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Simon Rivard. Photo: Tam Lan Truong.

The OCM Launches Its 85th Season Featuring Two Chamber Operas

By Newswire on 1 October 2024 Newswire, Opera, Vocal

Montreal, September 10, 2024 – The Orchestre classique de Montréal (OCM) kicks off its 85th season with the presentation of two chamber operas performed by the rising stars of the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal: Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona and Menotti’s The Medium. The concert takes place on Tuesday, October 8, at 7:30 p.m., at Salle Pierre-Mercure. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona, a light, comic Baroque gem, promises to delight the audience’s senses with amusing misunderstandings and false pretenses, and will feature Jamal Al Titi (baritone), Sophie Naubert (soprano) and Angelo Moretti (tenor). The Medium, a one-act opera…

Photo: GTG / Carole Parodi

Review | Disappointing Tristan und Isolde opens Geneva opera season

By Ossama el Naggar on 25 September 2024 Concert Reviews, Opera, Vocal

Tristan und Isolde is a colossal work, not only due to its length (five hours, including two intermissions) or for the influence of its “Tristan” chord on Western music, but also for its symbolism, as Wagner was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer’s philosophy. He was also conducting an illicit affair with Mathilde, the wife of his benefactor, Swiss businessman Otto von Wesendonck. Tristan’s plot is simple: an Irish Princess takes pity on Tantris, the knight who killed her betrothed Morold. She tends to him, nursing him back to life, even while knowing he was her fiancé’s killer. Tantris turns out to…

Winners of the 2024 Operalia Announced

By La Scena Musicale Team on 21 September 2024 Classical Music, Music Competition, Opera, Vocal

Mumbai, Sept. 21, 2024 – This year, the Operalia Competition presented by Rolex took place from September 15 to 21 at The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai, India. Here are the winners: First Prize Kathleen O’Mara, soprano, USA Le Bu, bass-baritone, China Second Prize Elmina Hasan, mezzo-soprano, Azerbaijan Angel Romero, tenor, USA Third Prize Sun-Ly Pierce, mezzo-soprano, USA Meridian Prall, mezzo-soprano, USA Polina Shabunina, soprano, Russia Vladislav Chizhov, baritone, Russia Birgit Nilsson Prize Kathleen O’Mara, soprano, USA Le Bu, bass-baritone, China The Pepita Embil Prize of Zarzuela Elmina Hasan, mezzo-soprano, Azerbaijan The Don Plácido Domingo Ferrer…

(L-R) Sara Schabas, Lucie St-Martin, Corey Arnold, Matthew Li

Review | Cultural Unity in the Chinese Gardens: A Lyrical Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration

By Amanda Wong on 16 September 2024 City, Classical Music, Montreal, Opera, Vocal

In the lunar calendar, the 15th day of the 8th month marks the annual Mid-Autumn Festival, a celebration of the harvest moon at its fullest and brightest. This significant day is a time of gratitude in many East and Southeast Asian countries for community and the season’s bountiful harvest. This occasion also symbolizes gathering, commemoration, and harmony among people — themes prominently emphasized in Rencontre Lyrique Chine-Canada (Chinese-Canadian Lyrical Gathering), a concert held in Montreal’s beautiful Botanical Gardens on Sept. 14th. Seven young Canadian and/or Chinese opera singers were featured, showcasing the power of music to unite cultures. These performers…

CD Review | George Benjamin: Picture a day like this

By Justin Bernard on 5 September 2024 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music, Opera, Vocal

George Benjamin: Picture a day like this George Benjamin, composer and musical direction; Martin Crimp, libretto; Marianne Crebassa, mezzo-soprano; Anna Prohaska, soprano; Beate Mordal, soprano; Cameron Shahbazi, countertenor; John Brancy, baritone; Mahler Chamber Orchestra Nimbus Records, 2024 The opera Written on Skin by George Benjamin had its Canadian premiere in the winter of 2020. The orchestration proved to be of great harmonic density. The overlap between the orchestral and vocal parts demonstrated extremely delicate work, playing a lot with crescendo and decrescendo effects. Benjamin also demonstrated a pronounced taste for notes held in a style that recalled the purity and ethereal…

Sharon Azrieli: Final Act

By Charles Geyer on 31 August 2024 Montreal, Opera, Vocal

Update (Sept. 19, 2024): Sharon Azrieli is sad to announce that she will not be performing with the Opera de Montreal in Barber of Seville due to circumstances out of her control. “I’ve waited my entire career to sing with Opéra de Montréal,” says soprano Sharon Azrieli. The wait is over! The Montreal-born-and-raised Azrieli will be performing the piquant role of the maid Berta in Opéra de Montréal’s new production of Rossini’s The Barber of Séville (Sept. 28 through Oct. 6). It’s a moving capstone to a remarkably varied operatic, concert and recording career. French Connection “My favourite opera…

Claire de Sévigné, Phillip Addis, Kirsten MacKinnon, Sarah Dufresne

Opera Across Canada: a season anchored by the classics

By Gianmarco Segato on 30 August 2024 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Opera, Vocal

In many ways, the 2024-25 Canadian opera season represents post-pandemic reality. Government subsidies that helped companies survive the horrors of more than two years of disruption are now a thing of the past. The new season sees Canada’s opera companies proceeding with a degree of caution, but even in a sea of Bohèmes, Fledermice and Elixirs there are signs that not all eyes are just on the box office. Pacific Opera Victoria Starting at our nation’s westernmost opera outpost, Pacific Opera Victoria offers a season well-balanced between tradition and the (almost) new. The season opens in October with a new…

Camilla Nylund (Isolde) & Christa Mayer (Brangäne) in Bayreuth Festival's Tristan und Isolde. Photo: Enrico Nawrath

Review | Bayreuth Festival 2024: Wagner revisited

By Gianmarco Segato on 29 August 2024 Concert Reviews, La Scena Online, Opera

One of the most unique features of the annual Bayreuth Festival dedicated to the operas of Richard Wagner is the opportunity it affords to revisit productions. Most big time European summer opera festivals pride themselves on presenting brand new stagings each year (though times may be changing given this year’s revival of Katie Mitchell’s 2016 production of Pelléas et Mélisande at Aix-en-Provence). But the idea of reviving and refining productions at Bayreuth is part of its DNA thanks to the Werkstatt (workshop) process initiated by Wieland Wagner in the 1950s. Stage directors are encouraged to hone their ideas as productions…

The Ohio Light Opera presents The Count of Luxembourg, Photo credit: Matt Dilyard

Review | Ohio Light Opera (OLO) Celebrates its 45th Season

By Paul E. Robinson on 30 July 2024 Concert Reviews, La Scena Online, Opera

Ohio Light Opera (OLO) is the resident professional company of the College, and for 45 years has been presenting operetta and musical comedy. This summer they are offering performances of Guys and Dolls, The Sound of Music, Me and My Girl, The Gondoliers, The Count of Luxembourg, and The Arcadians.

Jingjing Xu. Photo: Minna Hatinen

Newswire | Chinese Mezzo-Soprano Jingjing Xu is the Winner of the 2024 Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition

By Newswire on 14 June 2024 Classical Music, Music Competition, Newswire, Opera, Vocal

Helsinki, 12 June 2024 – The winner of the 9th Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition is the Chinese mezzo-soprano Jingjing Xu. “The standard of the competitors has been extremely high, and the audience fantastic”, says Soile Isokoski, the chair of the jury. The winner of the 2024 Mirjam Helin competition is the Chinese mezzo-soprano Jingjing Xu, who received a prize of €50,000. The German soprano Kathrin Lorenzen placed second, receiving €40,000, and the South Korean tenor Junho Hwang placed third and received €30,000. The Polish soprano Justyna Khil (4th), the Armenian baritone Aksel Daveyan (5th), and the Croatian soprano Josipa…

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