By Francisco Salazar
The Teatro Filarmonico has announced its 2023 season.
The season opens with Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” starring Giulio Mastrototaro, Sara Blanch, Alessandro Luongo, Gilda Fiume, and Annalisa Stroppa. Francesco Ommassini conducts the production by Ivan Stefanutti.
Performance Dates: Jan. 22-29, 2023
Massimiliano Stefanelli conducts Verdi’s “Aida” in a production by Franco Zeffirelli. Monica Conesa sings the title role with Ivan Magrì, Ketevan Kemoklidze, Youngjun Park, and Antonio Di Matteo.
Performance Dates: Feb. 12-19, 2023
Stefano Vizioli conducts Massenet’s “Werther” in a production by Emanuele Sinisi. Dmitry Korchak, Gëzim Myshketa, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Chiara Tirotta, and Veronica Granatiero star.
Performance Dates: March 26-April 2, 2023
Franco Faccio’s “Amleto” will be conducted by Alessandro Bonato and directed by Paolo Valerio. Ivan Magrì, Samuele Simoncini, Damiano Salerno, Francesco Leone, Alessandro Abis, Davide Procaccini, Riccardo Rados, Ruth Iniesta, Eleonora Bellocci, and Marta Torbidoni star.
Performance Dates: Oct. 22-29, 2023
Ponchielli’s “Il Parlatore eterno” and Puccini’s “Il Tabarro” will be performed in a double bill with Gianna Fratta conducting. Ponchielli’s opera will be directed by Stefano Trespid and starring Biagio Pizzuti, Grazia Montanari, Maurizio Pantò, Francesca Cucuzza, Sonia Bianchetti, Schiano Di Cola, and Francesco Azzolin. Puccini’s work will be drected by Paolo Gavazzeni and Piero Maranghi and starring Gevorg Hakobyan, Maria Josè Siri, Samuele Simoncini, and Rossana Rinaldi.
Performance Dates: Nov 19-26, 2023
Luciano Ganci, Simone Piazzola, Maria José Siri, Daria Masiero, Graziella De Battista, and Enkeleda Kamani star in Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera.” Francesco Ivan Ciampa conducts the production by Marina Bianchi.
Performance Dates: Dec. 17-23, 2023
Concerts
Gioachino Rossini’s Messa di Gloria will be performed with soloists Marina Monzò, Chiara Tirotta, Dmitry Korchak, Matteo Roma, and Giorgi Manoshvili. Francesco Ommassini conducts.
Performance Dates: April 7 & 8, 2023
Valentina Peleggi conducts Francesca Maionchi and Damiano Salerno in a program of Faure, Saint-Saens, Purcell, and Poulenc.
Performance Dates: Dec. 1 & 2, 2023
By Francisco Salazar
Jonas Kaufmann has been awarded the Bayerischer Verfassungsorden.
The tenor was awarded the prize by the Bavarian Parliament and its President, Ilse Aigner of the State Parliament. The tenor received the achievement for his outstanding contribution to cultural life in Bavaria.
Journalist Eberhard Schellenberger was also awarded the prize for his work at BR Franken.
Kaufmann recently finished a run of “Peter Grimes” at the Bayerische Staatsoper and is set to perform “La Fanciulla del West” in Munich. The tenor is also set to perform at the Wiener Staatsoper in productions of “Andrea Chenier” and “Aida.” He is also set to perform at the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli and Opera de Monte Carlo.
By Francisco Salazar
Philippe Jordan will not renew his contract with the Wiener Staatsoper.
The conductor, who was appointed the Music Director in 2020, told the Kurier that he believed that opera and the company were headed in the wrong direction.
“In the past two years, I’ve come to the conclusion that that was probably not realistic and isn’t really desirable. As far as opera is concerned, I don’t want to continue doing it after 2025,” the conductor added.
Reportedly, the conductor has no interest in taking the helm of any other opera house.
According to General Director Bogdan Rošcic, Jordan’s decision has nothing to do with the productions or the direction of the theater.
“Philippe Jordan and I talked extensively about my plans for running the house after 2025 in the summer,” Rošcic said. “Concerns about content were not an issue, he wanted his contract extended, which I was not able to do for other reasons. Therefore, I do not want to comment further on his statements, it would not be in the interest of the State Opera and also not in the interest of Philippe Jordan.”
By Francisco Salazar
The Teatro San Carlo di Napoli has announced a time change for its production of “Tristan und Isolde” on Oct. 27.
The company said, “we inform our audience that, due to technical reasons, the start of the performance of ‘Tristan und Isolde’ scheduled on October, 27, will be at 19 hours and not at 20 hours as previously announced.”
Ticket holders will be able to use the same ticket they already had to access the performance.
Constantin Trinks is set to conducts the production by Lluìs Pasqual. The opera is set to star Stuart Skelton, René Pape, Nina Stemme, Brian Mulligan, Okka von der Damerau, Gabriele Ribis, and Riccardo Rados.
“Tristan und Isolde” opens on Oct. 27 and runs through Nov. 5, 2022.
By Afton Wooten
For the first time in 35 years Duke Ellington’s “Sacred Concerts” will be performed in New York City on Nov. 18 and 19 at Tishman Hall.
“Sacred Concerts” fuses jazz, choral and classical music, spirituals, gospel, blues, visual art, and dance. The New York Choral Society along with jazz vocalist Brianna Thomas, baritone and composer Milton Suggs, painter James Little, Broadway performer Daniel J. Watts, and the New School Studio Orchestra present Ellington’s massive work. David Hayes and Keller Coker conduct.
Hayes says in a press release, “The magnitude of this production is evident, and we are pleased to start our 2022-2023 season in such a profound way that offers audiences across generations and musical interests a lively and inspiring mix of music, dance, and visual art to discover this exceptional music by a well-known figure in America’s cultural history. Ellington was driven by bringing people together through music, and we pay homage to his legacy this fall to bring artists, audiences, and our community together in this historic moment of celebration and expression.”
Through the support of The New York State Council on the Arts, this historical event is free and open to the public.
By Francisco Salazar
Yuval Sharon has been named to the 2022 TIME100 Next list.
The Next list highlights 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future of business, entertainment, sports, politics, health, science and
activism, and more.
The full list and related tributes will appear in the Oct. 10 / Oct. 17 issue of TIME.
Sharon is the Gary L. Wasserman Artistic Director of Detroit Opera and the founder and co-Artistic Director of The Industry in Los Angeles. He is also a recipient of both a MacArthur Fellowship and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant in Theatre. He became the first American invited to direct at Bayreuth, and the first director entrusted with a new production of one of Meredith Monk’s works, and the director of the first fully-staged opera in the Musikverein’s 150-year history.
TIME highlighted his work with Detroit Opera, including his productions of “La bohème” and Act three of Richard Wagner’s “Die Walküre.” The publication said, “To see the most innovative opera company in America, visit Motor City. Yuval Sharon has long used unconventional settings in unexpected ways, but now, as the artistic director of the Detroit Opera, he is breaking new ground. Lauded for past projects such as his reverse chronological staging of Puccini’s La Bohème, Sharon in July premiered a high-tech reimagining of a Wagner opera. Onstage action blended with computer animations with the help of green-screen tech. And of course: although the staging debuted in Los Angeles, it soon headed home to Michigan.”
Sharon has created co-productions with Boston Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, Opera Omaha, Seattle Opera, and Spoleto Festival USA. He has also worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others.
By Afton Wooten
The Minnesota Orchestra will debut its concert initiative entitled “More to Hear: The Listening Project” on Oct. 7.
“The Listening Project” began in 2021 with the purpose to record and recognize works by historically underrepresented composers. The inagural instalation was the first-ever professional recordings of five works by five Black composers.
This year the “Listen Project” combines a live concert and recording project. The Minnesota Orchestra will present works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Eleanor Alberga, Hale Smith, Adolphus Hailstork, Margret Bonds, and Florence Price.
Bass-baritone Christopher Humbert Jr. will perform in both Alberga’s “The Soul’s Expression” and Bonds’ “Spirituals” under the baton of guest conductor Kensho Watanabe. Ticket holders will receive digital downloads of the program selections.
Co-leaders of the “Listening Project” Sam Bergman, acting assistant principal viola and Susie Park, first Associate Concertmaster said in an official press release, “The hope on our end is, first off, for the featured composers who are living to be able to use these recordings however they wish, at no cost, to advance their own work and careers, and for the heirs of those deceased to be able to promote the music of their relations. But we’re also very much hoping that other orchestras will use these recordings as references in deciding how these works can fit into their own concert programs. Often, works that are unrecorded aren’t programmed just because no one’s sure how they’ll sound.”
By Francisco Salazar
The Dallas Opera is set to open its 65th Anniversary Season with Verdi’s “Rigoletto.”
The opera will be directed by Tomer Zvulun and will star George Gagnidze in his TDO debut. The baritone has performed the role around the world at the Teatro alla Scala and the Metropolitan Opera, among others. He will be joined by Madison Leonard in TDO debut, René Barbera, Raymond Aceto, and Nadia Krasteva.
Music Director Emmanuel Villaume leads The Dallas Opera Orchestra in Verdi’s thrilling and popular score, while Stephanie Havey joins Mr. Zvulun as associate director of the Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and The Atlanta Opera co-production. Erhard Rom updates the production to 1930’s fascist Italy as set designer, Jessica Jahn is costume designer, Robert Wierzel is lighting designer, and David Zimmerman is wig and make-up designer.
“Rigoletto” opens on Oct. 8 at the Winspear Opera House and audiences will be invited to join in the lobby for a celebratory post-performance party featuring live entertainment from Ricki Derek, complimentary hors d’oeuvres, and cash bars throughout the Winspear. The opera will run through Oct. 16. The final performance will be live streamed exclusively via thedallasopera.TV with pay-what-you’re-able pricing.
By Afton Wooten
Stage director Thomas Jolly has been announced as the Artistic Director of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies.
Jolly will lead a multidisciplinary artistic team charged with planning and running the upcoming ceremonies. Paris organizing committee head Tony Estanguet praises the appointee by saying,” With his impressive career, Thomas Jolly is at the forefront of the young, creative, and ambitious French artistic scene. His extraordinary shows are proof that he knows how to break norms and take them to the next level.”
In 2007 he founded his own theater company, La Piccola Familia which gained recognition for his 18-hour continuous performance of Henry VI featuring three plays and 15 acts. This led to Joly receiving both the Jean Jaques Cautier prize for young French theater talent and the Moliere Award, the highest theater honor in France.
Next year, Jolly will stage Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet” at the Paris Opera.
By Francisco Salazar
The Opéra de Paris has announced a cast change for its production of “I Capuletti e i Montecchi.”
The company noted that for the Sept. 29 performance Ruth Iniesta will sing the role of Giuletta replacing Julie Fuchs who is unwell.
This is the second performance that Iniesta performs in the run as she also filled in for Fuchs for the Sept. 27 performance.
Iniesta recently made her role debut as Giuletta at the Teatro Massimo di Catania. Her role debut was broadcast on Rai 5 for Italian audiences.
The Spanish soprano joins a cast that includes Anna Goryachova, Jean Teitgen, Francesco Demuro, and Krzysztof Bączyk. Speranza Scapucci conducts the performance which is set to be broadcast on France.tv/Culturebox and also, with the help of FRA cinema, in UGC cinemas, as part of their “Viva l’Opéra!” season.
The performance is also set to be performed in a concert version as a result of a national and interprofessional strike followed by some of the Opera’s staff.
