Featured Articles and News

SOPRANO ANGELA GHEORGHIU IN CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL COOKSON

by

Angela Gheorghiu talks to Michael Cookson

Angela Gheorghiu © Cosmin Gogu

Clearly relishing the beautiful summer weather in Dresden, the day I met Angela Gheorghiu for interview at her hotel she was looking cool in her blue and white striped summer dress, straw hat and wearing sandals. Bringing her family with her the Romanian soprano was in rehearsal for a few days preparing for her appearance in her signature role as heroine Tosca in the revival of Johannes Schaaf production at Semperoper. This is my report (click here) from what was one of the finest performances I have encountered in an opera house, a special Tosca with Gheorghiu in imperious form.

Read more

A Q&A WITH GERMAN SOPRANO PETRA LANG

by
Petra Lang (c) Ann Weitz, Düsseldorf

To admirers of great singing Petra Lang needs little introduction because of her superb performances on the world’s leading opera stages and concert platforms. In recent years, especially, she has brought the audiences at the annual Bayreuth Festival to their feet to acclaim her wonderful portrayals of Ortrud (review click here) and Isolde (review click here). Seen and Heard was delighted when Petra Lang agreed to answer our questions to look back – amongst much else – at how she began as a singer, who gave her advice along the way, a singer’s life, her thoughts on the roles she has sung and the colleagues she has worked with, as well as, her own advice for young singers.

Read more

HOW TO CONTACT SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

by

TO CONTACT SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL Please email sandhadmin@btinternet.com Or visit us on Facebook CLICK HERE Or on Twitter @SeenandHeardInt Readers wishing to contact individual reviewers should use the above in the first instance. FOR CD RELEASE-RELATED ENQUIRIES PLEASE ONLY CONTACT MUSIC WEB INTERNATIONAL by emailing len@musicweb-international.com. Seen and Heard International is a live review … Read more

A Q&A WITH ITALIAN BARITONE FRANCO VASSALLO

by

FV

Franco Vassallo is an acclaimed interpreter of leading Verdi roles – amongst many others – in the world’s most important opera houses (including Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Opéra de Paris, London’s Royal Opera House and New York’s Metropolitan Opera). He has just sung Scarpia for the first time in Puccini’s Tosca at the Staatsoper Hamburg in the Robert Carsen production and performed with Anja Harteros and Jonas Kaufmann.

Read more

A Q&A WITH SOPRANO LISETTE OROPESA

by
Lisette Oropesa (c) Steven Harris

A highlight of this season for soprano Lisette Oropesa was her Royal Opera debut as Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor) at Covent Garden. She will soon be making a role debut as Euridice in the French version of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with Los Angeles Opera, in a new production opening on the 10 March, directed and choreographed by John Neumeier, and conducted by James Conlon. In advance of these performances in Los Angeles, Lisette Oropesa answers Seen and Heard International’s questions about this current role, as well as, looking back on her life and her career.

Read more

THE PIANIST VALENTINA LISITSA IN CONVERSATION WITH GREGOR TASSIE

by

AN INTERVIEW WITH VALENTINA LISITSA

Lisitsa_Valentina_pc_Sam Jones_2_300
Valentina Lisitsa (c) Sam Jones

The Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa has achieved the accolade of becoming the world’s most popular classical artist since her first YouTube recital in 2007. By leading the way to finding new audiences with sensational success, Lisitsa has gained a staggering 95 million views and almost 200,000 subscribers on YouTube.

Read more

Ann Murray’s Masterclass at the V&A Part of Opera: Passion, Power and Politics

by

A Great Tradition Lives: Ann Murray’s Masterclass at the V&A (Royal College of Music)

Like all the world’s greatest teachers, Gioacchino Rossini was much more focused on what he could get out of a pupil than what he could put in. But the maestro was also a composer, in my spare time, he used to quip. So it was not unknown for him to to put something into the pupil too. 

Read more