By Chris Ruel
Siemens Festival>Nights 2022, in close collaboration with the Salzburg Festival, Salzburg ORF, and Unitel, has announced free public screenings of operas and concerts to be presented on Salzburg’s Kapitelplatz from July 23-Aug. 28, 2022.
The Festival screenings will offer three types of programs: opera, concerts, and child-friendly opera.
Festival opera highlights include American director Lydia Steier’s “Die Zauberflöte,” starring Tareq Nazmi (Sarastro), Mauro Peter (Tamino), Brenda Rae (Queen of the Night), Regula Mühlemann (Pamina), Michael Nagl (Papageno), Maria Nazarova (Papagena). Joana Mallwitz conducts the Vienna Philharmonic.
Screenings: Aug. 12 and 17
Director Barrie Kosky’s “Káta Kabanová,” features Jens Larsen (Dikoj), David Butt Philip (Boris), Evelyn Herlitzius (Kabanicha), Jaroslav Březina (Tichon), Corinne Winters (Káťa), Benjamin Hulett (Kudrjas), Jarmila Balážová (Varvara). Jakub Hrůša conducts the Vienna Philharmonic.
Screenings: Aug. 15 and 28
“Il Trittico,” directed by Christoph Loy stars Misha Kira (Gianni Schicchi), Asmik Grigorian (Lauretta/Giorgetta/Suor Angelica), Enkelejda Shkosa (Zita / Frugola/Suora Zelatrice), Alexey Neklyudov (Rinuccio), Roman Burdenko (Michele), Joshua Guerrero (Luigi), Karita Mattila (La zia principessa), Hanna Schwarz (Badessa). Franz Welser-Möst conducts the Vienna Philharmonic.
Screenings: Aug. 16 and 26
On the concert side, Musical Highlights at the Siemens>Breakfast>Concerts will screen selected concerts from the current Festival program, along with past highlights, every Saturday morning from July 23-Aug. 27. Some of the world’s most renowned orchestras, under the batons of such greats as Riccardo Muti, Christian Thielemann, and Daniel Barenboim, will showcase works by Brahms, Bruckner, and Beethoven, among others.
Siemens>Children’s>Programme: Child-Friendly Operas on Friday Mornings will show productions fit for young audiences every Friday from July 29-Aug. 26. Highlights include a 1982 Salzburg Festival production of “Die Zauberflöte” and a 1996 Deutsche Oper production of Tchaikovsky’s “Peter and the Wolf.” New live programming includes children’s make-up sessions and other creative opportunities.
By Francisco Salazar
The Schwabacher Recital Series is set to present baritone Sidney Outlaw and pianist Warren Jones in the final concert of the 2022 showcase.
The recital will be held on July 28 in the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and will focus on the two artists’ recent recorded collaboration, “Lament,” which pays homage to 20th-century American song including works by Ricky Ian Gordon, Robert Owens, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Harry T. Burleigh and the texts of Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Frederick Douglass and Adela Cory. The concert will conclude with a selection of spirituals.
In a statement Outlaw said, “I have always been inspired by Nina Simone’s quote that “it is the artist’s duty to reflect the times. That is true of painters, sculptors, poets, and musicians. It’s obviously our choice but I choose to reflect the times and the situations in which I find myself and at this crucial time in our lives when everything is so desperate when every day is a matter of survival, I think you can’t help but be involved. … That to me is the definition of an artist! This program is pretty unique and special to me as it originated from a lecture that I gave on exploring the legacy of Black composers in opera and art song during the pandemic! The title of the project Lament was absolutely inspired by Langston Hughes’ poem “Lament for Dark Peoples” which expresses pain for the injustices upon people of color.”
By Francisco Salazar
The Teatro dell’Opera di Roma has announced its 2022-23 Season.
Emma Dante conducts Poulenc’s “Dialogues des Carmelites” with Michele Mariotti conducting. Corinne Winters stars alongside Anna Caterina Antonacci, Ewa Vesin, Ekaterina Gubanova, and Jean-François Lapointe. The opera will be transmitted live on Rai Cultura and Rai5.
Performance Dates: Nov. 27-Dec. 6, 2022
Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” will be conducted by Francesco Lanzillotta. The production by Ruggero Cappuccio will star John Osborn and Aleksandra Kurzak.
Performance Dates: Jan. 11-15, 2023
Verdi’s “Aida” will be directed by Davide Livermore and conducted by Michele Mariotti. Krassimira Stoyanova, Fabio Sartori, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Vladimir Stoyanov, and Riccardo Zanellato star.
Performance Dates: Jan. 31-Feb. 12, 2023
Daniel Oren conducts “Pagliacci” in a production by Franco Zeffirelli. Nino Machaidze and Brian Jagde star.
Performance Dates: March 12-19, 2023
Arvo Part and Roberto Wilson will team up for “Adam’s Passion” and will be conducted by Tonu Kaljuste.
Performance Dates: March 31 & April 1, 2023
Michele Mariotti conducts “Trittico Ricomposto” with Puccini’s “Il Tabarro” and Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle.” Johannes Erath directs the production. “Il Tabarro” will star Luca Salsi, Gregory Kunde, and Maria Agresta while Bartók’s work will star Ekaterina Semenchuk and Mikhail Petrenko. The performance will be transmitted on Rai Cultura and Rai5.
Performance Dates: April 6-18, 2023
Janáček’s“From the House of the Dead” will be conducted by Dmitry Matvienko and directed by Krzysztof Walikowski.
Performance Dates: May 23-30, 2023
Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” will star Eleonora Buratto with Roberto Abbado conducting. The production is directed by Alex Olle. Dmytro Popov, Anna Maria Chiuri, and Roberto Frontali also star.
Performance Dates: June 16-24, 2023
Gianluca Capuano conducts Händel’s “Giulio Cesare” in a new production by Damiano Michieletto. The production will star Raffaele Pe and Carlo Vistoli alongside Aryeh Nussbaum and Danielle de Niese. The production will be broadcast on Rai Cultura and Rai5.
Performance Dates: Oct. 13-21, 2023
Concerts
Michele Mariotti conducts Verdi’s “Requiem” with Elena Stikhina, Yulia Matochkina, Stefan Pop, and Giorgi Manoshvili.
Performance Date: Feb. 15, 2023
Omer Meir Wellber conducts the first act of “Die Walküre” with Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Angela Meade, and Brindley Sherratt.
Performance Dates: Oct. 6, 2023
The three countertenors will be performed by Carlo Vistoli, Raffaele Pe, and Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen with Gianluca Capuano conducting.
Performance Dates: Oct. 20, 2023
By Francisco Salazar
(Credit: Elena Cherkashyna)
The Teatro San Carlo has announced a cast change for its production of “La Traviata.”
The company noted that Pretty Yende has canceled her second performance of the run on July 24 and will be replaced by Claudia Pavone, who is also performing the role on July 23 in the second cast.
Yende took to social media and said, “My dearest precious souls. After a joyous premiere of La Traviata yesterday at the Teatro San Carlo, unfortunately, I came down with a flu. It is with the deepest regret that I have to withdraw from my performance tomorrow. I need to take doctor’s council and be well before continuing with the rest of my performances.”
Pavone, who has performed at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and Teatro La Fenice, joins a cast that includes Geroge Gagnidze and Francesco Demuro.
Yende is set to return to the production for performances on July 27 and 29.
By Francisco Salazar
The Teatro Real de Madrid has announced a cast change for its production of Rufus Wainwright’s “Hadrian.”
The company noted that Ainhoa Arteta will no longer sing the role of Plotina and will be replaced by Alexandra Urquiola.
The news comes days after the soprano posted a video on Instagram studying the score of the opera and noting that it was “a great work of art.” She also added that it was a very complex musically.
This is the third cast change for the production which saw Xabier Anduaga cancel his participation and was replaced by Santiago Ballerini as well as Rubén Amoretti who was replaced by Christian Federici.
“Hadrian” will be perfomed first at the Teatro Real on July 27 and then at the Festival Castell de Peralada on July 29. The cast will also include Thomas Hampson, Vanessa Goikoetxea, Berna Perles, Pablo García López, Alejandro del Cerro, David Lagares, Josep Ramón Olivé, Vicenç Esteve, Gregory Dahl, and Albert Casals.
By Francisco Salazar
The Bayerische Staatsoper has announced the death of conductor Stefan Soltész.
The company said, “It is with horror and great sadness that the Bavarian State Opera has to announce the death of Stefan Soltesz. He died tonight after collapsing while conducting ‘Die Schweigsame Frau’ at the Nationaltheater. Our thoughts are with his wife Michaela.”
General Director Serge Dorny also took to Twitter and said, “I am deeply saddened by the news of the collapse and death of Stefan Soltesz. We are losing a gifted conductor.”
Soltész was born in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary, and received piano lessons from age four. He went to Vienna in 1956, where he became a member of the Wiener Sängerknaben at age ten. He studied piano, conducting and composition at the Wiener Musikakademie beginning at age 14.
In 1971 he began his career as Kapellmeister at the Theater an der Wien and went on to condut at the Vienna State Opera and Graz Opera. Soltész was named conductor at the Hamburg State Opera from 1983 to 1985, and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1985 to 1997. In 1997, he was named both artistic director and GMD of the Aalto-Theater in Essen and held the position until the end of the 2012-13 season.
Soltész conducted at many of the great opera houses in the world including the Bayerische Staatsoper, Oper Frankfurt, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, the Budapest State Opera, the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Paris Opera, and the Zurich Opera House.
By Afton Wooten
The Dessoff Choirs announced its 2022-23 season.
The season includes four concerts and a CD release of “Credo & Simon Bore the Cross” by composer and contributor to the civil rights movement, Margaret Bonds (1913-1972). Music Director Malcolm J. Merriweather conducts.
The first concert “Duruflé & Lusitano” features Maurice Duruflé’s “Requiem” and Motets and Madrigals by Vicente Lusitano (1520-1561), the first Black composer to be published. Soloists include mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford and David Enlow on organ. The performance will be held at Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan.
Performance Date: November 5, 2022
As part of the choir’s holiday tradition, they will perform “Messiah Sing” at the Union Theological Seminary.
Performance Date: December 2, 2022
Continuing the holiday theme, Dessoff presents “Welcome Yule.” The first concert takes place at St. Paul the Apostle in Manhattan at 7:30 pm, with the second at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn at 4 pm.
Performance Date: December 9 & 11, 2022
Returning to St. Paul the Apostle, the choir will celebrate the late composer with “Sondheim Revue.”
Performance Date: February 10, 2023
Closing the season is “Envisioning Bach’s St. John Passion” taking place at Mother AME Zion Church in Manhattan.
Performance Date: May 6, 2023
By Francisco Salazar
The Teatro dell’Opera di Roma has announced the season-opening productions for the 2023-24, 2024-25, and 2025-26 seasons.
During a press release announcing the company’s 2022-23 season, the Rome opera noted that it will open its new seasons on Nov. 27. The date will allow the company to open its house to international opera-goers and for audiences to program their visit to the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma for the opening.
The 2023-24 season will open with Boito’s “Mefistofele” with Michele Mariotti conducting and Simon Stone directing while the 2024-25 season will open with “Simon Boccanegra” conducted by Mariotti and directed by Richard Jones.
Finally, “Lohengrin” will open the 2025-26 season directed by Damiano Michieletto and Mariotti conducting.
The Teatro dell’Opera di Roma is currently performing at the Terme di Caracalla and is set to open its 2022-23 season with “Dialogues des Carmelites.”
By Francisco Salazar
The Merola Opera Program’s Summer Festival ends with the Merola Grand Finale, a concert featuring the 31 young artists of the 2022 program.
The program will see the artists performing some of opera’s most thrilling arias and ensembles. Directed by 2022 Merola Stage Director Matthew J. Schulz, this performance will be conducted by Patrick Furrer, a Metropolitan Opera staff member since 2011, who made his conducting debut at the Metropolitan Opera in December 2021 with Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte.”
The repertoire for the Merola Grand Finale will showcase selections from a wide variety of operas, including Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro;” Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” and “La bohème;” Bizet’s “Les pêcheurs de perles” and “Carmen;” Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette” and “Faust;” Pietro Mascagni’s “L’amico Fritz;” Handel’s “Amadigi di Gaula;” Berlioz’s “L’enfance du Christ;” Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale,” “L’elisir d’amore,” and “Lucia di Lammermoor;” Jeanine Tesori’s “Blue;” William Grant Still’s “Highway 1, USA;” Britten’s “Albert Herring;” John Adams’s “Doctor Atomic;” Verdi’s “Falstaff;” and Strauss’s “Ariadne auf Naxos.”
The concert will be performed on August 20 at the War Memorial Opera House.
Here is a list of all the artists participating in the concert:
Veena Akama-Makia (Mezzo-soprano)
Amanda Batista (Soprano)
Cody Bowers (Countertenor)
Le Bu (Bass-baritone)
Andres Cascante (Baritone)
Shawn Chang (Pianist/Coach)
Edwin Jhamaal Davis (Bass)
Daniel Luis Espinal (Tenor)
Adia Evans (Soprano)
Gongming Jiang (Pianist/Coach)
Chance Jonas-O’Toole (Tenor)
SeungYun Kim (Bass-baritone)
Maggie Kinabrew (Soprano)
Scott Lee (Baritone)
Chelsea Lehnea (Soprano)
Yang Lin (Pianist/Coach)
Celeste Morales (Soprano)
Artyom Pak (Pianist/Coach)
Jonghyun Park (Tenor)
Olivia Prendergast (Soprano)
Nikola Adele Printz (Mezzo-soprano)
Maggie Reneé (Mezzo-soprano)
Deborah Robertson (Pianist/Coach)
Ashley Marie Robillard (Soprano)
Arianna Rodriguez (Soprano)
Sahel Salam (Tenor)
Moisés Salazar (Tenor)
Matthew J. Schulz (Stage Director)
Olivia Smith (Soprano)
William Socolof (Bass-baritone)
Erin Wagner (Mezzo-soprano)
By Chris Ruel
Britten Pears Arts has announced its Autumn 2022 season that includes “The Blue Woman,” a new opera by Laura Bowler and Laura Lomas, a new production of “The Rape of Lucretia,” and Britten song cycles performed by opera stars.
Here’s the lineup.
Composer Laura Bowler and librettist Laura Lomas’ new opera, “The Blue Woman,” explores the aftermath of sexual violence, examining the interior life of a woman who has experienced a post-traumatic shattering of self after being raped. The presentation is a co-production with the Royal Opera House.
Performance Date: Sept. 8-9, 2022
Award-winning mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean, together with the Marsyas Trio, explores trailblazing women composers during Britten’s lifetime. The program includes Thea Musgrave, Lili Boulanger, and Jewish-Dutch composer Rosy Wertheim.
Performance Date: Sept. 23, 2022
From choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh Dance comes a new work: “Clorinda Agonistes – Clorinda the Warrior.” In the opera’s first half, Clorinda battles the Crusader Tancredi in Jerusalem. During the second half, the audience is transported to the 21st century, where Clorinda is determined to tell her story her way. The show is a hybrid of opera, dance, and video projections. Inspired by Monteverdi’s 1624 operatic cantata, “Il Combattimento di Clorinda e Tancredi,” Monteverdi’s score is paired with a new commission from celebrated Syrian-American composer Kareem Roustom, both performed live and featuring tenor Ed Lyon, and conductor Robert Hollingworth.
Performance Date: Oct. 8, 2022
Early Music Day features “Making baroque music come alive,” a lecture by performer and teacher Francesca Clements. A concert by Aldeburgh Voices and Ensemble Hesperi celebrating the 350th anniversary of the birth of the Baroque master Heinrich Schütz follows the lecture.
Performance Date: Oct. 15, 2022
Britten’s chamber opera, “The Rape of Lucretia,” reveals the darker elements in the human psyche and shows what happens when war and power set them loose. This new production, directed by Oliver Mears, features the Aurora Orchestra conducted by Corinna Niemeyer. The is cast drawn from the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme and the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Artists Programme.
Performance Dates: Oct. 29-30, 2022
Sopranos Anna Dennis and Sian Dicker; mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron; tenors Benjamin Hulett, Nicky Spence, and Robin Tritschler, along with baritones Peter Brathwaite and Marcus Farnsworth, present three special performances exploring all the Britten song cycles for solo voice written during his lifetime—nearly 50 years of his musical output. The concerts are part of the 50th anniversary of the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme. Pianist Malcolm Martineau accompanies,
Performance Dates: Oct. 29-Oct 30, 2022
Singers from the BPYAP will join collaborative pianist Elli Welsh to present a recital program featuring female composers.
Performance Date: Nov. 4, 2022
A South London bus is hijacked by supporters of an Alt-Right personality after unknown assailants attacked him in “Link In My Bio.” This choose-your-own-adventure opera features experiments with the musical genres of grime, and drill and drum ‘n’ bass. The opera was selected for enoa’s inaugural Opera Creation Journey, supported by Britten Pears Arts and Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg.
Performance Date: Nov. 12, 2022
Singers and Pianists from the BPYAP’s Composition and Performance course present an evening of 21st century and contemporary song, which they curated with their tutor, soprano Claire Booth.
Performance Date: Nov. 25, 2002
Suffolk Ensemble Strings and bass Matthew Rose will join Britten Pears Arts’ resident non-professional chamber choir, Aldeburgh Voices. The concert includes readings, audience carols, and seasonal music from John Rutter, Rebecca McGlade, Cecilia McDowall, Eric Whitacre, Kerry Andrew, and Eriks Essenvalds, plus Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols. Dominic Ellis-Peckham will conduct the program.
Performance Date: Dec. 16, 2022
Cara Dillon and her band will present an exploration of wintry songs and festive carols.
Performance Date: Dec. 17, 2022
A special screening of Howard Blake’s “The Snowman” features live orchestral music performed by the Suffolk Ensemble, with singing by the children of Group A and Jubilee Opera Chorus.
Performance Date: Dec. 18, 2022
