Kaufmann tries out Otello

As everyone already knows Jonas Kaufmann and Renee Fleming performed a concert together to great success. Here is a clip of the Otello duet which saw Kaufmann perform it for the first time.

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. 

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.

Chicago Lyric Opera 2014-15 Season

The Chicago Lyric Opera has Announced the 2014-15 season with many of operas greatest stars singing at for the company. Among the singers include Mariusz Kwieicien, Renee Fleming, Stephanie Blythe, Eric Owens, Denyce Graves, Bryan Hymel and Sondra Radvanovsky.


Full Season

Renee Fleming to Perform at the Suprbowl

Renee Fleming will become the first opera singer to perform the national anthem at the Superbowl. The Superbowl will feature the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks and will be held at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Feb 2. 

Notable CD and DVD Releases for the Month of October

The Month of October sees the releases of classic gems and new CDs from two of the best in tenors of today. 

Kasper Holten's production of Eugene Onegin may have been received with bad criticism, but Opus Arte will release the new production. The Royal Opera House has lined up an incredible cast that includes Simon Keenlyside, Krassimira Stoyanova, and Pavol Breslik.  

CD and DVD release For the Month of September

The month of September see the release of many great CDs and DVDs from the top artist in the industry.

The first release of the month is a CD recording of Riccardo Muti's acclaimed Otello. I was able to see a performance of this opera in Carnegie Hall with Muti and the same cast on this CD and it was one of the highlights of that season. The cast includes Aleksandrs Antonenko, Krassimira Stoyanova and Carlo Guelfi. The CD will be released by CSO Resound and is a must buy.  

Met 2015-19 Predictions

As the season comes to a start new details on the upcoming Met season have been released by La Cieca on Parterre. The site announced the replacement of the Faust as well as the opening night for the 2015-16 season.

According to the blog, the 2014-2015 season is going to go off pretty much as predicted, except that Faust is not going to happen.A possible revival of Macbeth will take its place, though most likely without Anna Netrebko, whose Lady Macbeth  will not arrive in New York until later.

2015-16: Netrebko will sing Desdemona in the 2015-2016 opening night production of Otello, starring Alexsandrs Antonenko and Zeljko Lucic, under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. However Netrebko will sing Il trovatore and Don Pasquale.  The Deborah Warner Messiah has been canceled and a revival of Die Fledermaus will also happen. Placido Domingo will return to Simon Boccanegra. A new production of  Manon Lescaut will premiere with  Jonas Kaufmann and Kristine Opolais.

2016-2017: The Dmitri Tcherniakov Der Rosenkavalier will happen with Joyce DiDonato,Erin Morley and Renée Fleming.  That season also sees the long-awaited return of Guillaume Tell to the Met repertoire featuring Bryan Hymel/John Osborn, and Angela Meade/Marina Rebeka . Netrebko is featured in a revival of Onegin and a revival of Manon Lescaut.

2017-2018:  Semiramide will return to the repertoire with DiDonato in the title part.  Netrebko will sing Lady M.

Between 2017 and 2019 plans are obviously very flexible. Stefan Herheim‘s Meistersinger is, as we know, on its way, but La Cieca’s source says the Met is “putting out feelers” for a new Lohengrin as well. Sometime (sooner rather than later) Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo will team for new productions ofRoméo et Juliette and Les pêcheurs de perles directed by Mary Zimmerman. There are also plans for Netrebko to sing Norma.

Rusalka Preview 2013-2014

Renee Fleming returns to her acclaimed turn in Dvorak's Fairy Tale Rusalka. Piotr Beczala, Dolora Zajick and Emily Magee round out the cast in Otto Schenk's classic production.

Notable CD and DVD Releases For the Month of June

The month of June will conclude the Tutto Verdi celebration as well as will bring a new CD by Alekandra Kurzak and Cecilia Bartioli's new Norma. Additionally Renee Fleming's Ariadne Auf Naxos will finally be released.

The most anticipated release of the month is by far Cecilia Bartoli's Norma. The new recording also stars Sumi Jo and John Osborn and brings a new critical edition that should prove revealing for audiences and the musical world around. It may also split many but it is one to listen to if for mere curiosity. 

Renee Fleming's Ariadne Auf Naxos Coming Soon

Renee Fleming's acclaimed version of Strauss' Ariadne Auf Naxos will be released on Decca. The opera will be released in June and also stars Sophie Koch, Robert Dean Smith and Jane Archibald. 

Other DVD news include a new Le Comte Ory with Cecilia Bartoli and Jonas Kaufmann's acclaimed Parsifal for Sony Classics. The Marinsky Theater will also release their second opera; Prokofiev's The Gambler.

 

The Met's Ring wins the Grammy award

The Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording was given to the Met's new Ring Cycle DVDs. Renee Fleming also won the Best Vocal performance for her album Poeme.

The 2013-2014 Lyric Opera of Chicago Season Announced

The Chicago Opera has announced their new season with Anna Maria Martinez (Rusalka, Otello), Jonas Kaufmann (Gala Concert), Joyce Didonato (La Clemenza di Tito), Joseph Calleja (La Traviata) and Johan Botha (Otello) leading an all star season. Falk Struckmann (Otello), Brandon Jovanovich (Rusalka), Isabel Leonard, Nathan Gunn (Barber of Seville) and Thomas Hampson (Parsifal) will also take part in the season.

The complete 2013-2014 Met operas (These are Rumors)

Last we revealed the HDs on my post Rumor article and today  Parterre has revealed the complete 2013-2014 Met Opera season which includes some of the casts and all the new productions. 

As it stands there will only be 6 new productions as I Puritani will be a revival. There is no soprano attached to the role. Other mystery casting is Wozzeck which was rumored to include Karita Mattila and Thomas Hampson but at the moment nothing is confirmed. And a surprise is that L'Elisir d'Amore will be revived with Netrebko and Ramon Vargas. Enjoy the list!

Met Opera Review: "Otello's Drama Never Unfolds with Disastrous Conducting and Subpar Cast"

By Francisco Salazar
(For the October 16, 2012 performance)

It's been four years since they presented Otello at the Met, Verdi's penultimate opera. The opera known for it's daunting title role is rarely performed due to the lack of tenors singing the role in the world. On this night the originally scheduled Johan Botha cancelled due to illness. In came Avgust Amonov, a Russian tenor who made his Met debut on the previous Saturday the 13th. Amonov proved to be a mixed bag. He took a little while to warm up in the role as was seen with his entrance Esultate  which sounded tentative, lacked the volume and when he was forced to hit the daunting B natural; Amonov held the note too long and eventually screamed the end of it. This was no heroic entrance. Then came his second entrance in which he must restore order after the chaos that Cassio has formed. The character should be angry and should be the main focus of the scene. But Amonov lacked any imposing force. Amonov's Abbado le spade was once again tentative and was hard to understand or hear as he was upstage. At the end of the first act Amonov sang some tender lines during his act one duet with his Desdemona. Here he shared some tender exchanges with Renee Fleming. He sang some ringing pianissmi when the un bacio moment that made you feel that he was really in love. However it was a shame that the orchestra did not build that moment (more on that later). The second act proved a disappointment after such a solid duet. Amonov's Ora per sempre was a rushed mishmash. Then came his duet with Jago which is supposed to a climax demonstrating Otello's rage and swearing Vengeance against Desdemona's infidelity. I could have been fooled as Amonov showed no such anger. His singing was pretty but it seemed that he was not really invested in this act. His acting was relegated to standing around or sitting at his desk. The third act brought a complete turnaround. He sang his duet with Desdemona with fury and command. One felt that he was on the verge of madness. It was shame that Ms. Fleming was not exacting on par with him or else the scene would have been perfect. Then came his Dio mi Potevi which was sung with incredible phrases. Amonov had brought the tragic qualities of Otello bringing frailty as he sang his B flat in a ringing pianissimo and then anger at the end with a powerful O Gioa. And at the end of the act three Amonov had finally come into the part as he was completely believable in a defining mad scene. If only he would have kept that same energy going in the fourth act. As Amonov attempted to kill Desdemona, Fleming brought herself to Amonov and basically asked him to kill her. It was not genuine and lacked any tension. Then there was the Niun mi tema Otello's final aria. Amonov sang for the most part with conviction but by this time it was hard to believe his suffering. All in all Amonov may have these stiff moments due the lack of rehearsal time with his cast mates. If he does sing the last two performances there will be more room for improvement.

Notable DVD and CD releases for the month of October

The month of October sees the release of many new DVDs and CDs including two Toscas and more early Verdi to celebrate his 199th birthday.

A second DVD of Un Giorno di Regno is released with a cast that includes Anna Caterina Antonacci, Bruno 

Practico, Paolo Coni, and Cecilia Gasdia.The production from 1997 is directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi and conudcted by Maurizio Benini.   

Otello Video

The first video of tonight's Otello is here.

Otello Opens Tomorrow

Johan Botha and Renee Fleming return to Otello conducted by Semyon Byhkov. Faulk Struckmann and Michael Fabiano makes his role debut as Cassio.

For more information read our Preview linked here.

For more information on Renee Fleming click here on our Rodelinda preview. 

Met Rumors 2013-2014

Courtesy of La Cieca from Parterre, here are the HD operas rumored to be scheduled for the 2013-2014 season.

There are seven new productions scheduled of which Two Boys by Nicol Muhly is rumored to not be HD material. A projected new staging of I puritani will almost certainly not happen, with Natalie Dessay presumably relieved of all further bel canto duties, and the men in the cast—Lawrence Brownlee, Mariusz Kwiecien and Michele Pertusi—rolled over into other projects in spring 2014.

 Here are new productions scehduled:

Otello Preview 2012-2013

Johan Botha and Renee Fleming reprise their roles in Elijah Moshensky's production of Otello. Jose Cura and Thomas Hampson take on the second run.

The Production

The elegant 1994 production by Elijah Moshinsky returns for its final run. Moshinsky who made his Met debut in 1980 directing Un Ballo in Maschera first mounted this Otello in honor of Placido Domingo's 25th anniversary with the Met. The production was sung by him in the late 90s and then was taken over by other lesser known Otellos who lacked the same vigor that Domingo had. As for the production, it has the same lavish grandeur of a Zeffirelli production. The sets are made up of huge marble pillars, and mythic paintings. There is a huge plaza at the end of the third act and a huge bedroom at the end of the fourth act. It is in all sense the monumental production one expects from Otello. Nevertheless critics have complained about Moshinksy lack of direction and his placement of the chorus, and overwhelming sets. They have also complained about the first scene which they say looks like a construction sight rather than a dock and a castle. Regardless of all the complaints it is a production that presents the action without any superficiality and dumb concepts. It will be the second time this production is recorded and the first live in HD transmission for it.