By Francisco Salazar
The LA Opera has announced a casting update for its production of “Tosca.”
The company noted that Michael Fabiano will join the cast of the Puccini opera, singing the role of Cavaradossi for the first four performances from Nov. 19 to Dec. 4; afterward, Gregory Kunde will perform from Dec. 7 to 10.
Fabiano has performed the role at the Opera de Paris and Teatro Real and is set to perform the role next season at the Metropolitan Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, and Wiener Staatsoper. He is well known for his Verdi and Puccini interpretations as well as for his Bizet, Massenet, and Gounod.
Fabiano joins a cast that includes Angel Blue and Ryan McKinny. Oksana Lyniv conducts the production by John Caird.
By Logan Martell
Tbilisi Opera and Orchestra has announced that Giacomo Sagripanti has been appointed as their new music director.
Currently the Principal Guest Conductor at the Fondazione Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Sagripanti received international acclaim in 2016 when he was named “Young Conductor of the Year” at the International Opera Awards. Since then, he has appeared with companies such as Semperoper Dresden, Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Opera de Paris, Rossini Opera Festival, and more.
Upcoming engagements for Sagripanti include “Don Pasquale,” “Werther,” “Tosca,” “La Fille du Régiment,” and “Anna Bolena” with the Vienna State Opera, “Rigoletto” in Paris, and “Turandot” at the Hamburg State Opera.
By David Salazar
The Tanglewood Festival has announced new COVID-19 protocols for its summer 2022 slate.
The organization noted that visitors will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or have to present a negative test result in order to enter performance venues. Furthermore, masking will be optional, though it is recommended inside Ozawa Hall and the Linde Center for Music and Learning.
Also noted is that it has implemented upgraded ventilation filtration.
The new Tanglewood season kicks off on June 17, 2022 and runs through September 3, 2022. Opera lovers will get a chance to see such stars as Julia Bullock, Janai Brugger, Susan Graham, Christine Goerke, Nicole Cabell, Amitai Pati, Ryan McKinney, Will Liverman, Alfred Walker, Ryan Speedo Green, and Dashon Burton, among others.
For full details of the 2022 season, click here.
By Gordon Williams
Photo credit: Brett Boardman
Antonio Cesti’s 1656 opera “Orontea” was first performed in Innsbruck at the court of Archduke Ferdinand Charles. So popular was it in its day that it enjoyed more than 17 revivals at various musical centers before the close of the 1600s. On May 26, 2022, it premiered in Australia thanks to the enterprising Australian baroque company, Pinchgut Opera.
In a podcast interview with music journalist Genevieve Lang on Pinchgut’s website, Artistic Director Erin Helyard explained that one criterion by which he selects repertoire for this award-winning company’s seasons of early opera is by choosing works that were popular in their time and seeing “if that popularity extends to today.”
Early Sophistication
“Orontea” is a marvelously sophisticated work, considering it is only 50-or-so years younger than the actual inception of opera itself. Judging by the audience’s reaction to its first Australian performance at Sydney’s Angel Place Recital Hall, “Orontea” still delights.
In terms of plot, “Orontea” begins with a wager over who is stronger: Amore, God of Love—played by Australian soprano Roberta Diamond in this production—or Filosofia, God of Reason—played by American soprano Sofia Troncoso. Amore flies to Egypt—or “in a heightened, contemporary world, somewhere between Egypt and Las Vegas,” according to an introduction on the company’s website—to test their influence over Queen Orontea, who has renounced love and is played by Australian mezzo-soprano Anna Dowsley.
Enter Alidoro, a painter who has fled the advances of Princess Arnea of Phoenicia, played by New Zealand tenor Jonathan Abernethy. Almost immediately, Alidoro’s presence creates havoc in Orontea’s realm, and she and another woman of the court, Silandra—played by Sofia Troncoso again—both fall for the newcomer. Silandra even discards her own lover Corindo, played by Australian tenor Douglas Kelly. The plot involves other pairings—love is potent after all—and there is a brief, classic case of mistaken identity. There are, in fact, many combinations of ‘two-handers,’ including a duet between Giacinta, who is also in love with Alidoro—whom Roberta Diamond also plays—and a marvelously histrionic Aristea—sung by Australian mezzo-soprano Dominica Matthews—who is, supposedly, Alidoro’s mother, though it will turn out that Alidoro is of nobler blood, of course.
In the aforementioned podcast, Helyard makes the point that even so soon after the invention of opera, certain conventions had arisen, and Cesti and his librettist Cicognini brilliantly refreshed those tropes. The ‘lament’ common at this time becomes Silandra’s first song of love for Alidoro. The use of the genre, according to Helyard, signifies that her love for the hero is doomed.
There are usually ‘sleeping scenes’ in early opera. The first one in “Orontea” is actually for a ‘lowly character,’ Gelone, who sleeps not because he is under a spell—the normal cliché—but because he is drunk. One of the most enjoyable scenes in this production involved Gelone, played with comic gusto by Australian bass-baritone Andrew O’Connor, and his hallucination of dancing beer bottles peeping out through the upstage curtain.
Small Orchestra, Big Sound
In contrast to Pinchgut’s production of Rameau’s “Platée,” reviewed by “OperaWire” last November, the orchestra for this production was made far more prominent. They were downstage and encircled by a waist-high catwalk that singers could use for moments of dramatic or vocal emphasis. This meant the audience could easily see the performance’s purely instrumental aspects. It was an advantage enjoyed right from the start, when the audience could savor the delightful interplay of violinists Matthew Greco and Karina Schmitz.
The production was given in an edition of the opera prepared by Artistic Director Erin Helyard himself. There were plenty of orchestral delights. One example is the range of effects in the continuo accompaniment. These were transitions between various plucked strings: Simon Martyn-Ellis’s theorbo and baroque guitar, Hannah Lane’s harp, and Helyard’s harpsichord. There was such a small ensemble—only nine players—in the pit, and yet such an effect! A cymbal roll from percussionist Brian Nixon could create an incredible atmosphere under, say, Alidoro’s Act two number “Qual fulmine tonante,” underscoring Jonathan Abernethy’s effectively thunderstruck declamation.
So many of the recitatives were extremely vivid. A number of them, monologues, in fact, are accounts and often nicely visualized. An example of this was when Australian tenor Louis Hurley, as Tibrino, recounted in “Affronti, offese, e poco men che morti,” his discovery of the young man Alidoro—left wounded and nearly dead—whom he brings to Orontea’s court. As Alidoro, Abernethy also gave vivid accounts. His exceptionally clear voice was its own spotlight.
This early masterpiece received enthusiastic advocacy from a large cast. Orontea herself has the largest emotional arc of the characters, and Anna Dowsley impressed on every entry. Her first aria, “Superbo Amore,” where she defied love to lodge itself in her heart, immediately established her largeness of character, especially in the carefree lilt with which she assured Love that he did not torment her and the insolent swagger of her insistence on ‘libertà,’ or ‘freedom.’
The most famous number in the work is Orontea’s “Intorno all’idol mio,” or, as it was translated by the multi-talented Roberta Diamond in the program booklet, “Around my idol let breezes waft, oh waft soft and kind…” It is another sleeping scene, where the aria is delivered over a prostrate Alidoro. Anna Dowsley expresses great passion within the constraints of the ‘lullaby’ genre, her swelling through a word like ‘cortesi’ and then dying away almost to nothing, conveying a sense of being riven by feeling.
Silandra must fall out of love with Corindo and in love with Alidoro. Sofia Troncoso conveyed callous dismissal of Corindo in her Act two, scene eight lament, “Addio, Corindo, addio,” but a convincing and immediate shift in desire with her importuning “Vieni, Alidoro, vieni…” where her coloratura conveyed real sensations of longing. Poor Corindo! Troncoso dredged up such an ugly tone of contempt in their subsequent duet when she demanded to know “What do you want?” that one easily sympathized with the sadness of Corindo, played with great pathos by Kelly, as he was left bereft.
Australian baritone David Greco, as Creonte, the one sober voice of reason left in the court, radiated great authority. A melisma could convey stern authority in one number, while it could be downright scary on another occasion. His spoken musings when Orontea wonders what she should do—“Banish him, send him far away”—were almost chilling.
Composer and Librettist on the Run
I must thank Pinchgut for printing the full libretto and Diamond’s translation in the program. It was a fitting tribute to the librettist’s contribution to this early operatic masterpiece.
“[I]n the detective work of conceiving a new staging, we found most inspiration in the life of the librettist Giacinto Cicognini and in the times he wrote this piece,” wrote director Constantine Costi in a note in the program booklet. That made sense in terms of explaining a certain bacchanalian character to the work. Cicognini’s life seems to have been somewhat swashbuckling. He may have fled Florence for Venice at one point because of an altercation at a horse race. Cesti, the composer, according to Grove’s Dictionary, also “precipitated a nasty quarrel that effectively barred him from ever returning to [Venice].” Florence, Venice—the list of Italian Republics which looked poorly upon the two rabble-rousing men begins to stack up. Keep in mind that “Orontea” is considered a ‘Venetian opera,’ even if the premiere was in Innsbruck!
Maybe there was something hedonistic, even chaotic, in the life stories of both these creators. But how did this work as inspiration for Costi’s production? First, Costi and set designer Jeremy Allen turned the venue, Sydney’s Angel Place Recital Hall, into a theater. The catwalk enclosing the orchestral playing area has already been mentioned. There were columns to suggest, ever-so-slightly, the pomp of Orontea’s palace, and two silvered palm trees on either side of the playing area providing the faintest whiff of ‘Egypt’… or was it the Luxor in Las Vegas? Then there was another stage and proscenium further back, which could be used to provide a golden backdrop or serve as a large tableau painting that Alidoro might be working on while seducing Silandra.
Dancing with Love and Reason
There was a high component of dance and choreography in this production, an important indicator of the element of sheer entertainment. The choreographer and movement director was Shannon Burns. At the beginning, the audience entered the hall to find a red-costumed devil sitting on a swing above the stage. This was Amore, or rather the Dancing Amore, as performed by Ryan Smith. Yes, a Dancing Amore was interpreting the Singing Amore’s pronouncements, just as the Singing Filosofia also had a dancing counterpart. Designer Sabina Myer’s devil’s suit gave an early indication of the ambiguous benefits of Love’s influence, while the decrepit movements of Allie Graham’s dark-costumed Filosofia foreshadowed who would lose the Prologue’s wager.
The novel use of both dancing and singing Amores and Filosofias had its pros and cons. In the Prologue’s ‘love versus reason’ debate, when there was meat in the text, I found my eyes wandering to the singers standing to the side instead of the dancers in the middle. On the other hand, the use of both singers and dancers to represent the characters of Amore and Filosofia meant these two inciting figures could remain present through the subsequent drama, while the singers who had originally taken their ‘voices’ covered other roles.
The set design gave a subtle suggestion of setting, but there were other, less subtle but effective, even riveting, moments in the production which really sucked the audience into the story. The red of Damien Cooper’s lighting at the moment when Orontea broke through Alidoro’s painting to interrupt his and Silandra’s tryst was particularly arresting and powerful, accompanied by Helyard’s sinister organ. The organ itself is yet another example of the illustrative color possible from this nine-member orchestra.
Too Much Fun?
Pinchgut’s website describes “Orontea” as a “pleasure-filled romp, ” which raises some follow-up questions. Might the production have benefited from a marginally more serious approach? There was even a pillow fight at one point. How important is it to grasp, early on, the hierarchies of this society that Amore will upend? While it is true that at the beginning of the performance Orontea was carried in stately fashion atop a chair that had been pre-set around a banquet table, with connotations of a sedan chair, was Orontea a queen, or could she have been any sort of high-life celebrity who consequently loses her status? One possibility may have been actually to go to Las Vegas from Egypt, rather than combine shades of both from the beginning.
The audience laughed at the production’s jokes and cheered a partial male striptease at the beginning of Part Two, but it sometimes seemed as if the production opted for laughs over drama. Costumes such as Giacinta’s cowboy suit—the scene may have been in the American Southwest, remember—added to the whimsy of the occasion, as did her lonesome-cowgirl guitar song, “Il mio ben dice ch’io speri” (“My love tells me to hope”). Did it deserve serious framing? Maybe it does not matter. Roberta Diamond’s rendition was touching, and there is a comical root to the song, as she too has fallen in love with Alidoro.
Much of the last part of the performance took place in a massive bed. Creonte, Reason’s representative in the Egyptian court and someone who has had some serious things to say, emerges from under sheets that cover Orontea, as if he has been caught, as well, ‘in flagrante delicto?’ Granted, it seems like there was a great point being made about how love is the great leveler. Other characters who similarly seem to have been toppled by the raucous effects of wild love include—judging from the characters’ costumes—a schoolboy and a polo player. But might this ‘topsy-turvydom’ have made a more powerful conclusion if elements of it had been established with a higher degree of clarity earlier on?
These reflections only came to me towards the end of the performance, after nearly three hours in the theater. But then we reached the final number. This was a ravishing quartet where all the machinations have been put to rights, Alidoro has been revealed to be of royal blood and therefore an appropriate partner for Orontea, and Silandra has returned to her Corindo. There is a glorious combination of voices when the four sing, “Love most chaste, two blessed hearts tremble with ardor,” and Alidoro gains wings. It was moving.
For the most part, this was an enjoyable evening. Does the work’s popularity extend to the present day? On balance, it does. On a poignant note, these performances were dedicated to the memory of great Australian counter-tenor Max Riebl, who was intended to have sung Corindo.
By Francisco Salazar
The Maggio Musicale has announced cast changes for its production of “Ariadne auf Naxos.”
The company noted that for the second and third performances on June 10 and 13, Daniele Macciantelli will replace Jacoub Eisa in the role of Truffaldin.
Meanwhile, the role of Zerbinetta will be sung by Gloria Rehm on June 10 replacing Jessica Pratt, who was forced to cancel due to COVID-19.
This is the second performance Pratt misses after canceling the opening and being replaced by Sara Blanch. She is expected to return for the June 13 performance.
Rehm and Macciantelli join a cast that includes Alexander Pereira, Markus Werba, Michèle Losier, AJ Glueckert, Krassimira Stoyanova, and Liviu Holender. “Ariadne auf Naxos” runs through June 18, 2022.
By Francisco Salazar
The Teatro Carlo Felice is set to present Rossini’s “Il Turco in Italia” with Sesto Quatrini conducting.
Quatrini noted that the “Genoese production we have chosen specifically to highlight the three levels of interpretation as much as possible, with a light-handed approach…the variations and cadenzas for the soloists and the embellishments for the orchestra solos were composed specially for this production, these singers, and this orchestra, in full respect of authentic Italian Belcanto tradition.”
He added, “I have decided to present this opera in its full, original version with an additional aria added at the end: Geronio’s aria “Se ho da dirla avrei molto piacere”, and the cabaletta in Fiorilla’s aria in the second act, which originated in the Rome version. I have also chosen to keep Albazar’s aria which is frequently edited out in other productions. The idea is to maintain a tight pace in the narrative, taking Rossini’s characteristic sillabato almost to the extreme and trying, where possible, to link numbers seamlessly to the recitatives.”
The cast will include Omar Cepparolli, Alessandro Abis, Iolanda Massimo, Giulia Scopelliti, Francesco Auriemma, Gianpiero Delle Grazie, Antonio Mandrillo, Dave Monaco, Nicola Zambon, and Janusz Nosek.
Italo Nunziata directs the Rossini work, which will be presented from June 10 to June 16, 2022.
By David Salazar
The Deutsche Oper am Rhein has announced its 2022-23 season.
New Productions
Michael Thalheimer directs Verdi’s “Macbeth.” Stephen Blunier conducts a cast starring Hrolfur Saemundsson, Ewa Plonka, Bogdan Talos, Ovidiu Purcel, and David Fischer, among others.
Performance Dates: June 12 – Sept. 18, 2022
Vasily Barkhatov directs “Der Fliegende Holländer” with Patrick Long conducting. The opera stars Gabriela Scherer, James Rutherford, and Norbert Ernest, among others.
Performance Dates: Oct. 2 – Nov. 13, 2022
Next up is “Iwein Löwen-Ritter” by Moritz Eggert. Harry Ogg conducts a cast starring Zilvinas Miskinis and Stefan Heidemann in the title role with Morenike as Lunete. Other cast members include Mara Guseynova, and Jorge Espino, among others.
Performance Dates: Oct. 14 – Dec. 20, 2022
Tchaikovsky’s “The Maid of Orleans” will star Maria Kataeva, Sami Luttinen, Aleksandr Nesterenko, Sergej Khomov, and Luiza Fatyol. Péter Halász conducts a production directed by Elisabeth Stöppler.
Performance Dates: Dec. 3, 2022 – Jan. 8, 2023
Antonino Fogliani conducts Gianluca Falaschi’s production of “Adriana Lecouvreur.” The opera stars Liana Aleksanyan, Sergey Polyakov, Alexey Zelenkov, and Ramona Zaharia.
Performance Dates: Jan. 14 – March 29, 2023
“La Sonnambula” will star Adela Zaharia, Heidi Elisabeth Meier, Edgardo Rocha, and Bogdan Talos. Antonio Fogliani conducts the new production by Johannes Erath.
Performance Dates: Feb. 26 – March 24, 2023
“Die Tote Stadt” will get a new production directed by Daniel Kramer. Axel Kober and Harry Ogg conduct a cast starring Corby Welch, Mara Guseynova, Nadja Stefanoff, Emmett O’Hanlon, and Richard Sveda.
Performance Dates: April 16 – 24, 2023
Ronchetti’s “Das Fliegende Klassenzimmer” will be directed by Ilaria Lanzino and conducted by Patrick Francis Chestnut. The opera stars Chorong Kim, Valerie Eickhoff, David Fischer, Kimberley Boettger-Soller, Sander de Jong, and Roman Hoza.
Performance Dates: April 15 – June 5, 2023
The final new production of the year will be “Hérodiade.” Marc Piollet conducts a new production by Lorenzo Fiorino starring Bogdan Baciu, Ramona Zaharia, Luiza Fatyol, and Riccardo Massi.
Performance Dates: May 27 – June 25, 2023
Revivals
Peter Halász and Marco Alibrando conducts “L’Elisir d’Amore” in a production by Joan Anton Rechi. The cast stars Andres Sulbaran as Nemorino, Lavinia Dames and Elena Sancho alternating as Adina, Roman Hoza as Belcore, and basses Giulio Mastrototaro, Günes Gürle, and Pablo Ruiz as Dulcamara.
Performance Dates: August 20 – Sept. 24, 2022
Antonino Fogliani and Srba Dinic will conduct “Lucia di Lammermoor” with a cast starring Sooyeon Lee, Bianca Tognocchi, and Olga Jelinkova as the title character. Other cast members include Ioan Hotea, Ovidiu Purcel, Oreste Cosimo, Bogdan Baciu, Bogdan Talos, and Luke Stoker.
Performance Dates: August 21 – Oct. 26, 2022
Harry Ogg and Antonino Fogliani conduct “Don Giovanni,” which will star Richard Sveda, Emmett O’Hanlon, Sylvia Hamvasi, Adela Zaharia, Charles Sy, Jussi Myllys, Sarah Ferede, Beniamin Pop, Bogdan Talos, and Luiza Fatylol, among others.
Performance Dates: Sept. 10 – Dec. 22, 2022
Ambrogio Maestri stars in “Falstaff” alongside Sylvia Hamvasic, Renee Morloc, Bogdan Baciu, and Lavinia Dames, among others. Axel Kobler conducts.
Performance Dates: Sept. 30 – Oct. 13, 2022
Peter Halasz conducts “Die Fledermaus” with a cast featuring Jussi Myllys, Cornel Frey, Astrid Kessler, Anke Krabbe, Sarah Ferede, Anna Harvey, Kimberly Boettger Soller, David Fischer, and Ovidiu Purcel.
Performance Dates: Oct. 23, 2022 – Feb. 24, 2023
Axel Kober, Harry Ogg, and Vitali Alekseenok conduct “Tosca” which will star Liana Aleksanayan in the title role, Eduardo Aladren as Cavaradossi, and Alexey Zelenkov and Daniel Luis Vicente as Scarpia.
Performance Dates: Oct. 28, 2022 – Jan. 28, 2023
Péter Halász, Alex Kober, and Marie Jacquot conduct “Hänsel und Gretel” with a cast starring Valerie Eickhoff, Kimberly Boettger-Soller, Anna Harvey, Lavinia Dames, Heidi Elisabeth Meier, Anke Krabbe, and Inga-Britt Andersson, among others.
Performance Dates: Dec. 5 – Dec. 12, 2022
Antonino Fogliani conducts “Don Pasquale” with a cast starring Bartosz Urbanowicz, Jorge Espino, Jake Muffet, Andres Sulbaran, Lavinia Dames, and Elena Sancho Pereg.
Performance Dates: Jan. 7 – March 10, 2023
“Le Nozze di Figaro” stars Emmett O’Hanlon, Liana Aleksanyan, Paula Iancic, Beniamin Pop, Katarzyna Kuncio, Florian Simson, Valerie Eickhoff, Kimberley and Boettger-Soller. Benjamin Reiners and Hendrik Vestmann conduct.
Performance Dates: Jan. 29 – April 1, 2023
Axel Kober will conduct “Siegfried” with Michael Weinius, Corney Frey, Simon Neal, Stefan Heidemann, Thorsten Grümbel, Daniel Köhler, and Susan Maclean.
Performance Dates: Feb. 5 – April 9, 2023
“Die Zauberflöte” will will be conducted by Péter Halász, Katharina Muellner, Vitali Alekseenok, and Axel Kober. It will star David Fischer, Jully Myllys, Lavinia Dames, Anke Krabbe, Luke Stoker, Thorsten Grümbel, Aleksandra Olcyzk, Heidi Elisabeth Meier, Dimitr Kotidou, Julia Sitkovetsky, Beate Ritter, and Christina Poulitsi.
Performance Dates: March 1 – June 19, 2023
“Der Kaizer von Atlantis” will star Emmett O’Hanlon, Luke Stoker, Sergej Khomov, and Rosario Chávez. Ilaria Lanzino directs with Christoph Stöcker and Rainer Mühlbach rotating at the podium.
Performance Dates: March 8, 2023 – May 17, 2023
Catherine Foster will headline “Turandot” alongside Teodor Ilincai, MIkhail Pirogov, Sami Luttinen, Luiza Fatyol, Sylvia Hamvasi, Anke Krabbe, and Johannes Preißinger. Axel Kober conducts.
Performance Dates: March 23 – April 23, 2023
The company will present Diana Syrse’s “Der Kiosk” as directed by Ilaria Lanzino. The children’s opera will star Susan Maclean, Anna Neubert, Robert Beck, and Rie Watanabe.
Performance Dates: April 5 – June 15, 2023
Elena Sancho Pereg, Günes Gürle, Andrés Sulbarán, Konu im, and Florian Simson star in “La Fille du Régiment.” Antonino Fogliani conducts.
Performance Dates: April 19 – June 9, 2023
Paolo Arrivabeni conducts “Madama Butterfly” with a cast starring Liana Aleksanyan, Anna Harvey, Maria Kataeva, and Ovidiu Purcel.
Performance Dates: May 5 – June 21, 2023
There will also be a presentation of the children’s opera “Nils Karlsson Tom Thumb” by Thierry Tidrow. The opera will star singer Annika Boos with violinist Karen Nakayama.
Performance Dates: TBA
Concerts
Bogdan Baciu, Güner Gürle and Sebastian Ludwig sing a recital.
Performance Dates: Sept. 18, 2022
There will be an “Aids Gala” conducted by Axel Kober and starring Ramona Zaharia, Nikola Hillebrand, Maria Mudryak, Ioan Hotea, Michele Angelini, Sergey Kaydalov, Riccardo Fassi, Nils Wanderer, and Andrés Sulbarán.
Performance Dates: Oct. 22, 2022
Anna Harvey, Jake Muffet, and James Williams give a recital.
Performance Dates: Oct. 30, 2022
“Christmas with Friends” will feature Chorong Kim , Sander de Jong , Carmen Artaza , Jake Muffett, and Andrei Nicoara under the musical direction of Marie Jacquot.
Performance Dates: Dec. 15, 2022
Valerie Eickhoff, Roman Hoza, and Cecile Tallec perform in recital.
Performance Dates: March 5, 2023
The Comedian Harmonists give a series of concerts.
Performance Dates: March 12 – June 10, 2023
Heidi Elisabeth Meier, Thorsten Grümbel, and Wolfgang Wiechert perform in recital.
Performance Dates: April 23, 2023
There will be a Festliche Operngala with soloists to be announced at a future date.
Performance Dates: May 12, 2023
By David Salazar
(Photo Credit: Zdeněk Sokol)
As part of its “Musica non grata” series, the National Theatre Opera in Prague is set to present Erwin Schulhoff’s “Flammen” for the first time since its world premiere in 1932. The opera opens on June 12, 2022 and runs through Nov. 22, 2022.
The work, which is a unique take on the Don Juan myth, will be directed by famed director Calixto Bieito, who will hone in on the surrealist aspects of the work. The opera will be conducted by Jiří Rožeň and stars Victoria Khoroshunova, Denys Pivnitskyi, Tamara Morozová, Jan Hny, Michal Marhold, Jaroslav Patocka, Josef Palán, and Tone Kummervold, among others.
“I was not sure if I could ever completely understand this work, but I felt that I would be able to fill it with my own imagination,” Bieito said in an official press statement issued by the company. “’Flammen’ is a work that allows us to speak of darkness, the emptiness inside a man, images appearing in our dreams, the passing of life into death, of seduction, desire, and love. It is an opera breathing the absolute freedom of our imagination.”
Schulhoff was 29 when he met librettist Karel Josef Benes, the creator of the narrative poem “Don Juan.” Per Rožeň, the music weaves in many of Schulhoff’s stylistic obsessions, including his interest in jazz and dadaism.
“The opera immediately draws your attention by its structure with significant purely symphonic episodes. Singing, on the other hand, is sparser and the chorus only has a single scene to perform,” said Rožeň. “Also the way in which Schulhoff combines various styles is worth mentioning. His music ranges from late romanticism to expressionism with overtones of impressionism suddenly switching to a jazz scene or a nuns’ psalmody.’”
For this production, the Czech company is reconstructing the opera’s original Czech libretto as there is no final authorized version of the work, and changes were made following the premiere that were never inscribed in the score.
By Francisco Salazar
The 11th International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition has announced the singers that will qualify for the second stage of the competition.
An international Jury chaired by John Allison, editor-in-chief of Opera Magazine, selected 42 young artists from among 99 who entered the Competition.
The first stage of the competition lasted three days and saw singers present two pieces with piano accompaniment – a world repertoire opera aria from the 18th or 19th century and a 19th, 20th or 21st century Polish song.
The second stage will determine the finalists of the Competition and will see the singers perform two pieces, which the Jury members will choose from the three the soloists have submitted. They will perform an 18th or 19th century opera aria, not performed in the first stage, a 19th, 20th or 21st century opera aria and a 19th or 20th century song from the world repertoire.
Each singer will be accompanied by pianists, one of whom will be awarded with a prize for the best young pianist.
Here is a list of the singers who qualified for Stage 2 of the 11th International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition:
1. [4] RAFAEL ALEJANDRO DEL ANGEL GARCIA – MEKSYK/MEXICO tenor
2. [5] DARIJA AUGUŠTAN – CHORWACJA/CROATIA soprano
3. [6] JUSTYNA BLUJ – POLSKA/POLAND soprano
4. [7] ELIZA BOOM – NOWA ZELANDIA/NEW ZEALAND soprano
5. [11] KYU CHOI – KOREA POŁUDNIOWA/SOUTHKOREA baritone
6. [12] LINSEY COPPENS – BELGIA/BELGIUM mezzo-soprano
7. [14] JASMIN DELFS – NIEMCY/GERMANY soprano
8. [15] YIHAN DUAN – USA soprano
9. [16] ARTURO EDUARDO ESPINOSA BRAVO – CHILE bass-baritone
10. [19] INNA FEDORII – UKRAINA/UKRAINE soprano
11. [21] JAKUB FOLTAK – POLSKA/POLAND countertenor
12. [22] GABRIELA GOŁASZEWSKA – POLSKA/POLAND soprano
13. [23] JULIANA GRIGORYAN – ARMENIA soprano
14. [26] GYUNGMIN GWON – KOREA POŁUDNIOWA/SOUTH KOREA baritone
15. [28] SONJA HERRANEN FINLANDIA/FINLAND soprano
16. [30] MONIKA JÄGEROVÁ – CZECHY/CZECHIA contralto
17. [32] NAZARII KACHALA – UKRAINA/UKRAINE tenor
18. [33] PIOTR KALINA – POLSKA/POLAND tenor
19. [34] MINSEOK DAVID KANG – KOREA POŁUDNIOWA/SOUTH KOREA bass
20. [40] VLADA KOIEVA – UKRAINA/UKRAINE soprano
21. [41] MYKHAILO KUSHLYK – UKRAINA/UKRAINE tenor
22. [44] OLEH LEBEDYEV – UKRAINA/UKRAINE baritone
23. [48] MARIANA MAZUR – UKRAINA/UKRAINE soprano
24. [49] SZYMON MECHLIŃSKI – POLSKA/POLAND baritone
25. [50] TIGRAN MELKONYAN – ARMENIA tenor
26. [55] DEAN MURPHY – USA baritone
27. [56] ZUZANNA NALEWAJEK – POLSKA/POLAND mezzo-soprano
28. [62] THEODORE PLATT – WIELKA BRYTANIA/UNITED KINGDOM baritone
29. [63] VALENTINA PLUZHNIKOVA – UKRAINA/UKRAINE mezzo-soprano
30. [68] ANASTASIA POLISHCHUK – UKRAINA/UKRAINE mezzo-soprano
31. [71] SZYMON RACZKOWSKI – POLSKA/POLAND baritone
32. [73] MATTEO IVAN RAŠIĆ – CHORWACJA/CROATIA tenor
33. [74] GABRIEL ROLLINSON – NIEMCY/GERMANY baritone
34. [81] RICHARD TREY SMAGUR – USA tenor
35. [85] JERICA STEKLASA – SŁOWENIA/SLOVENIA soprano
36. [88] JAKUB SZMIDT – POLSKA/POLAND bass
37. [89] VLADYSLAV TLUSHCH – UKRAINA/UKRAINE baritone
38. [92] PAWEŁ TROJAK – POLSKA/POLAND baritone
39. [93] VOLODYMYR TYSHKOV – UKRAINA/UKRAINE bass
40. [99] NOMBULELO YENDE – RPA/SOUTH AFRICA soprano
41. [100] YULIIA ZASIMOVA – UKRAINA/UKRAINE soprano
42. [101] XIAOMENG ZHANG – CHINY/CHINA baritone
By David Salazar
The opera company of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava, Czech Republic is set to present “The Two Widows” starting on June 9, 2022.
The opera by Smetana will be directed by Rocc and conducted by Marek Sedivy with a cast starring Lada Bocková, Veronika Rovná, Martin Srejma, Frantisek Zahradnicek, Václav Cizek, Karolina Levkova, and Petr Urbanek.
The opera is based on Jean Pierre Félicien Mallefille’s one-act play “Les deux veuves” and premiered on March 27, 1874 at the Prague Czech Theatre. The work centers on two widows, Caroline and Agnes, who lead different lives in a castle. Caroline is highly independent while Agnes remains in mourning. At one point, Caroline conspires to make Agnes fall in love with her suitor Ladislaus in order to help her overcome her sadness.
There will be additional performances in this run scheduled on June 11 and 13, 2022. The production will then be revived on Sept. 14, 2022 for another four shows and then returns on Jan. 22, 2023. In sum, there will be a total of 11 performances throughout the three runs.
