Notable DVD and CD Releases for the Month of March and April

The next two  months will see the releases of many great artists including a number of Jonas Kaufmann releases.

The final part of the ring cycle "Gotterdammerung" from La Scala will be released. Lance Ryan, Irene Theorin, Mikail Peterenko and Waltraud Meirer star in this production which was conducted by Daniel Barenboim. The DVD comes out a few months after the release of the first three operas. It is unknown if Arthaus will release a box set.

Maria Stuarda coming to DVD

So its finally coming after months of waiting. Erato has finally announced that it will release the acclaimed production of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda. The release comes as no surprise as the company has been consistent in release Joyce Didonato's performances from all over the world including the Met.  This production was one of the highlights of last years season and it also stars Matthew Polenzani and Elza Van Den Heever. Maurizio Benini conducted David McVicar's production.  

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, 

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. 

The 2013 HD Awards

The following are Salazar Family Circle's awards for best HD performances for the 2012-2013 Metropolitan Opera Season. Those who have followed our blog may recall that this blog started with the 2010-2011 awards and continued last year. For this year's edition we have added a few categories and previously announced the nominees in an older blog post. The past year has been filled with great performances from many of the top singers, rising stars and conductors in the world. The following are the nominees and the winners for my Third annual HD Awards at the MET 

Who Will Win Best Female Singer?

 

Six great Divas are nominated for the Opera Awards. My predictions are in the link below and tell me who you think should win. Also let us know who you think should have been nominated. Click Here.

2014-2015 Met Opera Season Rumor

After the long awaited 2013-2014 was announced we now have some news on the next season. 2014-15 looks to be even more exciting with 6 new productions and even more exciting revivals.

Opening night will  be with a new production of Le nozze di Figaro, a production that is in a bit of flux at the moment since Anna Netrebko elected not to add Contessa Almaviva to her stage repertoire at the moment.  As it stands now, the new Mozart  will be conducted by James Levine in a production by Michael Grandage. The cast will be Maija Kovalevska, Marlis Petersen and Mikhail Petrenko but by the lack of stars the Met will most likely add a more marketable singer to the list.

Five further new productions dot the season:

The Death of Klinghoffer. Director: Tom Morris (ENO production]

Iolanta/Duke Bluebeard’s Castle. Conductor: Valery Gergiev. Director: Mariusz Trelinski. Cast includes Anna Netrebko and Alexei Tanovitski in theTchaikovksy, with  Nadja Michael and Mikhail Petrenko in the Bartók.

The New Year’s Eve extravaganza this season will be The Merry Widow, Conductor TBA. Susan Stroman directs Renée Fleming; later in the season the show returns with Susan Graham and Rodney Gilfry.

La Donna del Lago. Conductor: Michele Mariotti.  Director: John Fulljames.Joyce DiDonato, Daniela Barcellona, Juan Diego Florez.

Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci. Conducto: Fabio Luisi. Director: TBA. Marcelo Alvarez, Barbara Frittoli.

The repertoire will further include revivals of:

Aida with Liudmyla Monastyrska, Dmitry Belosselskiy.

Un Ballo in Maschera  with Sondra Radvanovsky, Yonghoon Lee.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

La Boheme with Maria Agresta.

Carmen with Elina Garanca/Anita Rachvelishvili, Roberto Alagna, Anita Hartig/Ailyn Perez.

Les Contes d’Hoffmann with Susanna Phillips, Matthew Polenzani.

Don Carlos with Barbara Frittoli, Nadia Krasteva, Jonas Kaufmann/Yonghoon Lee, Simon Keenlyside, Ferruccio Furlanetto. Chef d’orchestre for the first-ever Met performances in the original French will be Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Don Giovanni

Ernani  with Placido Domingo as Don Carlo.

Faust with Anna Netrebko, Joseph Calleja, Rene Pape. [This production was described to La Cieca as "hanging by a thread," with nobody involved feeling enthusiastic about the project.]

Hansel and Gretel

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with Eva-Maria Westbroek, Brandon Jovanovich,Raymond Very.

Lucia di Lammermoor with Olga Peretyatko, conducted by Maurizio Benini.

Manon with Diana Damrau, Vittorio Grigolo.

Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg with Emily Magee, Karen Cargill, Johan Botha, Matthew Polenzani, Bryn Terfel, conducted by James Levine.

The Rake’s Progress with Lisette Oropesa, Stephanie Blythe, Gerald Finley.

La Traviata with Marina Rebeka, Francesco Demuro.

Die Zauberflote.

What do you guys think of this season!

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.

Maria Stuarda opens Tomorrow

The Met opens its first production of Maria Stuarda on New Year's Eve starring Joyce Didonato. Matthew Polenzani and Elza Van Den Heever also star with Maurizio Benini in the podium. David McVicar directs the second Tudor opera. 

For more information on Maria Stuarda click here 

For more information on Joyce Didonato read our The Enchanted Island review.

For more information on Matthew Polenzani read our L'Elisir d'Amore review. 

Maria Stuarda Preview 2012-2013

Joyce Didonato sings the towering role of Maria Stuarda in David McVicar's new production. Elza Van Den Heever and Matthew Polenzani also star.  

The Production

After directing the opening night of last season in Anna Bolena, David McVicar continues the Tudor trilogy with Maria Stuarda. The director which took Bolena literally has stated in interviews that he plans on taking some liberties with Stuarda. He stated that he wants to blend both fantasy and realism. He stated that his set designer john Macfarlane will bring painterly perspective to the sets. For example the writings on the wall of Act Three will represent the letters that Maria Stuarda wrote while in prison. While Anna Bolena was unimpressive, Maria Stuarda is a more theatrical opera and could give David McVicar an opportunity to shine. The opera will be part of the Met's HD performances.

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 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:

Polenzani opens the New Year in Maria Stuarda

The Met has just announced that Francesco Meli will no longer sing the role of Leicester in Maria Stuarda. Matthew Polenzani who just opened the season in L'Elisir d'Amore will take over every single performance joining Joyce Didonato.

Official press center: “Matthew Polenzani will sing the role of Leicester in all performances of the Met’s new production of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda this season, replacing Francesco Meli, who has withdrawn the role from his repertoire.”

The Enchanted Island to be released

The cover art to "The Enchanted Island" has finally been released. The DVD will be released this fall under Virgin Classics. The opera stars Danielle de Niese, Joyce Didonato, David Daniels, Placido Domingo, and Luca Pisaroni.   

Don Giovanni to be released

Today news comes that Don Giovanni starring Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Luca Pisaroni, Diana Damrau, Joyce Didonato, Rolando Villazon, and Mojca Erdmann will be released. The recording, done last year at Baden Baden, is slated to be released on September 7, 2012. Stay tuned.