SINCE 1999 A LIVE REVIEW SITE FOR OPERA, BALLET, CONCERTS, THEATRE , BROADCASTS AND FILMS
Season Previews from around the world
Edinburgh International Festival from 2-25 August 2024
Edinburgh International Festival presents a hand-picked selection of leading international and local artists in the world’s Festival City, with 24 days of world-class opera, dance, music and theatre.
For full details of this year’s EIF click here.
‘To Have A Voice Is Everything’ – New opera in the spotlight at National Sawdust
At the end of ‘Opera Evolved: Genre Fluidity’, my friend turned to me and said, ‘Well, are we going to Omaha?’ Nebraska hardly trips off the tongue when it comes to opera destinations, but perhaps it should. In 2025, The Common Senses Festival will present the world premiere of Sensorium Ex, a remarkable new opera by composer Paola Prestini with a libretto by poet Brenda Shaughnessy.
Slimmed and old and new for the 2024 Teatro Colón season
A consequence of the difficult economic conditions and the need for a level of austerity in Argentina, as well as possibly another well-publicised issue, the Teatro Colón’s 2024 season was announced ‘unseasonally’ late (in February, rather than the usual previous November) and at least for opera, it is leaner in number with a focus on revivals of past popular productions and more use of local rather than visiting artists.
Opera Philadelphia’s 2024-25 season to feature works by Missy Mazzoli, Joseph Bologne & Mozart
Opera Philadelphia’s 2024-25 season will open in September with the American premiere of The Listeners by Missy Mazzoli, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek. Co-commissioned by Opera Philadelphia, Norwegian National Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, the opera is based on Jordan Tannahill’s novel of the same name. It is an electrifying thriller about social rejection, suburban loneliness and the seductive power of cults and charismatic leaders in a divided nation.
Shostakovich Festival Leipzig 2025
Shostakovich’s music has much in common with Beethoven and Mahler by sharing in their creativity the ideals of humanity, freedom and justice. It is no coincidence that Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony was composed like Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony during a time when Vienna and Leningrad were under siege. It is for the shared values of human dignity entwined in their magnificently expressive scores that more and more people are drawn to their music.
English Touring Opera presents new productions of Manon Lescaut and The Rake’s Progress for Spring 2024 tour (24 February – 28 May 2024)
