Month: January 2023

English National Opera brings back Calixto Bieito’s bold and gritty production of Bizet’s hugely popular opera Carmen – last staged by ENO in 2020. Directed by Jamie Manton, the opera stars mezzo-soprano Ginger Costa-Jackson as the fiery, passionate and seductive Carmen, and tenor Sean Panikkar as Don José, the army corporal who falls for her…

Nice Opera has selected Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, for its first production of 2023. With an underlying theme of love, fidelity, sacrifice and the liberation from oppression, Fidelio stars Angélique Boudeville as Leonore, Gregory Kunde as her husband Florestan, Thomas Ghazeli as Don Pizarro, Birger Radde as Don Fernando, and Albert Dohmen as Rocco. The…

As of this year, Cecilia Bartoli takes over the role of director of Monte-Carlo Opera – the first woman to hold this position in the history of this opera house. Ms Bartoli also stars in Handel’s Alcina, the first production by Monte-Carlo Opera of this new year. With direction by multi-award-winning Christof Loy, this co-production…

This weekend’s Live in HD transmission from the Metropolitan Opera features Umberto Giordano’s Fedora, starring Sonya Yoncheva and Piotr Beczała. This new production by David McVicar was premiered by the Met on New Year’s Eve in a performance described by the Observer as “Opera at its most irresistible!” – and will now be available to…

Violinist James Ehnes is the guest artist in this week’s San Francisco Symphony concert – the first of two this month featuring conductors making their debuts at Davies Symphony Hall. Elim Chan leads the Symphony and James Ehnes in Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto in a performance which also features the World Premiere of Elizabeth Ogonek’s…