The production will be directed by Ivan Alexandre directs while Antoine Fontaine, who also takes care of the lighting with Alexandre, curates the costume design.
In a statement, Alexandre said, “They are three different plays, but performed with aesthetic harmony and telling the story of the same character: a libertine we call Cherubino in his youth, Don Giovanni in adulthood, and Don Alfonso at a later age. So the love-crazed youth turns into a heart-breaker who, when old enough, encourages the young people to re-enact his vices. It is as if one heart were beating in three different chests, a ‘cycle of desire’ within which each title can exist on its own. Bringing all three to stage as a sequence, however, gives particular meaning to each one and makes a coherent whole. They are three moments in a love life, crafted from the same material; familiar dramas in which everyday life turns into an extraordinary adventure. We wanted to return to the spontaneity of the touring theatres of the past: make-up tables, clothes valets, and screens are scattered across the stage. There are no wings, nothing is on the hangers (except for a few lights), there are no traps, only a few wooden structures and a few sketches on moving canvas.”
“Le Nozze di Figaro” will be performed on Oct. 31 and Nov. 4 and will star Clemente Antonio Daliotti, Arianna Vendittelli, Ana Maria Labin, Robert Gleadow, and Lea Desandre.
“Don Giovanni” will be performed on Nov. 1 and 5 and will star Christian Federici, Iulia Maria Dan, Callum Thorpe, Julien Henric, and Chiara Skerath.
Finally “Così fan tutte” is set to for Nov. 2 and 6 and will star Miriam Albano, Robert Gleadow, Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani, Ana Maria Labin, and José Maria Lo Monaco.
