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© Andrew Eccles
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Renée Fleming: “I'm happy to see people embracing new music and new works that are relevant”
In 2017, the Marschallin in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera was supposed to be Renée Fleming's last opera role, after a career of countless unforgettable performances. In addition to numerous recordings and concerts - including the art song programme with pianist Evgeny Kissin this summer at the Verbier Festival and the Salzburg Summer Festival -, the soprano diva has not only appeared in musicals (The Light in the Piazza, Carousel), but...
Published onthe 02 of August
Camilla Nylund: “Every opera role is like a journey”
An accomplished Strauss performer, especially in the role of Salome, Finnish soprano Camilla Nylund started to extend her Wagner repertoire with Isolde in June 2022 and Brünnhilde this season in Die Walküre and Siegfried at the Operhnaus Zürich. While at the Verbier Festival to sing Marie in a concert version of Berg’s Wozzeck, and before the last instalment of the Ring cycle in Zurich in November, we met with her to find out more about her career...
Published onthe 28 of July
Meeting with Catarina Molder, artistic director of Lisboa Operafest
In addition of her career of opera singer, Catarina Molder is now heading the major (and only) opera festival in Portugal, and we have met her at the occasion of the third edition of Lisboa Operafest which took place in the gardens of National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon from 19th of august to 10th of september. And as she has many other activities in the world of opera singing, she tells us about...
Published onthe 17 of September
Bruno de Sá: “Opera business doesn’t reflect the discussions we’re having in our society”
Don’t call him countertenor! Bruno de Sá’s golden male soprano is becoming one of the most sought-after voices not only in the baroque milieu, but also anywhere soprano lines are required. We met him at the Verbier Festival, where he performed Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with conductor Reinhard Goebel and mezzo-soprano Anna Lucia Richter. He spoke about the challenges of finding his own way through the opera milieu since he discovered his singular tessitura with...
Published onthe 14 of August
Angela Meade: “Now I am able to take on some of the heavier Verdi roles”
Soprano Angela Meade is famous for her incredibly powerful interpretations of Italian opera throughout the world on the most prestigious stages. We met her at the Verbier Festival where she was singing Amelia in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera… *** Opera Online: Psychologically, Amelia might be one of the most sincere characters in Un ballo in maschera. How do you portray that in your singing? Angela Meade: In terms of technique, it’s not just blasting stuff,...
Published onthe 26 of July
Interview with Jeanine De Bique for her Alcina role debut at the Opéra national de Paris
Soprano Jeanine De Bique, from Trinidad and Tobago, has built her career on Mozart and Haendel, which has made her one of the reference performers of these composers today. In her recently released first album, Mirrors, she puts into perspective Haendel heroines with another version of who they can be in some other composers’ works of the same period. She was Rodelinda at the Opéra de Lille, Théâtre de Caen and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées...
Published onthe 19 of November
Interview with Lotte de Beer, stage director of Aida at the Opéra national de Paris
Lotte de Beer made her highly anticipated Opéra national de Paris debut two weeks ago with an innovative Aida – starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tézier – which gathers the ghosts of colonialism. She has encompassed a certain number of opera genres (Falstaff, Puccini’s Il Trittico, Carmen, Rusalka, Mosè in Egitto, Lulu…), has been appointed Director of the Volksoper in Vienna from next September, and will stage Le Nozze di...
Published onthe 04 of March
Contemporary opera: A conversation with Vasco Mendonça
Vasco Mendonça is one of the rising stars among contemporary composers. In addition to his studies with Klaas de Vries and George Benjamin, he has participated in the Rolex Mentor and Protegé Arts Initiative along with Kaija Saariaho and represented Portugal at UNESCO’s International Rostrum of Composers. His first piece of musical theatre, Ping, was adapted from a Samuel Beckett monologue and premiered in 2011. The House Taken Over (2013) – based on...
Published onthe 30 of January
A conversation with Golda Schultz
After singing at the Opernhaus Zürich (La Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro) and Bayerische Staatsoper (Liù in Turandot and a special concert with Thomas Hampson and Kirill Petrenko) in July, soprano Golda Schultz performed in Mahler's Second Symphony for the closing concert of the Verbier Festival, alongside with mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova, conductor Fabio Luisi and the Verbier Festival Orchestra. We met her between two rehearsals in Verbier to talk about her repertoire...
Published onthe 21 of August
5 Questions to Jonas Söderman Bohlin
Jonas Söderman Bohlin composed the music and co-wrote the libretto of Tristessa, a brand new opera premiered at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm last week. The work is based on The Passion of New Eve, a book written by Angela Carter in the late 70s. It tells the story of Evelyn, an aggressive man who will become a woman against his will through the action of a feminist cult. He worships Tristessa, a Golden Age movie star that will eventually share his destiny. We discussed...
Published onthe 11 of October
An interview with Helmut Deutsch, pianist and accompanist
For a long time, accompanists, the artists who provide musical accompaniment to singers during recitals, have remained in the shadows (and in anonymity). For several years (or decades), the main role of these musicians has been more recognised, and recitals are increasingly true duets with the singer. Helmut Deutsch, pianist and musicologist, is one of these internationally respected accompanists. He plays on the most prestigious stages, having notably accompanied the baritone Hermann...
Published onthe 18 of September
La Damnation de Faust : genesis of a production with Stéphane Lissner
Early this December, the Opéra de Paris will present La Damnation de Faust, by Hector Berlioz, featuring Sophie Koch (in the role of Marguerite), Jonas Kaufmann (playing Faust) and Bryn Terfel (as Mephistopheles), in a new production designed by Alvis Hermanis. A much-anticipated production because of its prestigious casting, of course, but also because it is intended to be emblematic of the work of the newly appointed Stéphane Lissner, officially at the head of the Paris...
Published onthe 07 of December