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. 

New Cast Mate for 'Arabella'

The Met ust released this : “Juliane Banse will make her Met debut as Zdenka in this season’s performances of Strauss’s Arabella, replacing Genia Kühmeier, who has withdrawn for personal reasons…. Arabella, conducted by Philippe Auguin, also stars Malin Byström and Erin Wall in the title role; Roberto Saccà in his Met debut as Matteo; Michael Volle in his Met debut as Mandryka; and Martin Winkler in his Met debut as Waldner.”

Placido Domingo to Sing Gianni Schicchi

Placido Domingo will make his role debut as Gianni Schicchi. 

The Teatro Real announced that in 2015 the bari-tenor will star in a double bill that will also include Granado's Goyescas. Domingo will of course conduct the Granados.  As for the Gianni Schicchi,  he will star in the 2008 Woody Allen production for LA Opera. There are no details on whether Allen return to direct given his film schedule but one is for sure, it will be the first time Domingo does comedy in Opera. 

Pictures of the production below: 

Met Opera 2014-15 Season Officially Announced

The Met’s 2014-15 Season Will Feature 26 Operas,

Including Three Met Premieres,

In Six New Productions and 18 Revivals

The season includes the first-ever Met performances of

John Adams’s The Death of Klinghoffer,

Rossini’s La Donna del Lago, and Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta

Met Music Director James Levine leads six operas this season,

including the opening night new production of

Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, directed by Richard Eyre,

premiering on September 22

On New Year’s Eve, Susan Stroman makes her Met debut directing a

new production of Lehár’s The Merry Widow,

with Renée Fleming in the title role and Andrew Davis conducting

Two double bills of one-act operas receive new productions this season:

Iolanta, with Anna Netrebko in the title role, and

 Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, conducted by Valery Gergiev and

directed by Mariusz Treliński, premieres January 26, 2015

Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci,

conducted by Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi and

directed by David McVicar, receives its first new

Met production in 45 years on April 14, 2015

The ninth season of The Met: Live in HD will feature 10 live transmissions,

beginning October 11 with Verdi’s Macbeth, starring Anna Netrebko as Lady Macbeth

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 Sings At the Olympics

Anna Netrebko just sang at the Olympics. The soprano sang the Olympic anthem opening the Sochi Olympics. This is the second time in a week that an Opera singer performs at a sporting event. On Sunday the people's diva Renee Fleming sang at the Superbowl.  

Jonas Kaufmann's Faust To Be Released on DVD

It looks like Decca Classics wants to get a few more cents out of their former artist Jonas Kaufmann. The company announced the release the Met's Faust. The maligned Des McAnuff production will be on DVD on March 3 in Europe with a later US release. The news comes after Sony announced the release of three new Jonas Kaufmann DVDs. With Decca's news, there will be four Kaufmann performances available in less than two months.  

New CDs and DVD from Bartoli, Florez and Domingo

Decca has finally announced Juan Digo Florez's next album. The CD concentrates o the french repertoire and features works by Gounod, Massanet, Berlioz, Donizetti, and Delibe. Robbert Abbado conduct the Bologna orchestra and it is scheduled for release in March.

And for those Bartoli lovers, Decca is releasing two new DVDs from the Zurich Opera. The first release according to Amazon UK will be Le Comte Ory which has been delayed a number of times. Later Otello will be released. The DVDs come out in anticipation of Bartolis 2014 Whitsun Festival at Salzburg “Rossinissmo.” There she will perform La Cenrentola, Otello, a Rossini Gala and her role debut of L'Italiana in Algeri.    

 

And for Domingo fans, Sony has just announced his next album which features highlights from his Met career. 

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