Irish National Opera Brings Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

            The perfect opera nights are what we are all craving for. How much does it take for your opera experience to feel perfect? Dozens of singers, musicians and technicians have to be perfectly in sync for several hours, which is already something: the basics we all agree on. Then, it gets more personal. Who is singing? Do you need this big name on the program for your night to be perfect? Your seat? Close enough? Does someone...

            Willy Decker’s Traviata premiered in Salzburg in 2005 with Rolando Villazón and Anna Netrebko. It had already generated huge DVD sales and had become one of the most iconic contemporary productions across the opera world when Peter Gelb picked it up in 2010 for the Metropolitan Opera, consequently getting rid of the cherished but aging 1996 Franco Zeffirelli’s production. Needless to say, even though New...

The idea of this project was born in 2010 at the Ruhr Festival. The famous Catalan artistic team "La Fura dels Baus" was invited and brought an old icebreaker from Norway to be used as their performing stage. Linked to the German Mythology and the oeuvre of Richard Wagner, their program was called Global Rheingold. Once Carlus Padrissa (a main member of the team) announced his dream to create a musical theater piece of sirene songs, Birgit Meyer, Head of the Cologne Opera, as...

The Tyrolean Festival in Erl has gained an international reputation and since its new Festspielhaus is finaly built, it offers a venue in winter too. This year is presented a new interpretation of Fidelio under the direction of the German sculptor Aleaxander Polzin. It is his first appearance as opera director. One can feel his artistic background : once a big white linen cloth covering all the stage and its decoration has been emoved, a big sculpted skull in soft brown is dominating ,...

In only 24 days, Maestro Gioachino Rossino created his masterpiece La Cenerentola. The date of the world premiere was fixed even before the title, the libretto or the plot of the opera was known. So once the old fairytale was decided to be the story, Rossini recycled out of former composition and created this opera buffo, including semiseria parts. The first performance was rejected by the audience but soon the work started its triumphal success worldwide, being even the first opera to be...

The answer to this question depends (as it usually does, and especially when it comes to a ‘belcanto’ opera) on the particular singer.  Barcelona has always seen, until now, the soprano version, the best known, but Malibran’s  voice was certainly not the kind of Ronzi de Begnis’ (furthermore, the latter had sung at Naples Buondelmonte  while Malibran was the first Stuarda at Milano when the opera appeared for the first time with its actual...