By David Salazar
Tenor Laurence Kilsby was crowned the winner of the Innsbruck’s Festival of Early Music’s International Singing Competition for Baroque Opera Pietro Antonio Cesti.
Taking home the audience award was soprano Chelsea Marilyn Zurflüh; the soprano also took home the special prize and a concert as part of the Resonanzen Wien. She will also participate in a performance with Il Gusto Barocco under Jörg Halubek.
Third place went to countertenor Nicolò Balducci; Balducci was also the winner of the young talent award.
Soprano Martina Licari was also awarded a special prize which includes an engagement with the Festival della Valle d’Itria. Finally, soprano Jaia Nurit Niborski Bolatti was awarded a concert performance with the Haus der Musik Innsbruck as part of the “Academie Concerts.”
The winners were selected from among 175 contestants from 137 different countries around the world. All participants had to perform arias from Vivaldi’s “La fida ninfa,” which is the opera that the festival will be performing during the 2023 season.
The jury for the 2022 competition featured Sebastian Schwarz (Artistic Director of the Teatro Regio Torino & the Festival della Valle d’Itria), Alessandro De Marchi (Artistic Director of the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music), Nora Schmid (Managing Director of the Graz Opera and designated Intendant of the Semperoper Dresden), Vivica Genaux (opera singer), Eitan Sorek (founder and managing director of Sorek Artists Management), Valérie Chevalier (General Director of the Opéra National de Montpellier), André Comploi (Artistic Coordinator of the Teatro alla Scala di Milano), Hein Mulders (Artistic Director of the Cologne Opera), and Lucas Christ (Musical Assistant to the Artistic Director of the Teatro La Fenice Venice).
By David Salazar
Tenor Owen Lucas has been named the winner of the Northern Ireland Opera’s 12th Glenarm Festival of the Voice.
The tenor took home the Deborah Voigt Opera Prize and the Audience prize, which is sponsored by The Londonberry Arms, Carnlough. Meanwhile, soprano Hannah O’Brien earned the Song Prize, which is sponsored by The Priests Charitable Trust.
The final round of the competition saw singers spend three days with such opera coaches as Kathryn Harries, Dr. Ingrid Surgenor, and pianist Simon Lepper preparing a wide range of repertory. They then performed for a live audience in a concert hosted by broadcaster Sean Rafferty.
“The music making in Glenarm this weekend has been superlative. Five of this island’s most promising young opera voices have had the opportunity to work with several of the top coaches in the opera world, and hear BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists in recital,” said Dame Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle, Vice Chair of NI Opera and member of the judging panel, in an official press statement. “NI Opera’s commitment to nurturing this talent is as strong in the festival’s twelfth year as ever. We look forward to our return in 2023.”
Program
Bohdana Frolyak, Adagio in Memory of Myroslav Skoryk
Johannes Brahms, Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15
1. Maestoso - Poco piu moderato
2. Adagio
3. Rondo : Allegro ma non troppo - Piu animato - Tempo I
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
1. Poco sostenuto – Vivace
2. Allegretto
3. Presto – Assai meno presto
4. Allegro con brio
By David Salazar
Jonathan Tichler / Met Opera
PBS has announced that it will start broadcasting Puccini’s “Turandot” as part of its Great Performances at the Met series.
The showcase premieres on Sept. 4, 2022 at 12 p.m. on THIRTEEN.
The opera starred Liudmyla Monastyrska in the title role alongside Yonghoon Lee, Ermonela Jaho, and Ferruccio Furlanetto. Marco Armiliato conducted the performance and Nadine Sierra hosted the broadcast.
Of the second performance of the run, OperaWire’s review lauded Ermonela Jaho’s performance in particular, noting that the soprano “was the shining light of this particular production.” Regarding Monastyrska’s performance, the reviewed added, “Monastyrska’s best moment came in the opera’s final act, where her desire for a more subdued approach was corresponded by the music itself. She luxuriated in her soothing legato throughout the final duet and you could actually feel the tenderness emerge between her and Yonghoon Lee’s Calaf. And at the climax of the opera, instead of a boisterous proclamation, she imbued ‘E il suo nome e Amor’ with a piano sound that crescendoed gloriously into the ensuing orchestral outburst.”
The review ultimately concluded that “the artists onstage were in fine form and Ermonela Jaho alone warrants a trip to the Met for this revival.”
By Logan Martell
Polish writer and Holocaust survivor Zofia Posmysz has passed away as of August 8, 2022, according to Opera Narodowa.
Born on August 23, 1923, Posmysz lived in Krakow until the invasion of Poland in 1939. Over the course of the Nazi occupation, she was arrested for distributing anti-Nazi leaflet, and was transferred from the Montelupich Prison to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. She would be later be sent from there to Ravensbruck camp, and then to the Neustadt-Glewe camp where she would be liberated by the US Army in 1945.
After studying at the University of Warsaw, Posmysz wrote the radio drama “Passenger from Cabin 45” based on her experiences during the war. The work was quickly produced and then adapted for the television and film screens in the subsequent years.
In 1962, she published her autobiography, which was adapted into the 1968 opera “The Passenger” by Alexander Medvedev and Mieczyslaw Weinberg. The opera went unperformed until it finally made its premiere at the Bregenz Festival in 2010.
Posmysz continued writing until the age of 73. Among her accolades, she was made a Knight of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 1964, and an officer of the order in 1970; the Prize of the Polish Radio and Television Committee for Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Radio Drama in 1976; the 2008 Prize of Poland’s Minister of Culture for Outstanding Achievements in the Cultural Heritage Field, among others.
By Logan Martell
On September 17, 2022, The Crossing choir will open their 2022-23 season with “Walking the Farm: A Progressive Concert.”
Hosted by Art at Kings Oaks in Bucks County, PA, the interactive experience will the world premieres of a new work by George Lewis, along with previous commissions such as Kirsten Broberg’s “Breathturn,” David Shapiro’s “It is time,” Jonathan Dove’s “In beauty may I walk,” and a musical setting of Czeslaw Milosz’s poem “Encounter” by Latvian composer Peteris Vasks.
Each work will be performed at its own location through the venue, as the audience treks across Kings Oaks Farm. Based on the “progressive dinner” model, the event will feature samples of local beer, wine, and food at the various stops on the trek.
Tickets are available beginning at $25, and must be purchased in advance. “Walking the Farm will perform again on September 18, with the hosting exhibition at Kings Oaks being open to the public until October 9, 2022.
By Francisco Salazar
The Finnish National Opera and Ballet has announced a tour of Finland in May 2023.
The company said that the Opera House will be refurbished and renovated from May to August 2023 and as a result, the organization will travel to five cities including Rovaniemi, Oulu, Joensuu, Turku, and Helsinki.
The renovation will focus on revamping the stage technology management solution.
For the tour, the Finnish National Opera and Ballet will present a spectacular arena experience with a “best of the best” repertoire; this program will showcase the most magical moments of the opera and ballet canon accompanied by the Finnish National Opera and Ballet’s in-house orchestra. Jere Erkkilä will direct the production with costume designer Erika Turunen, set designer Mark Väisänen and lighting and video designer Gabriel Phillips-Sanchez.
In addition to the arena performances, the host cities will also feature a wide range of complementary entertainment in collaboration with the Finnish National Opera and Ballet’s audience outreach program.
In addition to the summer tour, the company also announced that Finnish National Opera and Ballet will have visiting performances in autumn season of 2023. First, the Finnish National Opera will Hamina in August with Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem at Bastioni.
Then the Finnish National Ballet will stage three performances of David McAllister’s “Swan Lake” at Tampere Hall from Oct. 6 to 7.
By David Salazar
Opera Santa Barbara is set to open its 2022-23 season with Puccini’s “Tosca.”
The production, which will be presented for one night only on Oct. 1, 2022, will be directed by Layna Chianakas.
Audiences will see Greek soprano Eleni Calenos in the title role. Adam Diegel interprets the role of Cavaradossi while Wayne Tigges takes on the villainous Scarpia. Kostis Protopapas will conduct the Santa Barbara Opera Orchestra and Choir.
“Tosca will be a special emotion for me: it is my favorite Puccini opera, but I had never directed or produced it before and I have only done it in my heart, because I have been preparing it in my imagination,” Protopapas said in an official press statement.
“Tosca” is the first of four operas in Opera Santa Barbara’s 2022-23 season. It will be followed by such works as “La Scala di Seta,” “Die Walküre,” and “An American Dream.”
By Francisco Salazar
Theater Bremen has announced that Stefan Klingele will be its new Music Director and Chief Conductor.
In a statement, the conductor said, “I am looking forward to many scenic and musically touching performances in the next years, to which I invite the wonderful Bremen audience already. For me, the theater is the perfect place to share stories, to question and enjoy life together. “
Klingele has been music director and chief conductor of the Musikalische Komödie in Leipzig since 2015 and has conducted at the Royal Swedish Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Volksoper Wien, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Staatsoper Hannover, and Deutsche Oper am Rhein.
He has also conducted the Royal Court Orchestra Stockholm, the Nuremberg Philharmonic, the Bavarian State Orchestra, the Hanover State Orchestra, the Duisburg Philharmonic, the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, the Kassel State Orchestra, the Lower Rhine Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, the Bremen Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the Slovenian National Theatre.
By Francisco Salazar
Mezzo-soprano Michelle Walton has died.
The Scottish Opera took to social media to announce the death of the singer stating, “We at Scottish Opera are deeply saddened by the sudden and tragic death of mezzo-soprano Michelle Walton on August 23. Michelle was a Company Principal with Scottish Opera in the late 1990s and is seen here as Dorabella in ‘Così fan tutte’ alongside Peter Mattei as Guglielmo. Michelle also appeared for Scottish Opera in productions of ‘The Barber of Seville,’ ‘La Traviata,’ ‘The Queen of Spades,’ ‘The Magic Flute,’ ‘Carmen,’ ‘Parsifal,’ and ‘The Marriage of Figaro.’
The company concluded by stating, “Our thoughts are with Michelle’s family and friends.’
Walton studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and at the National Opera Studio winning the prestigious Maggie Teyte Prize. She went on to make stage debut as Fiorilla in Rossini’s “Il Turco in Italia” at the Buxton Festival and followed it with her debut at the English National Opera as the Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro,”
With ENO she would sing the title role in John Copley’s production of Lehar’s “The Merry Widow,” Mimi in Jonathan Miller’s production of “La Bohème” and covered the title role of “Madam Butterfly” in Anthony Minghella’s production.
The singer would also establish a career with Opera North, the Welsh National Opera, Garsington Opera, and the Edinburgh International Festival in soprano roles. Among those were Liu in Puccini’s “Turandot,” Mimi, Giulietta in Verdi’s “Un giorno di regno,” Zerlina in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and Ascanius in Berlioz’s “Les Troyens.”
As a mezzo-soprano she was a company principal at Scottish Opera and also worked for Glyndebourne, Buxton Festival, Garsington Opera, Opera Holland Park, English Touring Opera, Raymond Gubbay, Lille, and Opéra Comique Paris. Some of her most memorable mezzo roles included Rosina, Cherubino, Dorabella, Annio and Hermia.
