Letter to Sony For a DVD Release of La Boheme!

Dear Sony Classical

This past weekend Vittorio Grigolo and Kristine Opolais performed a glorious "La Boheme" at the Metropolitan Opera. The performance was record on HD through the Live in HD series that the Met presents in cinemas. I ask you to please release this performance on DVD. First because Girgolo is one of your exclusive artist. While he has recorded three albums for the company, he has yet to get a DVD release of any of his performances from the Royal Opera House or any of his earlier Orange TV recordings. Secondly Grigolo is one of the biggest tenors in the industry and is likely to have a huge career in the coming years.

The final reason for this release is because it brings together two of the most exciting artists who are up and coming and this is truly one of the most historic and spontaneous Live in HD performances that has ever been recorded.

I know the Met has three DVDs of "Boheme" but this is truly a special performance that is different from the last three and one that should be documented for people to own.

Lastly I ask that you sign Opolais to a CD contract because the company does not have a spinto soprano on their roster and this woman has a promising career that is about to bloom and will be in demand for a number of years.

Kristine Opolais To in La Boheme HD

Kristine Opolais will sing Mimi in today’s matinee performance of Puccini’s La Bohème, replacing Anita Hartig, who is ill.

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 

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!

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.  

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.

A New Simon Boccanegra

Kristine Opolais has recently posted a picture to her new recording of Simon Boccanegra with Thomas Hampson and Joseph Calleja. The recording is slated for a September release on Decca Classics. 

Anna Netrebko To Record War Requiem

Anna Netrebko confirmed that she is recording Britten's War Requiem with Antonio Pappano. According to the Anna netrebko blog she told a fan while she exited the the Baden Baden performances of Don Giovanni

Thomas Hampson also confirmed that his latest Simon Boccanegra performances with Kristine Opolais and Jpseph Calleja would be recorded for DECCA and released next year.

La Rondine Preview 2012-2013

Kristine Oplais makes her debut in the title role of La Rondine with Italian tenor Giuseppe Filianoti in the role of Ruggero

The Production

The production of La Rondine premiered in January 2009. The directing task went to Nicolas Joel whose production had premiered prior to the Met in London at the Royal Opera House. However during the premiere run Joel did not oversee the production because he suffered a stroke and Stephen Barlow took over the task. The production, set in the 1920's features Ezio Frigerio's Art decos quare colums, furniture out of an Astaire-Rogers musical and wallpaper alive with intricate images. The pavilion on the Riviera to which Magda flees with Ruggero in Act III is a sunny room with aquamarine stained-glass walls and ceiling. When the product premiered critics called it "stunning."   

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.