Royal Opera House Cinema 2014-15 Schedule Leaked

Yesterday the cinema schedule for the Royal Opera was leaked. The link was immediately taken down but the schedule is as follows: 

The official program of the Live Cinema Season 2014/15

Thursday 16 October 2014 [7:15pm]

The Royal Ballet

MacMillan: MANON (live)

Cast tbc

Monday 27 October 2014 [7:15pm]

The Royal Opera

Verdi : I DUE FOSCARI (live)

New Production

Plácido Domingo / Francesco Meli / Conductor: Antonio Pappano

Wednesday 26 November 2014 [7:15pm]

The Royal Opera

Donizetti: L’ELISIR D’AMORE (live)

Vittorio Grigolo / Lucy Crowe / Bryn Terfel / Conductor: Daniele Rustioni

Tuesday 16 December 2014 [7:15pm]

The Royal Ballet

Wheeldon:  ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND (live)

Cast tbc

Thursday 29 January 2015 [7:15pm]

The Royal Opera

Giordano: ANDREA CHÉNIER (live)

New Production

Jonas Kaufmann / Eva-Maria Westbroek / Conductor: Antonio Pappano

Tuesday 24 February 2015 [7:15pm]

The Royal Opera

Wagner:  DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER (live)

Bryn Terfel / Conductor: Andris Nelsons

Tuesday 17 March 2015 [7:15pm]

The Royal Ballet

Petipa: SWAN LAKE (live)

Cast tbc

Wednesday 1 April 2015 [7:15pm]

The Royal Opera

Weill: RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNY (live)

Anne Sofie von Otter / Willard White / Christine Rice

Conductor: Mark Wigglesworth

Tuesday 5 May 2015 [7:15pm]

The Royal Ballet

Ashton: LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE (live)

Cast tbc

Wednesday 10 June 2015 [7:15pm]

The Royal Opera

Puccini: LA BOHÈME (live)

Anna Netrebko / Joseph Calleja / Conductor: Dan Ettinger

Sunday 5 July 2015 [2:45pm]

The Royal Opera

Rossini: GUILLAUME TELL (live)

Gerald Finley / John Osborn / Conductor: Antonio Pappano

Vienna State Opera 2014-15 season Features Anna Netrebko, Juan Diego Florez and Angela Gheorghiu

After a number hours in which the Vienna State Opera's website crashed, I finally have a list of works which will be performed this year. The reason for slow connection was because the company announced the season and puts all tickets on sale immediately. 

The upcoming season will see 223 staged opera performance and will include six new productions listed below: 

The Tempest (Austrian premiere) 14 June 2015 c: Thomas Ades, d: Robert Lepage, with Adrian Eröd, Audrey Luna, Stephanie Houtzeel, David Daniels

• Idomeneo 5 October 2014 c: Christoph Eschenbach, d: Kasper Holten, with Michael Schade, Margarita Gritskova, Maria Bengtsson, Chen Reiss 
• Khovanshchina 15 November 2014 c: Semyon Bychkov, d: Lev Dodin, with Ferruccio Furlanetto, Christopher Ventris, Herbert Lippert, Andrzej Dobber, Ain Anger, Elisabeth Kulman, Norbert Ernst
• Rigoletto 20 December 2014 c: Franz Welser-Möst, d: Pierre Audi, with Piotr Beczala, Simon Keenlyside, Valentina Nafornită, Elena Maximova 
• Elektra 29 March 2015 c: Franz Welser-Möst, d: Uwe Eric Laufenberg, with Anna Larsson, Nina Stemme, Anne Schwanewilms, Falk Struckman 
• Don Pasquale 26April 2015 c: Jesús López-Cobos, d: Irina Brook, 
 with Michele Pertusi, Juan Diego Flórez, Alessio Arduini, Valentina Nafornită

The company will see the return of a number of stars including Juan Diego Florez in L'Elisir d'Amore and La Cenerentola, Placido Domingo and Maria Guleghina in Nabucco, Anna Netrebko in Anna Bolena and Angela Gheorghiu in Werther. Kristine Opolais and Piotr Beczala will perform Rusalka while Olga Peretyatko will bring her acclaimed Elvira in I Puritani. Another highlight will be Aleksandrs Antonenko in Tosca and Pique Dame. Elina Garanca will bring her acclaimed Octavian to Der Rosenkavalier while Ramon Vargas will sing Don Carlos, Werther, and Simon Boccanegra. Nina Stemme will also return as Minnie in La Fanciulla del West. For more Click Here 

Netrebko To Sing La Boheme At ROH?

It looks like Anna Netrebko will bring her acclaimed Mimi to the Royal Opera House. Intermezzo reveals that Jennifer Rowley will join the Russian Diva as Musetta. How true this information is yet to be confirmed. The season is supposed to be announced at the end of the month.

Gheorghiu Replaces Netrebko

Angela Gheorghiu will replace Anna Netrebko in Baden Baden in the new production of Gounod's Faust. The soprano known for cancelling ironically has been on the rescue mission as of later. She recently  savid the day when Harteros pulled out of a high profile concert last month. Now Gheorghiu's Marguerite replaces Netrebko's in both Hamburg andBaden Baden.

Netrebko was to have sung the role in four theaters but decided to leave the production because she did not feel her voice suited it anymore.
Netrebko will instead give a concert in Baden-Baden with arias from Macbeth, Trovatore, Manon Lescaut, Adriana Lecouvreur, etc., on Tuesday, 10th (June). Faust-ticketholders wil be allowed to buy discounted tickets for that concert, but the Faust-tickets can't be returned.

 The Baden Baden production will be directed by Bartlett Sher and will also star Erwin Schrott and Charles Castronovo.  

Bayerische Staatsoper 2014-15 Season

The Bavarian State Opera have announced their 2014-15 season with six new productions and a numbr of a list singers. The following are the new productions:  

• Věc Makropulos - Conductor: Tomáš Hanus  Production: Árpád Schilling with Nadja Michael in the title role. 
• Manon Lescaut - Conductor: Alain Altinoglu Production: Hans Neuenfels - Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann
• Lucia di Lammermoor - Conductor: Kirill Petrenko  Production: Barbara Wysocka - Diana Damrau and Pavol Breslik head the  cast
• Lulu - Conductor: Kirill Petrenko  Production: Dmitri Tcherniakov - Marlis Peterson and Bo Skovhus 
• Pelléas et Mélisande (festival) - Conductor: Constantinos Carydis  Production:Christiane Pohle 
• Arabella (festival) - Conductor: Philippe Jordan  Production: Andreas Dresen - Anja Harteros and Thomas Mayer star.

Other highlights in the season include the Kriegenburg Ring cycles which will be conducted by  conducted by Kirill Petrenko and stars Evelyn Herlitzius, Stuart Skelton, Stephen Gould and Anja Kampe.

Harteros will sing revivals of Tosca, Il trovatore, Don Carlo and La forza del destino. The latter is with Jonas Kaufmann.

Rolando Villazon will also return to L' Contes d'Hoffman.

 Kristine Opolais tackles Eugene Onegin, with Mariusz Kwiecen in the title role. Opolais will also perform La Clemenza di Tito and Madama Butterfly. Irene Theorin and Evelyn Herlitzius share the title role in  Elektra.

The legendary Edita Gruberova will return for  Roberto Devereux and Don Carlo will also feature Rene Pape, Ramon Vargas and Simon Keenlyside. Tristan und Isolde will be conducted by Philippe Jordan, features Pape with Waltraud Meier and Peter Seiffert.

Tell us what your most excited about!

Netrebko Withdraws from All Faust Productions

A Statement was recently released on Anna Netrebko's page: 

"I am so sorry to have to withdraw from the role of Marguerite in Faust. After much consideration and intensive preparation, I have come to the conclusion that the role is not right for me. I had been very much looking forward to debuting this role at the Royal Opera House and following it with further performances in Vienna and Baden-Baden. Unfortunately, I must now withdraw from all these productions. I am very sad to be disappointing my fans in these cities and hope they will understand the difficult decision that I have had to make. However, I am very much looking forward to returning to The Royal Opera to perform with the company again in 2015."

The soprano was to have to made her role debut at the ROH and was later to have sung two more runs. There have been no replacements of yet but the companies are working hard to find a new soprano. 

Zurich Opera 2014-15 season to be headlined y Anna Netrebko, Diana Damrau, Joyce Didonato, and Cecilia Bartoli

The Zurich Opera has announced the 2014-15 season. The season will feature nine new productions.

The full list of premieres:

• Lohengrin - Simone Young, Andreas Homoki - with the great Klaus Florian Vogt in his signature role and Elza van den Heever as Elsa.
• The Turn of the Screw - Constantin Trinks, Willy Decker - with Pavol Breslik rounding those vowels as Quint
• Robin Hood by Frank Schwemmer - a children's opera
• Die Zauberflöte - Cornelius Meister, Tatjana Gürbaca 
• Juliette - Fabio Luisi, Andreas Homoki - Annette Dasch takes the title role
• Rote Laterne by Christian Jost - Alain Altinoglu, Nadja Laschky
• La traviata - Marco Armiliato, David Herman - Anita Hartig/Ailyn Perez, Pavol Breslik/Matthew Polenzani, Quinn Kelsey
• La verità in cimento - Ottavio Dantone, Jan Philipp Gloger  - a Vivaldi obscurity with an impressive period-specialist cast
• I Capuleti e i Montecchi - Fabio Luisi, Christof Loy - Anita Hartig and Joyce DiDonato are the lovelorn couple

There will also be a few revivals with big names. Among them are the revival of the Guth/Luisi Ariadne auf Naxos. Cecilia Bartoli will return to the theater  to perform "La Cenrentola"alongside Lawrence Brownlee. 

Claus Guth's Tristan und Isolde reappears conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek, and featuring Nina Stemme and Stephen Gould. Anna Netrebko will return to her acclaimed portrayal of Anna Bolena. She will be joined by Luca Pisaroni. There will also be a revival of Elektra with Evelyn Herlitzius in the title role and Emily Magee. Luca di Lammermoor will also be performed with Sonya Yoncheva while Aida will be revived with Latonia Moore in the title role. Finally Diana Damrau will sing Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore, 

Anna Netrebko in Manon Lescaut

Anna Netrebko is currently in Rome rehearsing Manon Lescaut from Puccini and the first pictures out.  The production is by Chiara Muti and will conducted by Riccardo Muti. 

Breaking News: Met To Announce New Season Tonight

Here is a preview of the upcoming season with only six new productions this year which is an all time low. The HD season looks like it will also be cut down to nine and all the new productions except Death of a Klinghoffer will be on HD as well as Don Carlos in French, Meistersingers, Caremen, and Les Contes de Hoffman. Once again these are only speculations and more details wil be given out tonight. 

Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann To Reunite for Manon Lescaut

While the season has yet to be announced, a recent rumor is confirming that Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann are set to sing a new production of Manon Lescaut at the Bayerische Staatsoper. The rumor has been circulating for a number of months.

The rumors also stated that Diana Damrau will return to the Staatsoper for a new production of Lucia Di Lammermoor and will sing alongside Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja.

The Bayerische Staatsoper is scheduled to release their season in March. 

L'Elisir d"Amore Review Link

For those wondering what happened to the reviews, my continues to write them but now he writes for Latinos Post. As a Result I will start publishing snippets of the review with the link to the full one. I hope this is not a problem as I am trying to give the best Opera coverage possible. Here is a piece from the L'Elisir d'Amore recently presented at the Met

On Feb. 1, the Metropolitan Opera presented Donizetti's "L'Elisir D'Amore" for the final time in the 2013-14 season. The performance was also the last time that soprano Anna Netrebko will play the heroine Adina for an audience; Netrebko herself made the announcement via social media on Sunday.

The revival of the work featured Bartlett Sher's production that opened the 2012-13 season. This writer attended a performance during the 2012-13 season and wrote an extensive analysis of the production (to read it, click HERE). There is really nothing new to add, except for the fact that it still does not work. Most of the new cast members added their own individual touches (more on that later), but the overall concept and idea of the production is still rather bland. The sets are traditional and mostly handsome, but the action is poorly delivered conceptually. A scene change in the middle of act two is not only awkwardly handled (extras walking onstage and pushing scenery on and off) but also excessively distracting to the action taking place between the main characters. In the final analysis, one is left wondering why the Met removed one traditional production (admittedly with little to say) for another that is equally vapid. Continue Reading 

Met Future season rumors

With the Met announcing the 2014-15 season in the next two weeks, Met Wiki has provided an updated list of what the season is looking like. A couple of changes from the previous list revealed a number of months ago include Jonas Kaufmann singing Don Jose in Carmen instead of Don Carlos, Anna Netrebko singing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth with Zeljko Lucic, Rene Pape and Joseph Calleja. Nathan Gunn has also been added to the cast of the Merry Widow while Eva Maria-Westbroek will perfom the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. Bryan Hymel has been added to the cast of La Boheme and Piotr Beczala will sing Un Ballo in Maschera instea do Yonghoon Lee. Meanwhile Bryn Terfel Emily Magee and Matthew Polenzani will not sing the revival to Die Meisteringer. A Number of Opera are still missing casts including Die Zauberflote, Hansel and Gretel, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

For the Complete List of Rumors Click Here. And Tell Us what Your xcited for and what you think will be the HDs of the year.

Don Giovanni From Baden Baden

Last Years Don Giovanni with Erwin Schrott and Anna Netrebko is now YouTube. The performance is slated to be released on DVD by Sony Classical. There is no date set yet but Youtube has the complete performance available.

Notable DVD and CD Releases for the Month January and February

The January slate of DVDs looks dry at the moment. As a result I have decided to preview some of February's releases. 

The first release is the Met's latest "Eugene Onegin" starring Anna Netrebko and Mariusz Kwiecien. The release the marks the Met's first DVD release since Verdi's Rigoletto. It also marks the second Onegin the company releases. The production which opened the 2013-14 season also stars Piotr Beczala and was conducted by Valery Gergiev. 

Il Trovatore Clips

For those who were not in Berlin like me, Here are a couple of clips that were put on Youtube. Enjoy!

Deutsche Grammphon Announced Eugene Onegin

The Yellow label announced the DVD for the Met's Eugene Onegin yesterday on Youtube posting two videos from the performance. The company secretly added the videos did not appear on their facebook page or on the companies website. However based on these two videos the company is getting ready to launch the DVD in the company months.

 

Gaston Rivero To Sing Manrico

After a number of days without a Manrico at the Berlin State Opera, the company has announced that Gaston Rivero will sing the role. Daniel Barenboim scrambled for a tenor to sing the title role and with all the big superstars busy, Rivero was the only singer available. We wish him good luck!

Antonenko Cancels Il Trovatore

Everyone has been anticipating the debut of Anna Netrebko Netrebko's Leonora at the Berlin State Opera. The cast was perfect with Placido Domingo and Aleksandrs Antonenko. Now it is being reported that Antonenko has cancelled the lead role of Manrico. The production is currently rehearsing with no Manrico and with a star studded cast and sold out shows Berlin is posed to find a star of the same measure as Antonenko.

Rumor mill says that Jonas Kaufmann is currently front-runner but with his busy schedule it is unlikely. Other blogs mention Francesco Meli while others say Ramon Vargas. The question is who will fill the spot and will it be a newcomer.

Update: Francesco Meli is unlikely to Sing as he will be premiering a new production of Ernani at the Teatro Roma with Riccardo Muti 

Ramon Vargas Never added that role to his repertoire and Marcelo Alvarez is in Tokyo singing Tosca 

Future Seasons

Over the past few days a number of announcements have been made regarding future seasons at the Met and all over the world. Here is a an overview.

Christine Goerke will sing Brundhilde at the Met in 2018-19. The announcement was made in the New York Times and although it is exciting news it would have been better to stage this earlier now that the soprano is her prime.

Roberto Alagna will sing Otello and Cyrano de Bergerac. Alagna announced that he is doing Otello next summer in Europe and while that does not surprise anyone, is he really up for the challenge of the daunting role. Most importantly does he have the voice because he has the acting skills. He also announced that he will do Cyrano at the Met with Patricia Racette.


Anna Netrebko has recently announced that she is singing Il Trovatore at the Mariinsky theater in December and at the Met in 2015 with Yonghoon Lee.

Recent HD's That Need a DVD Release

Two years ago I posted an article on performances that never obtained a DVD release and that should. These performances were a number of historical telecasts starring some of the best from the past. Out of the list only one was released, the Andrea Chenier from the Met with Pavarotti and Maria Guleghina. However the rest are still on a shelf collecting dust. Some of them have been added to the Met opera on Demand but the rest are either on Youtube or not available. The following is a list of recent performances that have made history or that are exceptional but have been ignored by distributors.