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Joyce El-Khoury: “Our voices are designed to share music with the world”
After studying at the University of Ottawa and the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Joyce El-Khoury graduated from the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. She made her world debut at Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival in 2010, where she brilliantly replaced one of her colleagues in the title role of Puccini’s Suor Angelica, following a performance of Gianni Schicchi. We were thrilled by her portrayal of Imogene in Bellini’s Il...
Published onthe 09 of June
Mozart in Salzburg - the changing faces of the local boy
As the Salzburg Festival approaches its centenary next August, how can we not mention Mozart in the history of the event? The composer is obviously inseparable from the Austrian city, but the performance of the local boy's works have varied during the hundred years of the Festival's existence, sometimes presenting his great classics, sometimes rediscovering some of his lesser known works, or to remind us that even today, "Mozart has a lot to tell...
Published onthe 01 of July
Verona Arena 2021: Sonya Yoncheva will sing Aida for the first time
Although there are still doubts about the exact course of the 2020 edition of the Verona Arena Festival (which could be based on small-scale productions for a reduced audience), the 2021 edition of the lyrical event is already the subject of special attention. In 2021, the 150th anniversary of the creation of Aida (first performed in 1871) will be commemorated, and the work obviously occupies a very special place in the Veronese programme -- the first edition of the festival in 1913 opened...
Published onthe 19 of May
A Rigoletto in the open air from July onwards to relaunch the Rome Opera House
Italy was particularly hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, but after several weeks of lockdown, local authorities are now considering a resumption of business, including cultural activities, and the Rome Opera House could be the first opera house to raise the curtain again. While there is no question of hosting the public in the auditorium (gatherings of more than 200 people in enclosed spaces are still forbidden in Italy and could remain so until the autumn), according to Corriere della...
Published onthe 12 of May
A "rejuvenated" 2020-2021 season at the Vienna State Opera
After ten years at the head of the Wiener Staatsoper, Dominique Meyer has this year taken over the direction of La Scala in Milan. He leaves his position to Bogdan Roscic, 52, whose name we recognise for having been the president of the Sony Classical label, specifically recruited by the Austrian government to "breathe new life into the Viennese institution". The new musical director will be Philippe Jordan, who arrives after years in the service of the Paris Opera, and who will...
Published onthe 29 of April
Fidelio, a Unique Opera
In 2020, Beethoven's 250th birthday is commemorated and many opera houses take the opportunity to perform his unique opera, Fidelio. Although it was painstakingly composed, the work is today one of the references in the repertoire and shows an incredible modernity – musically, by laying the foundations for Romanticism, but also for its already "feminist" libretto. Starting on 1 March, the Royal Opera House - Covent Garden in London performs a highly anticipated new...
Published onthe 28 of February
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
Preview: Royal Opera 2017/18 Season
Although Kasper Holten left the post of Artistic Director of the Royal Opera in March 2017, he played the leading role in programming its 2017/18 season and, with a good blend of new productions and strong revivals, it looks to be a particularly fine one. Some composers whose operas have been neglected in recent seasons get a look-in, while several contemporary composers also have the opportunity to present new works. Add in the fact that many evenings feature some of the world’s...
Published onthe 25 of April
The Tales of Hoffmann, Grand Finale or Revival?
Long considered an amusing “operetta maker”, Jacques Offenbach, the symbol of Parisian gaité under the Second Empire, left his Contes d’Hoffmann to posterity just before dying (he never saw the premiere). A darkly fantastical work on the search for the absolute and the feminine ideal, which became a masterpiece of French romanticism, proving to be resolutely modern in its construction. In a few days we’ll be able to hear The Tales of Hoffmann first at the...
Published onthe 27 of October
Faust: the tragic illusion of Marguerite
Breaking with the image of Goethe’s work (which the writer himself deemed impossible to adapt), Charles Gounod’s Faust is often perceived as a comic opera, a light entertainment fit only for arousing the enthusiasm of the broadest audience, especially with its popular arias (starting with “Je ris de me voir si belle en ce miroir”, popularised by Tintin’s Castafiore). Despite this, the work is far more dense than it seems, revealing Gounod’s conflicts...
Published onthe 10 of August
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Thomas Adès, pragmatic contemporary
In the 20th century, there was an opera mystique, the mystique of the impossible and often single work: Schönberg never managed to find a satisfying conclusion to Moses und Aaron, and Messiaen, at age 75 and after eight years of work, delivered an outrageous and fascinating Saint Francis. And then there are others, composers who have long, continuous and productive careers, like Britten or Henze. Thomas Adès, a 45-year-old English composer, is one of the latter. The work...
Published onthe 26 of July
Cosi fan tutte, an “éducation sentimentale”
Historically, the Festival of Aix-en-Provence lets a large place for Mozart's works, and to open its 2016 edition this Thursday, the festival will play a new production of Così fan Tutte set by the filmmaker Christophe Honoré (who transposes the action in the african setting of the mussolinian Eritrea of the colonial late 30s) with Kate Lindsey and Sandrine Piau. To better prepare, we return to the origins of this Mozart's opera...
Published onthe 28 of June