By Francisco Salazar
The Teatro Massimi Bellini in Catania, Italy has announced its 2023-24 season.
The season will open with Puccini’s “Turandot” with Heckehard Stier conducting. Rebeka Lokar sings the title role alongside Angelo Villari and Daniela Schillaci. Alfonso Signorini directs the new production with stage design by Leila Fteita.
Performance Dates: Jan. 12-20, 2023
Marco Tutino’s “La Lupa” and “Il berretto a sonagli” will be performed in a double bill with Fabrizio Maria Carminati conducting and Gabriele Lavia directing. Luca Micheletti stars.
Performance Dates: March 9-17, 2023
Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor“ will star Maria Grazia Schiavo and Simone Piazzola. Stefano Ranzani conducts the production by Giandomenico Vaccari.
Performance dates: April 26-May 4, 2023
Leo Nucci directs a production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto” with Jordi Bernàcer conducting. Amartuvshin Enkhbat stars in the production.
Performance dates: Oct. 26-Nov. 3, 2023
Fabrizio Maria Carminati conducts Ponchielli’s “La Gioconda” with Rebeka Lokar, Angelo Villari, and Luca Micheletti. Filippo Tonon directs.
Performance Dates: Oct. 14-22, 2023
By Francisco Salazar
The Rossini Opera Festival is set to present Rossini’s “Otello.”
The new production is set to star Eleonora Buratto, who takes on the role of Desdemona a year after her debut as Desdemona in Verdi’s “Otello” at the Liceu in Barcelona.
The new production will be directed by Rosetta Cucchi and conducted by Yves Abel.
In a statement, Buratto said, “From Shakespeare to Rossini and to Verdi, what a change the main characters undergo! In exploring this opera by Rossini I have gained a deeper understanding of its mixed fortunes. Before the Rossini Renaissance, it was almost always overshadowed by Verdi’s opera of the same name. My understanding and love of this opera have been enhanced thanks to this staging by Rosetta Cucchi, perfect in the way it serves the needs of the drama, highlighting how difficult it is for these characters to communicate as they ‘seek emotions that move beyond the story, moving it into a different metaphysical area where each of us can see themselves’ (as Alberto Zedda wrote).”
Buratto is set to star alongside Enea Scala, Evgeny Stavinsky, Dmitry Korchak, Antonino Siragusa, Adriana Di Paola, Julian Henao Gonzalez, and Antonio Garés.
“Otello” opens on August 11 to 20 with the inaugural performance set to broadcast on Radio Rai 3.
By Nicolas Quiroga
The Board of Directors of the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, has appointed Greg Holland as the new president and CEO of the organization.
Holland has served as an arts executive, theater manager, revenue generator and negotiator for over 25 years.
“I am eager to join the effort to master plan the Straz Center. It has an already strong foundation that will allow us to grow and expand the Patel Conservatory, Opera Tampa and Broadway at The Straz. Tampa is a dynamic city and we are thrilled to be moving to the area and become an integral part of the community,” Holland, a University of Texas at Austin graduate, said in an official press statement.
“Greg is the ultimate seasoned professional and I am thrilled to leave the Tampa Center for the Performing Arts in his capable and inspired hands,” added current President and CEO Judy Lisi.
The David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts is one of the largest complexes and in a typical season more than 600,000 spectators attend at least 1,500 events and it is expected that Holland’s arrival will explore new and exciting developments fun art.
By Francisco Salazar
Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, Italy has announced its 2022-23 Season.
The season opens with Puccini’s “La bohème” starring Valeria Sepe, Jessica Nuccio, and Giorgio Berrugi. Fabrizio Maria Carminati conducts the production by Mario Pontiggia.
Performance Dates: Nov. 26-Dec. 4, 2022
Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro” will get a new production with Desirée Rancatore, Luca Bruno, Gabriele Sagona, and Cristin Arsenova. Beatrice Venezi conducts the production by Michele Mirabella.
Performance Dates: Feb. 25-March 5, 2023
Rebeka Lokar, Anastasia Boldyreva, and Devid Cecconi star in Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur.” Fabrizio Maria Carminati conducts the production by Paolo Gavazzeni.
Performance Dates: March 25-April 2, 2023
Gaetano Donizetti’s “La fille du régiment” is set to star Giuliana Gianfaldoni, Francesco Demuro, Valerio Borgioni, and Luca Galli. Giuliano Carella conducts the production by Franco Zeffirelli.
Performance Dates: Oct. 20-28, 2023
The season concludes Verdi’s “La Traviata” starring Daniela Schillaci, Lana Kos, Stefan Pop, and Franco Vassallo.
Performance Dates: Dec. 1-10, 2023
Concerts
Leoncavallo’s “La bohème” will be performed in concert with Selene Zanetti (Mimì), Samuele Simoncini (Marcello), Elena Belfiore (Musette), and Francesco Vultaggio (Rodolfo). Fabrizio Maria Carminati conducts.
Performance Dates: Dec. 11 & 13, 2022
The second opera in concert will be “Sub Tutela Dei. Per il giudice Livatino” by Matteo Musumeci and Vincenzo Vitale. Aldo Sisillo conducts the cast that includes Francesca Dotto, Anastasia Boldyreva, Scotto Di Luzio, Franco Vassallo, and Gaetano Aronica.
Performance Dates: Jan. 20 & 21, 2023
Verdi’s Requiem will star Leyla Martinucci, Ketevan Kemoklidze, Samuele Simoncini, and George Andguladze. Eckehard Stier conducts.
Performance Dates: Jan. 13 & 14, 2023
Händel’s “Messiah” will feature Matteo Falcier, Elisa Verzier, Ilaria Ribezzi, and Cristian Senn. Markus Bosch conducts.
Performance Dates: April 7 & 8, 2023
The Chamber Opera “Colapesce” will be performed.
Performance Dates: Nov. 2 & 5, 2022 – March 28 & 30, 2023
By David Salazar
Tenor Fabio Sartori will headline “Tenorissimo” at the Hungarian State Opera on August 19, 2022.
The tenor will perform alongside such artists as Zsuzsanna Ádám, Csilla Boross, Gabriella Létay Kiss, Orsolya Sáfár, and Andrea Szántó. The performance will be conducted by Balázs Kocsár. The performance will be hosted by Melitta Gyüdi and directed by András Almási-Tóth.
The gala event, which represents the Italian tenor’s Hungarian debut, will feature excerpts from “Aida,” “Simon Boccanegra,” “Macbeth,” “Tosca,” “Madama Butterfly,” “La Traviata,” and “Manon Lescaut.”
Sartori’s upcoming season will see the tenor perform in productions of “Pagliacci,” “La Gioconda,” “Il Trovatore,” “Fedora,” “I due Foscari,” “Attila,” and “Macbeth” with such companies as the Teatro alla Scala, the Fondazione Petruzzelli, the Teatro Carlo Felice, the Festpielhaus Baden-Baden, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Fondazione Arena di Verona, and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, among others.
By Ching Chang
Brazilian soprano Laura de Souza passed away Saturday, July 30 at the age of 64, in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
One of the most renowned dramatic sopranos Brazil has ever produced, de Souza excelled in Verdi and Puccini heroines, several Wagnerian roles, and was also acclaimed for her portrayal of the title role in Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos.”
De Souza’s career was largely centered in Europe. Her early musical training in Brazil was as a pianist, but after winning several regional singing competitions in Brazil and Europe, she moved to Germany for further professional training, and was soon offered artistic residencies with the Staatstheater Kassel and the Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar.
De Souza then made important debuts at major houses and festivals in the cities of Hamburg, Munich, Mannheim, Cologne, the Bolshoi Theater in Minsk, and at Aalborg Theater in Denmark. Though she was much beloved by her Brazilian colleagues, many of her international triumphs went unnoticed and did not have a great repercussion with the Brazilian public, having happened at a time when the internet did not have a wide penetration in Brazil. Though she often felt under appreciated in her own country, she nevertheless sang frequently in many important performances at major theaters in large Brazilian cities, including a superb Elisabeth in Wagner’s Tannhäuser at Rio’s Theatro Municipal, in a production created and directed by the legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog.
In recent years, de Souza returned to her native state of Rio Grande do Sul in the south of Brazil, where she was actively teaching and founded the Companhia de Ópera Do Rio Grande do Sul, a fledging regional opera ensemble in her hometown of Porto Alegre. A victim of an aggressive cancer of the stomach, her sudden passing surprised many of her colleagues and admirers, since she had concealed her condition from much of the public since it was diagnosed.
Here is a clip of Ariadne auf Naxos in Weimar, Germany.
By Francisco Salazar
On July 28, Nina Stemme was awarded the title of Bayerische Kammersängerin.
Following a performance of “Die Frau ohne Schatten” in Munich, General Director Serge Dorny gave the soprano the highest musical distinction in Bavaria.
Stemme has performed at the Bayerische Staatsoper over the years in such roles as Isolde, Elektra and Brunnhilde. She is one of the most sought-after dramatic sopranos of her generation having performed at the greatest opera houses in the world including the Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, and the Royal Opera House.
Next season she is set to Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro San Carlo, San Francisco Opera, and Deustche Oper Berlin. She will also perform in Geneve and Toulouse.
By Afton Wooten
Credit: Mihaela Bodlovic
In part of its 75th season, Edinburg International Festival will offer free digital programming.
The “At Home” series running August 5 -28 will feature five commissioned short films, two full-length concerts, a series of exclusive music sessions, and behind-the-scenes interviews with leading artists.
The vocal selections include selections performed by Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska and Elgar’s “Dream of Gerontius” with Sir Andrew Davis conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Edinburgh Festival Chorus, and the National Youth Choir of Scotland.
Early music specialists Jordi Savall and the Hespèrion XXI ensemble will participate in the music sessions, as will the Gaelic Vocal Trio.
The Edinburgh International Festival began in 1947 to restore arts and culture after WWII. Every August the festival shares various types of music, dance, and theatre performances. This is the second year of offering the “At Home” series.
All digital content will be available until November 2022.
By Chris Ruel
Toronto-based chamber orchestra, The Happenstancers, has announced the release of five short films to accompany Schoenberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire.”
The films feature soprano Danika Lorèn of the Canadian Opera Company and Toronto Symphony Orchestra Associate Conductor Simon Rivard. Toronto-based filmmaker Jake Kovnat was behind the camera.
Kovnat shot the films in black and white, in a surrealistic style, using various creative camera and editing techniques to construct an intriguing series in which video and music align in a hallucinogenic montage. Excerpts from Schoenberg’s Three Times Seven Poems from Albert Giraud’s “Pierrot Lunaire” include XIV. Die Kreuze XII. Galgenlied XI. Rote Messe XVIII. Der Mondfleck VIII. Nacht.
Five artists participated in Barbara Hannigan’s Young Artists initiative, with Hannigan and Equilibrium providing financing.
The Happenstancers include Rebecca Moranis (flute and piccolo), Brad Cherwin (clarinet and bass clarinet), Hee-Soo Yoon (violin and viola), Sarah Gans (cello), and Alexander Malikov (piano). Brad Cherwin produced the films, and Matt Antal led audio production. Lighting Design was by Adam Harris.
By Francisco Salazar
Bizet’s masterpiece “Carmen” is set to be performed at the WACA Ground in West Australian Opera’s new arena spectacular.
The work, which will be, presented in association with Perth Festival, will be performed from Feb. 24- 25, 2023.
In an official press statement, Chris van Tuinen, West Australian Opera’s Artistic Director, noted, “We’ve leapt at the chance to bring Carmen back to the people of Western Australia. Whether you’re a first-time opera-goer, an opera, or a cricket tragic, this production will thrill audiences in Perth’s most beloved sporting ground.”
The opera will star Ashlyn Tymms in the title role of Carmen alongside the West Australian Opera Chorus, the WAO Children’s Chorus and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
Carolyn Chard, West Australian Opera’s Executive Director, said, “The support of our stakeholders is key to being able to present this large-scale event and, in particular, I would like to acknowledge the federal government support through the RISE initiative, Principal Partner Wesfarmers Arts, the Perth Festival, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, and the WACA Ground management and staff.”
