For Peter Sellars, Mozart’s Idomeneo is a ‘visionary’ work, a utopian opera centred on a classic struggle between a father and a son written by an angry 25-year-old composer who wanted to show the musical establishment what a new generation could do.
Category: Commentary
London Bel Canto Festival 2019: an interview with Ken Querns-Langley
“Physiognomy, psychology and technique.” These are the three things that determine the way a singer’s sound is produced, so Ken Querns-Langley explains when we meet in the genteel surroundings of the National Liberal Club, where the training programmes, open masterclasses and performances which will form part the third London Bel Canto Festival will be held from 5th-24th August.
The Royal Opera Tours to Japan in September 2019
The Royal Opera is delighted to be returning to Japan in September 2019 as part of an exciting year of UK-Japan exchanges, titled UK in Japan 2019-20, following the Company’s hugely successful tour in autumn 2015.
Longborough Festival Opera announces collaboration with The Academy of Ancient Music in 2020
Longborough Festival Opera will collaborate with the Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) for its production of Monteverdi The Return of Ulysses in 2020. Robert Howarth will conduct Monteverdi’s beautiful, compassionate drama, with Tom Randle in the title role.
Glyndebourne’s first production of Dialogues des CarmÈlites to open Glyndebourne Festival 2020
Glyndebourne’s first production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des CarmÈlites will open Glyndebourne Festival 2020, it was announced today. The opera house unveiled its 2020 plans at an event in its recently built Production Hub, hosted by Glyndebourne’s new senior leadership team, Artistic Director Stephen Langridge and Managing Director Sarah Hopwood, who jointly replace the former position of General Director.
Garsington Opera Announces 2020 season and 2019 Paris Performance
Garsington Opera is delighted to announce the 2020 season that will open on 28 May, featuring three new productions – Verdi’s Un giorno di regno, Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto, Dvo?·k’s Rusalka and a revival of John Cox’s legendary production of Beethoven’s Fidelio.
Un ballo in maschera at Investec Opera Holland Park: in conversation with Alison Langer
“Sop. Page, attendant on the King.” So, reads a typical character description of the loyal page Oscar, whose actions, in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, unintentionally lead to his monarch’s death. He reveals the costume that King Gustavo is wearing at the masked ball, thus enabling the monarch’s secretary, Anckarstroem, to shoot him. The dying King falls into the faithful Oscar’s arms.
Martin Duncan directs the first UK staging of Offenbach’s Fantasio at Garsington
A mournful Princess forced by her father into an arranged marriage. A Prince who laments that no-one loves him for himself, and so exchanges places with his aide-de-camp. A melancholy dreamer who dons a deceased jester’s motley and finds himself imprisoned for impertinence.
Thomas Larcher’s The Hunting Gun at the Aldeburgh Festival: in conversation with Peter Schˆne
‘Aloneness’ does not immediately seem a likely or fruitful subject for an opera. But, loneliness and isolation – an individual’s inner sphere, which no other human can truly know or enter – are at the core of Yasushi Inoue’s creative expression.
Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2020 Ring Cycle
Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced both schedules and cast-lists for is Spring 2020 performances of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Given the series of individual productions already staged by the company since Fall 2016, that pave the way for the complete cycle, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s complete production should affirm the artistic might of the great composer.