The festival is headed by two extremely diverse individuals. The Executive Director Mr. Glenn Hodgins whose C.V. is rather impressive owns an air which is decidedly all business neatly hidden behind a most pleasant and engaging personality. If ever there was an iron fist under a leather glove, this man would personify such a concept. On the extreme other side is Mr. Roman Borys the Artistic Director, an exceedingly extroverted man whose mind is a profound encyclopedia of the art form of chamber music. These two gentlemen as a pair are exceedingly well matched and, without question this was going to be an audience COMMANDOpera would thoroughly enjoy given the obvious intellect on the other side of the boardroom table. Mr. Borys is a member of the Gryphon Trio, an internationally esteemed ensemble which recently released a Beethoven disc highly favoured by the BBC Music Magazine. The Gryphon Trio has been a part of the festival since inception seventeen years ago, but recently agreed to take on a more formal role regarding artistic direction with Chamberfest. 

The Gryphon Trio.

The announcement for this seasons schedule was made public in the spring of this year, which in the opinion of COMMANDOpera is fine for local audiences, but perhaps not so much for the European audience who regularly fly in for the two week festival. As readers are well aware, Opera seasons are booked three years in advance with only a few changes necessary as the actual season approaches release. Chamber music however is a far more intimate affair, comprised of quartets, trio’s, soloist’s et al., which underscores a certain volatility when engaging artists. One can only imagine the extremities of nuances required to put together a cohesive season which surpasses each previous year. How is it possible for example to surmount one of the finishing acts which was the Ying Quartet from Jessup Iowa and their late night Dim Sum which featured a collection of short works from Chinese Canadian and Chinese American composers? Perhaps by inviting the quartet back this year for further performances? Done.

Opera goers are a most assured audience of chamber music over full tilt orchestral works for one rather obvious reason. Opera audiences understand the significance and nobility of unique, subtle artistry and thusly own a natural instinct for chamber works. COMMANDOpera for example looks for what an artist can do with a particular air. There is a uniqueness to the vocal instrument which illuminates any work distinctively. One has often found while attending orchestral performances a rather large sound, and while often beautifully nuanced, there is zero room for any instrumental artist to flourish. Chamber music is diametrically opposite: it’s all about a soloist at one with their instrument imbuing whispering colours and shades.

A performance by Taffelmusic at Dominion Chalmers Church Ottawa.

And just where does this festival take place over a fourteen day period with 6-8 unique performances each day? In churches around the city core by and large, many with rather historic and Gothic interiors perfect for chamber music. Here is a link to this seasons schedule to give readers an idea of how Chamberfest moves. It really is something to be in the core of Ottawa while Chamberfest is in play: lineups which curl around city blocks, with mad dashes by hundreds of festival goers from one performance to the next. Dedicated and seasoned chamber music aficionados buy the inexpensive all inclusive two week pass, sort out their preferred 30 or so performances long in advance and plan strategies to get to the front of the line to each performance. COMMANDOpera will be most curious to see the reaction to the Sunday Keyboard Contemplations at the Beechwood Cemetery with famed Hungarian pianist, Mr. Adam Gyorgy.

The entire event commences tomorrow evening with none other than a recital by Miss Frederica von Stade who is on her farewell tour. The program for the evening can be found here. A most interesting performance involves the new vocal work; Constantinople by composer Christos Hatzis. The Gryphon Trio headlines this performance with Miss Patricia O’Callaghan and Miss Maryem Tollar handling the vocals.

Trailer for Constantinople with the Gryphon Trio 2010.

COMMANDOpera was quite impressed to hear Chamberfest would be mounting The Complete Beethoven Piano Sonata’s. ALL 32 of them to be performed by Mr. Stewart Goodyear. This in itself is a stunning achievement for any artist, however incredible kudos’ are in order to Chamberfest for undertaking such an extraordinarily difficult program. An interest point for knowing European readers is the inclusion of septuagenarian musicologist, Mr. Harry Halbreich who could be somewhat understood by North American readers as Andrew Porter with all the edge and opinion such years magnify. COMMANDOpera has no doubt these daily morning ‘Musical Musings’ will be rather entertaining to hear. One would be remiss not to mention the performance titled: “Take the Dogsled” which will feature Inuit throat singing. At 10:30 every evening there are late LATE performances which serve alcohol (not found in church venues) where one will find Mr. Borys on many evenings enjoying performances which imbue a rather edgier tone given the hour.

COMMANDOpera will be in attendance for the prima in full regalia (with the proviso something other than bed and breakfast accommodations which abound in the region, can be suitably managed). Further, this venue has opened negotiations for an exclusive interview with this singularly phenomenal artist. Here is the press release from Glimmerglass verbatim:

“Medea, Cherubini’s rarely performed opera, will be presented in Italian as a co-production with Ireland’s Wexford Festival Opera. The role of Medea, the scorned wife who will stop at nothing for revenge, will be sung by Alexandra Deshorties in her role and company debut. A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Deshorties made her Met debut as the High Priestess in Aida and has since appeared as Elettra in Idomeneo, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and First Lady in The Magic Flute. Jason Collins, seen last summer in Seattle Opera’s Ring Cycle, will sing the tenor role of Jason. Collins last performed at Glimmerglass in 2002 as The Chevalier in Dialogues of the Carmelites. Wendy Bryn Harmer, also a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, will sing the role of Glauce. The role of King Creon will be sung by David Pittsinger, last seen at Glimmerglass in 2005 as The Traveller and The Elderly Fop in Death in Venice. Pittsinger has most recently performed at the Met as The Animal Trainer/Acrobat in Alban Berg’s Lulu and The Speaker in Julie Taymor’s production of The Magic Flute. Other engagements include performances as Emile de Becque in South Pacific at Lincoln Center Theater. He also appeared as Enobarbus in a Carnegie Hall concert performance of Antony and Cleopatra with New York City Opera. Englishman Michael Barker-Caven, known for his work in London’s West End and the Royal Opera House, will direct and Italy native Daniele Rustioni will conduct, both in their U.S. debuts. They will be joined by Joe Vanek, who will design sets and costumes. Robert Wierzel will design lighting.”

The Top 14:

The Metropolitan
The Royal Opera House
Teatro alla Scala
Teatro dell’Opera di Roma
Opera National de Paris
Gran Teatre del Liceu
Deutsche Oper Berlin
Weiner Staatsoper
Bayerische Staatsoper
Lyric Opera of Chicago
San Francisco Opera
Teatro La Fenice
Teatro Colon
Sydney Opera

COMMANDOpera in consultation, spent a great deal of time researching the histories and current situations of Mariinsky, Teatro Real, De Nederlandse, Canadian Opera Company, and Houston Grand Opera. Although these theatres were extraordinary on a number of fronts, it was most critical the new theatre meet a great number of criteria, partly including the number and quality of current performances, the status of artists whom each house regularly engage, and what the new house has done regarding the commissioning of new works. Managements were also taken into consideration, as well as the general reputation these companies own within the industry. To have made it to the short list is indicative of the importance and prominence each of these theatres respectively possess. Two of these select theatres were exceedingly close to ascendancy, yet the Bayerische Staatsoper simply dominated in most categories to such a degree, the decision ultimately was clear. COMMANDOpera was quite impressed with the crisp professionalism when dealing directly with the theatre this past month. The German habit of precisness and clarity in all matters did not once override the extremely pleasant manner of individuals employed within this theatre: the mark of a prestigious theatre who knows they are so.   

Munich’s operatic history began with the courtly splendor of the young Italian “dramma per musica”, that new, initially exclusive, yet later – in Venice – universally popular form of musical theatre. Elector Ferdinand Maria installed a theatre in the Hercules Hall of the Residence, where the first Italian opera performances were staged for the members of the court society. Concurrently, following a his father Maximilian I’s plan, he also built the first free-standing opera house in Germany by taking the old grain storehouse, the so-called “Haberkasten” (“Oat Bin”), on Salvatorplatz, and reconstructing it as a baroque theatre. The courtly period operas were generally based on mythology and used allegorical figures to pay homage to the ruler and his court.  Often the technical apparatus with its flying machines, sea battles and triumphal marches vied for primacy with the music.

During the reign of Elector Max II Emanuel, between 1679 and 1726, Italian opera continued its own triumphal march in Munich. His successor, Maximilian III Joseph, then commissioned François Cuvilliés to construct the “teatro nuovo presso la residenza”, the Residence Theatre – to this day the Cuvilliés-Theater is a household name for opera lovers all over the world. The “dramma per musica” had meanwhile become the “opera seria” with the featuring the cult of the aria, the bel canto style, the prima donnas and the castrati. Gradually folk operas and musical entertainments emerged from the middle class. Mythological subjects and homages to rulers began yielding to more life-like subject matter drawn from everyday life. New decisive impulses came from such sources as the French revolutionary “opéra comique” and the “singspiel” from Vienna and Leipzig.

The “opera buffa”, a combination of a vast array of different style elements, determined the style of La finta giardinera, the opera 19-year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was commissioned to write for Munich. Six years later, on commission from Elector Karl Theodor, he composed his first “opera seria”. The world première of this work Idomeneo – re di Creta on January 29, 1781 in the Residence Theatre marked a major breakthrough for the 25-year old composer.

The artistic and political trends in the first quarter of the 19th century were determined by Max IV Joseph, who ruled from 1799 on as Elector, then, following the elevation of Bavaria to the status of kingdom, from 1806 to 1825 as King Max I. In 1802, the old “Haberkasten” on Salvatorplatz was torn down. The “Hof-National-Schaubühne” (“Court-National Theatrical Stage”) moved into the Cuvilliés Theatre becoming the “Churfürstliches Hoftheater” (“Electoral Court Theatre”). One of the last decisive acts of Bavaria’s King Max was the laying of the cornerstone for the Royal Court and National Theatre on Marstallplatz in 1811. This house, built to plans by Carl von Fischer, burned down on January 14, 1823, but thanks to the willingness of the Munich citizenry to make sacrifices, it was restored under the direction of architect Leo von Klenze and was able to reopen its doors only two years later.

With the accession of King Ludwig I, who continued his father’s tradition from 1825 to 1848, and the revival of the new National Theatre, another new epoch in Munich’s operatic history began. Measures undertaken by the king included the closing of the “Volkstheater” at the Isartor and the final dissolution of the Italian opera. This opened the way for local forces as well as for a number of new trends emanating from all over Europe.

During the Third Reich, Munich was slated to get another opera house. With Clemens Krauss, who served in the joint capacity of general manager and general music director, Munich was able to develop even further despite oppression and war. Clemens Krauss supplied highlights both in his career and in the history of the National Theatre with the world premières of three works by his friend Richard Strauss, three fantastic anachronisms which nevertheless became artistic reality: Friedenstag in 1938, Verklungene Feste in 1941, and Capriccio in 1942. During an Allied bombardment in the night of October 3 / 4, the National Theatre was turned into an eerie ruin. Further damage and destruction as well as the proclamation of “total war” silenced the State Opera for a while.

The arduous tasks of restoring the theatre to life were assumed by General Manager Georg Hartmann and his General Music Director Georg Solti. After they had successfully introduced works by Paul Hindemith and Heinrich Sutermeister, and Werner Egk had established himself in 1948 with his Faust ballet Abraxas, Hartmann and Solti put on the first post-war Munich Opera Festival in 1950, creating on a firm foundation to pass on to their successors.

Rudolf Hartmann served as general manager for fifteen years from 1952 to 1967, working side-by-side with general music directors Rudolf Kempe, Ferenc Fricsay and Joseph Keilberth. Two significant events occurred during the Hartmann era: the return to the restored Cuvilliés Theatre with Le nozze di Figaro in 1958 and the reopening of the National Theatre on November 21, 1963. With the aid of the “Friends of the National Theatre” it rose in old classicistic glory like a phoenix from the ashes in accordance the plans of Gerhard Graubner and Karl Fischer.

Photo Credits: Mr. Wilfried Hösl courtesy of the Bayerische Staatsoper.

The 2010 2011 season which was announced in April, will feature six new productions; Rusalka, Fidelio (Calixto Bieto), L’enfant et les sortiléges/Der Zwerg, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Saint Francois d’Assise, and Mitridate, re di Ponto. The castings for these productions will be most interesting in some of these productions. Debuts for the 2010 2011 season? Forty of them, including; Miss Angela Denoke, Mr. Christopher Maltman, Miss Anna Netrebko, Miss Nina Stemme, Miss Anja Harteros, Mr. Ben Heppner, Miss Adrienne Pieczonka, Mr. Kirill Petrenko and Mr. Fabio Luisi. This list does not include the other top rank artists who will be appearing, the list which begins here. COMMANDOpera would advise readers globally to review the season in its entirety to fully appreciate the extent and diversity offered to audiences by the Bayerische Staatsoper.

COMMANDOpera would like to thank the many indivduals from diverse area’s within the realm of Opera in North America and Europe who have taken time to speak, email, and debate on this topic. A further thanks is in order to the houses who have kindly opened their doors in the past few months to assist this venue, in particular the Bayerische Staatsoper for the use of archival historical material.

Mr. Richard Kiphart, Lyric Opera’s Board President and CEO has directed that a  search committee be established immediately under the direction of  Mr. Kenneth Pigott, executive vice president of  Lyric’s Board and chairman of  Lyric’s production sponsorship committee.

The Lyric Opera is one of the extremely few gold plated houses in the Opera world and COMMANDOpera will be following this selection process rather closely. Anyone who is anyone will be quietly slipping their C.V. under the door of Mr. Pigott. Without question, one may surmise there will be much jostling within those famed halls to bring in an American to run the theatre.

COMMANDOpera sends hearty felicitations to Mr. Mason for a relaxed retirement, and a supportive arm to Mr. Pigott for the onerous task he must now undertake.

The American Lyric Theatre is a brilliant place in the sun for American Opera which is setting the stamp on the new age of works from American artists. The introduction of their front page tells one all they need to know: ‘American Lyric Theater (ALT) was founded in 2005 to build a new body of operatic repertoire for new audiences by nurturing composers and librettists, developing sustainable artistic collaborations, and contributing new works to the national canon. While many opera companies actively commission and perform new works, ALT is the only company in the United States that also offers extensive, full time mentorship for emerging operatic writers. ALT’s model for developing new works has some important differences when compared with prevailing practices in the opera field.  While the traditional company model in the United States focuses on producing a season, ALT’s entire operations are structured to mentor artists, to develop new works, and to collaborate with larger producing companies to help usher those works into the repertoire’. COMMANDOpera is most impressed with the mission of the American Lyric Theatre, a model orginating from New York City which is unmatched globally.

The performances will be under the baton of British Conductor Timothy Redmond. Creating the major roles within the work Mr. Michael Kepler Meo is Charlie, Mr. Daniel Okulitch will portray Willi Wonka, Mr. David Trugden is Mike Teevee, Miss Jennifer Rivera is Veruca Salt, Mr. David Kravitz is Lord Salt, Miss Tracy Dahl is Violet Beauregard. The Opera Theatre of St Louis has been extraordinarily generous in offering COMMANDOpera exclusive behind the scenes photographs depicting the moments which lead up to the opening night. COMMMANDOpera will present these photo’s in black and white in the pictorial manner of LOOK magazine. ALL photo credits: Mr. Ken Howard.

Costume Designer Martin Pakledinaz with Craft Shop Manager Kate Strembicki.

A costume for the world premiere of the Golden Ticket.

Mr Daniel Okulitch with OTSL Artistic Director James Robinson.

Repetiteur Brian DeMaris with Conductor Timothy Redmond and Composer Peter Ash.

Conductor Timothy Redmond with Composer Peter Ash discuss a point within the score.

Here are two costume renderings exclusively released to COMMANDOpera by the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. There exists a rather magical quality to these renderings which clearly evoke Roald Dahl.

Willie Wonka

Oompa Loompa

The San Francisco Opera commences it’s summer season tonight with a run of Faust by Maestro Charles Gounod. The tourneé will star Mr. Stephen Secco as Faust, Miss Patricia Racette as Marguerite, and Mr. John Relyea as Mehistopheles, under the double cast batons of Messrs Maurizio Benini and Giuseppe Finzi. COMMANDOpera can assure opera goers in San Francisco this is an all star cast who will not disappoint in this original Lyric Opera mounting. COMMANDOpera has noticed Mr. Secco singing just about everywhere last season in Europe to great acclaim. Miss Racette is a sturdy and capable artist, while Mr. Relyea steals scenes on every stage he appears (particularly as Mephistopheles). It should make for an extremely interesting night of vocalising. If you are going to be in town between now and July 1, then this is a must do ticket. COMANDOpera will now release an extensive pictorial from the dress of two nights ago for the benefit of global readers who are unable to attend the event. All photographs are to the credit of Mr. Cory Weaver and arrive courtesy of the San Francisco Opera. 

Keep note of this pictorial if you plan to tune in for the December 05 th radio broadcast which will be streamed globally.

“From all my reading about Mandela there were three that spoke to me and on which I felt I could hang music. Obviously people may select different ones, because Mandela’s life was so full and diverse, but these were the three for me. The first was when the 17-year-old Mandela goes into the bush and undergoes the trials and tribulations of an arduous initiation. He commits himself to the pain of circumcision only to be welcomed back into the community with the grim words of the regent that the flower of the Xhosa nation will come to nothing because they will never reach their potential. They will only ever do menial work for white people and will not be teachers, leaders and scholars. This made a huge impression on the young initiate and he wrote a long passage about it in his book A Long Walk to Freedom. He realised his destiny was in his own hands and he would have to put his rural past behind him. So he sets out to engage with industrial South Africa.” For Act I, Qunu Oratorio, the Cape Town composer and cellist Alan Stephenson has written an oratorio scored for orchestra and massed choir, making use of the traditional music of the Xhosa from the 1920s and 1930s. Mandela’s second defining moment, as seen by Williams, was the eradication of Sophiatown. “This marked a change in Mandela’s mood. He had already joined the ANC in the 1940s, but it was during the forced move-out of Sophiatown that he started to float the idea of an armed struggle. Although this was criticised by the leadership, he realised that he had to take up the struggle.” Act II, Sophiatown Playlist, marks a change of style and tempo. It features popular songs from the 1950s arranged by Mike Campbell, professor of jazz at UCT. The lively music sets the scene for the action in the Jig Club, the dance hall that is to be closed down by the authorities. “The third defining moment, which forms the final act, Amandla! comes after the Sharpeville massacre, when Mandela sees that the path for peaceful protest is no longer appropriate. He burns his pass, takes up the armed struggle, forms Umkhonto we Sizwe and persuades the ANC executive to go underground. The music will be woven by Roelof Temmingh on themes of revolution, incarceration and freedom.”

The vocal artists will naturally be of South African origin and are likely not known externally beyond the borders of Africa proper: Nelson Mandela 1 – Thabang Piri, Nelson Mandela 2 – Aubrey Lodewyk, Nelson Mandela 3 -  Ntobeko Rwanqa, Shebeen Queen & Famous Singer – Gloria Bosman, Winnie Mandela Act 3 -  Philisa Sibeko, Chief Act 1 -  Xolela Sixaba, Praise-singer Act 1 -  Given Nkosi, Mother Act – 1 Tina Mene, Young Girl Act 2 – Nosiseko Mbundu, Judge Act 3 -  Brad Liebl TBC, Journalist Act 2 – Lindile Kula Senior, Boxer Act 2 – Paul Madibeng, Walter Sisulu Act 2 – Nkosana Sitimela, Father Huddleston Act 2; Male Lawyer Act 3; F W De Klerk Act 3 – Pieter Tredoux, Joe Slovo Act 3 + Prosecutor Act 3 -  Chris Woolnough, Nelson as child – TBC.

Photo Credit: Mr. William Struhs, courtesy of the Spoleto Festival USA.

The internationally esteemed Maestro Emmanuel Villaume has resigned his post as Music Director for Opera and Orchestra of the Spoleto Festival USA which is based in Charleston South Carolina. The resignation was announced to the full board at 3 P.M. yesterday, and was made public shortly thereafter. COMMANDOpera regards the Maestro as one of the finest conductors on the globe today, and his departure will be keenly felt by Spoleto USA. COMMANDOpera has spoken directly with the theatre and was given to understand the resignation was nothing short of surprising to most at the administration, although it was disclosed Spoleto USA General Director Nigel Redden had advance warning. Maestro Villaume has been with the festival since 2001: a lengthy and inspired tenure by any measure. This venue understands the festival is determined to maintain the Maestro’s services on a less formal basis. COMMANDOpera has reached out to Maestro Villaume’s London team and will update this article accordingly. Beyond this, COMMANDOpera has been directly in contact with the great Maestro in an attempt to secure an interview.

THE MIKADO
Music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. May 14, 22, 27 and June 4, 2011 at Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth. In English.
The Mikado, a comedy, contains some of the best-known and popular Gilbert and Sullivan tunes. The story centers around two young lovers struggling against the powers that be to become husband and wife. Fort Worth Opera’s version will be true to the original, but with a fun twist of setting it in modern-day Japan.
Director: John de los Santos Conductor: Joe Illick Primary Cast: Jessica Cates as Yum-Yum; Meaghan Deiter as Katisha; Logan Rucker as Nanki-Poo; and Matthew Young as Mikado.

IL TROVATORE
Music by Giuseppe Verdi and libretto by Salvatore Cammarano. May 21, 29 and June 3, 2011 at Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth. In Italian with projected English translations.
Classic, larger-then-life, Verdi with traditional sets and costumes. The story is a rich labyrinth of gypsy mothers, revenge, warring rivals (who are brothers, but don’t know it) and love.
Director: David Lefkowich Conductor: Joe Illick Primary Cast: Marjorie Owens as Leonora; Victoria Livengood as Azucena; Dongwon Shin as Manrico; and Malcolm MacKenzie as Count di Luna.

JULIUS CAESER 
Music by George Frideric Handel and libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym. May 28 and June 5, 2011 at Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth. In Italian with projected English translations.
Classic production, except that the Fort Worth Opera production will feature two male counter-tenors and a male soprano to sing the roles Handel originally wrote for castrati. In modern, post-castrati times, these roles are typically
sung by women. The story centers around the Egyptian-Roman war and the romance between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.
Director: David Gately Conductor: Daniel Beckwith Primary Cast: Randall Scotting as Julius Caesar; Ava Pine as Cleopatra; Meredith Arwady as Cornelia; and Michael Maniaci as Sextus.

HYDROGEN JUKEBOX
Music by Philip Glass and poetry by Allen Ginsberg. May 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, June 1, 2, 4 and 5, 2011 at the Sanders Theatre, Fort Worth Community Arts Center. In English.
Described as a “chamber opera for ensemble and soloists,” Hydrogen Jukebox is unlike any opera most people have seen. Based on the work “Howl” by Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, this music/theater piece is a portrait of America that covers 1950′s through the 1980′s. Its content ranges from highly personal poems of Ginsberg to his reflection on social issues: the anti-war movement, the sexual revolution, drugs, eastern philosophy, and environmental awareness.
Director: Lawrence Edelson Conductor: Steven R. Osgood. The artists appearing have not been announced at this time.

COMMANDOpera could offer excerpts of many of the artists, given their respective brilliance, however Dongwon Shin who will essay Manrico appears for readers delectation. Further, COMMANDOpera declares the Fort Worth season a MUST do, if you are anywhere near the area.

Mr. Shin sings Celeste Aida. Amateur video warning.

This season, the festival is offering a homegrown pop music favourite ‘MIKA’, on June 24th, the Kevin Mahogany Quintet and Odean Pope on an American Jazz double bill July 9th, The Orkiestra Sinfonietta Cracovia from Poland performs Chopin to celebrate the bicentenary of the composer on July 17th, The Boris Eifman ballet troupe from St. Petersburg does Anna Karenina on July 24th, and Mr. Naseer Shamma will lead a tradtional Arabic orchestra led by the national instrument the ‘Oud’ on July 31st.  For three nights in early August, a musical called ‘Too much Love…kills’ is performed.

Mr. Naseer Shamma plays the Oud in Muscat Oman.

Where Opera is concerned, Mr. Jurgen Flimm will see his final season at the festival before undertaking duties as the Artistic Director of the German state Opera unter den Linden. The well regarded Mr. Flimm who has been with the festival since 1987 will be much missed. In describing how this season came to pass, Mr. Flimm writes: “ Four years ago we were preoccupied with the “Nocturnal Side of Reason”. In the following years we asked ourselves whether love can overcome death, and we observed how the mighty play their games with us. In the coming summer we are focusing our attention on myths, which are reflected in a very special way in a whole series of operas and plays. This time we are rather like archaeologists opening up a door and going down to explore and remind ourselves about the interrelated origins and contradictions of our history and of our civilisation. We want to try and find traces of what we still are nowadays and follow up memories. We also want to show how the ancient themes of tragedy are timeless and still relevant.”

There will be six fully staged operas offered and a Norma in concert.

DIONYSOS
Mr. Wolfgang Rihm, one of the most well-known and versatile German contemporary composers, is writing his new musical theater work Dionysos for the Salzburg Festival, to be given its world premiere at the beginning of the 2010 Festival summer. The inspiration and point of departure for Rihm’s newest work is Mr. Friedrich Nietzsche’s late cycle of poems Dionysos-Dithyramben. How the god of inebriation figures in the texts of the philosopher already succumbing to madness, how his difficult relationship with the most important women in his life can be represented by music, motion and imagery, how the extremely sensitized author himself can become a brilliant theatrical event, all that will be shown by stage director Mr. Pierre Audi, who has a vast range of experience in working with visual artists. The sets will be designed by the German artist Mr. Jonathan Meese, who grew up in Japan and is considered one of the most influential figures on the international art scene. Mr. Nietzsche has been a recurring topic in his oeuvre. In order to realize Rihm’s kaleidoscope of scenes at the Haus für Mozart, the Salzburg Festival has invited Conductor Ingo Metzmacher. Mr. Johannes Martin Kränzle, who made a great impression during the summer of 2009 in Handel’s Theodora, sings the title role. Further main roles feature Miss Mojca Erdmann, who began her international career in Salzburg in Armida, as well as the German Tenor Matthias Klink.

ELEKTRA
The archaic and primordial, Dionysian elements of Greek tragedy as well as Nietzsche’s influence are also evident in Mr. Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s exploration of myths. Elektra, the first collaboration between the festival founders Maestro Richard Strauss and Mr. Hofmannsthal, will be presented at the Großes Festspielhaus in 2010. Mr. Strauss saw Mr. Hofmannsthal’s 1903 play Elektra at its world premiere, directed by another founding father of the festival, Mr. Max Reinhardt, and decided to set it to music. The Italian Conductor Mr. Daniele Gatti will lead the Vienna Philharmonic in this highly expressive work. The main roles have been cast with four outstanding Strauss interpreters: Miss Iréne Theorin will sing the role of Elektra, Miss Waltraud Meier performs the role of Klytämnestra, Miss Eva-Maria Westbroek will embody Chrysothemis and Mr. René Pape Orest. Director Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s Elektra will be his third Salzburg Festival production.

ORFEO ED ERUDICE
Just like Elektra, Maestro Christoph Willibald Gluck’s reform opera Orfeo ed Euridice marks a key moment in the historic reception of the myths of antiquity. Mr. Dieter Dorn will direct this production. Maestro Riccardo Muti (whose discography includes a standard-setting recording of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice), will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic at the Großes Festspielhaus. Two Austrian singers, Miss Elisabeth Kulman and Miss Genia Kühmeier, as well as the Bavarian soprano Miss Christiane Karg, will form the trio of soloists in a story in which everything is motivated by love.

LULU
The power of Eros can also be experienced in this year’s program in two figures that have nearly mythical dimensions: Lulu, a figure Alban Berg dedicated his second opera to and whom he considered a female counterpart of Don Juan, will be embodied by the incomparable French soprano Patricia Petibon. Mr. Michael Schade, Mr. Michael Volle, Mr. Pavol Breslik and Mr. Franz Grundheber play the men who accompany Lulu’s rise and fall. The Sofia-born and German-trained Director Vera Nemirova makes her Salzburg Festival debut with this production. The German Conductor Marc Albrecht will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic. Mr. Daniel Richter, one of the most important contemporary painters of this age, returns to the Salzburg Festival as a set designer after his successful work in 2008 on Cantata profana/Duke Bluebeard’s Castle. The invitations to Mr Richter and Mr. Meese as set designers during the Salzburg Festival’s anniversary year illustrates the high value the Festival attaches not only to music and performing arts, but also the visual arts.

DON GIOVANNI & ROMEO ET JULIETTE
The young Canadian Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin who won international acclaim for his 2008 Salzburg Festival debut, will conduct not only a new production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette (directed by Mr. Bartlett Sher) with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg this summer, but also Mozart’s Don Giovanni (directed by Mr. Claus Guth) with the Vienna Philharmonic. The team of Don Giovanni and Leporello will be embodied once again by Mr. Christopher Maltman and Mr. Erwin Schrott. The female leads will be sung by Miss Aleksandra Kurzak as Donna Anna, Miss Dorothea Röschmann as Elvira and Miss Anna Prohaska as Zerlina. Mr. Joseph Kaiser and Mr. Joel Prieto will share the role of Don Ottavio. The roles of Juliette and Roméo will be sung at the Felsenreitschule by Miss Anna Netrebko alternating with Miss Nino Machaidze, and Mr. Piotr Beczala alternating with Mr. Stephen Costello.

NORMA
Another opera featured in the 2010 Salzburg Festival program which focuses on myths is Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma (1831). Mr. Richard Wagner compared this work to antique tragedies, and Schopenhauer admired it as a “most perfect tragedy”. The central protagonist of the opera is the Druid priestess Norma, a role that will be sung in two concert performances at the Großes Festspielhaus by Miss Edita Gruberova. Her partners will be Miss Joyce DiDonato, Mr. Marcello Giordani and Mr. Ferruccio Furlanetto. Mr. Friedrich Haider conducts the Camerata Salzburg.

COMMANDOpera advises one pay careful attention when considering your travel plans to attend, as a number of the performances are sold out and have been long in advance.

The Teatro Real in Madrid will be premiering Die Tote Stadt on the evening of June 14th for a run of nine performances which will end June 30th. This is a production from the Salzburg Festival which was co produced with the Weiner Staatsoper. COMMANDOpera has to admit the introduction to the work is so in depth and well written, readers will forgive this venue for strictly quoting on this occasion:

” Premièred on a simultaneous basis in Hamburg and Cologne on 4th December 1920, Die tote Stadt, which is on a libretto by the composer himself and by Paul Schott, the composer’s father’s pseudonym (a fearsome Viennese music critic), is based on the drama Bruges-la-morte by the Belgian symbolist writer Georges Rodenbach. Written at the tender age of just twenty-two, it became an immediate success both in Germany and in Austria, until it was banned by the Nazis. The title refers to the sickly charm of the city of Bruges, with its bridges and canals where life seems to have come to a standstill. The drama deals with the obsession of the painter, Paul, with his deceased wife, Marie, which he has not been able to get over, so much so that he keeps her hair in a glass urn as if it were a holy relic. However, at the same time, the artist is fascinated by a coquettish, sensual dancer, Marietta, whom he mistakes for his wife and whom he ends up strangling with the latter’s hair. The opera is a fusion of Puccini and Richard Strauss, although there are also overtones of Mahler and Zemlinsky, who was Korngold’s teacher and of the expressionist world of Alban Berg. Melodies like Marie’s Song or Pierrot’s Ballad have become extremely popular and nostalgically evoke the old Europe that was to disappear for ever with the Second World War. In fact, the composer was exiled in the United States, where he was to become one of the maximum exponents of music for the cinema (even obtaining a few Oscars from Hollywood), in which his exalted romanticism is always highlighted. This is the author’s operatic masterpiece, but he also wrote other worthy titles such as Violanta and Das Wunder der Heliane (The Miracle of Heliane), always morbidly beautiful.

Willy Decker’s production, which was originally mounted for the Salzburg festival, is one of the most lauded productions by this prestigious German stage director. With an imaginary that is sometimes surrealist, it recreates this world between fiction and reality, between wakefulness and slumber, which are interlaced so often in this work that the viewer often does not know in which plane the action is taking place. The atmosphere is charged with symbolism, mixed with eroticism and religion. In the pit, the North-American conductor Pinchas Steinberg (whose excellent work in conducting Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow) by Richard Strauss was memorable) will be able to extract all of the melancholic sensuality of the score. Two important sopranos of our time, the North-American Catherine Naglestad and the Scandinavian Solveig Kringelborn will personify the disturbing role of Marie-Marietta, who will upset the painter Paul, who will be performed by two up-and-coming German tenors, Klaus Florian Vogt and Bukhard Fritz, accompanied by the young North-American baritone Lucas Meachem, in the double roles of Frank and Fritz, with which he has just triumphed at the San Francisco Opera and the German mezzo-soprano Nadine Weissmann as Brigitta.”

The original production from Salzburg premiered with Mr. Torsten Kerl (seen in the photgraph on top) and Miss Angela Denoke. The two artists are seen here in a 2001 Strasbourg production of the same work:

Marietta’s Lautenlied ‘Gluck das mir verblieb’.

And who would you be inclined to most want to hear in the principal roles? Mr. Jonas Kauffman as Don Jose? Miss Elina Garanca as Carmen? or perhaps Mr. Ildebrando D’Archangelo as Escamillo? Top tier talent across the board from the Bayerische Staatsoper production which is based on an original from Miss Lina Wertmuller. Conducting the performance is Mr. Karl Mark Chicon, the artistic Director of the Latvian National Symphony. The London born conductor who is 39, has been hailed as something of a genius in classical music circles and is acclaimed throughout much of Europe, particularly in Austria. Mr. Chicon has debuted in every major and important theatre, and is considered the successor to the mantle of Sir Georg Solti. COMMANDOpera would make it a point to attend performances under the baton of Mr. Chicon regardless of whose singing, such is the strength of the music which emanates from the pit when this conductor is in charge. Here is an example of Mr. Chicon in the pit with Miss Garanca:

Miss Garanca sings ‘Alma grande e nobil core’ by Mozart in Moscow 2008.

Mr. Kaufmann sings ‘La fleur que tu m’avais’ from Carmen ROH 2006.

The opera premiered at the Opéra-Comique of Paris on 3 March 1875, but its opening run was denounced by the majority of critics. Carmen was almost withdrawn after its fourth or fifth performance, and although this was avoided, ultimately having 48 performances in its first run, the work did little to bolster sagging receipts at the Opéra-Comique. Near the end of this run, the theatre was giving tickets away in order to stimulate attendance. Mr. Bizet died of a heart attack, aged 36, on 3 June 1875, never knowing how popular Carmen would become. In October 1875 it was produced in Vienna, to critical and popular success, which began its path to worldwide popularity. It was not staged again at the Opéra Comique until 1883.

COMMANDOpera advises readers to refresh the page every few minutes for continuous updates throughout the performance. A complete set of dress photographs courtesy of the Fort Worth Opera will be released exclusively by COMMANDOpera throughout the prima as the action takes place. There can be no question this performance will be of global interest given the performance marks the first assumption of the role of Nemorino by the brilliant and widely acclaimed Mr. Fabiano. Miss Pine is a vocal talent to be reckoned with in the opinion of COMMANDOpera, as the artist owns a vocal instrument of crystalline brilliance in the top register. Her Adina will remind listeners of Miss Sutherland or Miss Battle for its purity of tone at the top. COMMANDOpera also looks to see what Mr. Nelman can do with Dulcamara. Mr. Stewart Robertson is slated to conduct the performance.

And so the performance begins. Maestro Robertson handles the prelude with a gentle sincerity which underlines with almost perfect simplicity the sweetness of innocence of the plot.

Enter Giannetta and the rest of the chorus singing with excellent harmony the first airs… Lets see how Mr. Fabiano does with ‘Quanto e Bella’… He evokes softly and gently the first phrase …very reminiscent of Mr. Pavarotti. This is going to be an excellent performance for Mr. Fabiano if this is any indication. The firmness of the vocal instrument is stunning.

And now to Miss Pine and Adina with ‘Della crudele Isotta’..  Miss Pine executes the air with the lovliest appogiature…nothing is overdone here. Interesting vocal instrument when live… there is the slightest tremolo which does not take away from the air. Miss Pine determines to finish with an A sharp. Enter the Belcore of Mr. Bolduc.

He begins with the air ‘Come paride vezzoso’ handling the music better than expected, imbuing an instant ‘bully’ tonal quality. Nice. The interchanges throughout are perfect. Nemorino is duly agonised, Adina is suitably distracted, while Belcore is deep with ardor. And now for the conclusion of the trio… No one takes the higher option to end the ensemble which lessens the moment somewhat.

The interchange between Nemorino and Adina unwinds deliriously thanks to Miss Pine whose notes are sensual in their tonal beauty particularly ‘Chiedi all’ aura lusinghiera’. Mr. Fabiano matches Miss Pine, note for note saturated with emotion. Truly, who sings at this calibre?? Miss Pine handles ‘Che pazzia’ along the same limpid lines, as Mr. Fabiano continues to stun in ‘Ah te a sola’. The duet is comes to a close on a high A natural: Beautiful. Enter Dulcamara..

Mr. Nelman imbues the horrendously long  air commencing with ‘Udite udite’ with gallons of color and interesting shades… if he keeps this up will there be much left? and so we listen…His command of Italian is remarkable with a Veronese accent no less!! Mr. Nelman has a new fan here as this ranks as a top tier Dulcamara! This air is always a concern…it goes on and on with only the finest artists pulling it off. Mr. Nelman deserves wild applause for this tour de force! The Fort Worth audience obliges the artist heartily.

Nemorino and Dulcamara begin their exchange in earnest. We have two brilliant artists on the stage here. Mr. Fabiano evokes a wild desperation with his singing (shades of verissimo style). One cannot believe what emanates from the throat of Mr. Fabiano! Mr. Nelman and Mr. Fabiano duet in perfectly precise harmony. THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT… bravura singing at its finest! Mr. Fabiano is stealing every moment yet Mr. Nelman keeps up the break neck pace. INSANE!!! Excellent! Delicate pianissimo from Mr. Fabiano crossed by stunning fioriture from Mr. Nelman! Wild applause is going to take place here! Mr. Fabiano finishes on a B!!!

The singing from the golden age of Opera continues with Mr. Fabiano, Miss Pine, and Mr. Bolduc. The subtlety and beauty of each note, the phrasing is just excellent. The ensemble comes to a conclusion with the ususal repetitions. Intermission begins. At this point one may find it a required necessity to step away from the system, however COMMANDOpera had not expected brilliance of this calibre. Although one is well aware of Mr Fabiano’s rightful status, the other principals are above and beyond exceptional. We await the next act.

COMMANDOpera has just heard from Primo Tenore Assoluto Michael Fabiano. He is obviously having a blast onstage.

As we head into the last half of the work, there will be some interesting singing however the most looked upon air will be Nemorino’s ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ very near the end.

And so we begin at Adina’s place. The chorus begins with expected harmony: no sloppiness from this chorus. Dulcamara returns in fine voice, though he has had a nice rest. Mr. Nelman is a delight as a singing actor.as he begins ‘Io son ricco’. Miss Pine steps in with perfectly placed retorts. Interesting how this section sounds less Donizetti and more Bellini stylistically. Enter Nemorino…

Ahh hapless Nemorino looks for another fix. The exchange is lightly and deftly handled by both artists.

The duet between Belcore and the lost Nemorino is neatly spun out with both artists assuredly handling their respective lines. Mr. Bolduc although perhaps the weakest link of the quartet of principals, he certainly owns sufficient technique to go places in a few years. The duet finishes with a B once more from Mr. Fabiano.

Enter Giannetta and the other women who reveal Nemorino has inherited great wealth. Miss Ross does well as Giannetta with able singing. Enter our unsuspecting hero.

Mr. Fabiano handles the short air ‘Dell’elisir’ with aplomb, setting the tone of a lost wistful man.

Adina enters and is not pleased with these women throwing themselves at our hero. Slight strident tone from Miss Pine, perhaps intended to reflect her displeasure vocally; it worked.

The ensemble continues unabated in perfect harmony to a conclusion. Adina and Dulcamara exchange lines. Both vocal resources work correctly together with only a slight taxing to Miss Pine. She handles ‘Una tenera occhiatina’ with a sprightliness which belies her edge. Mr. Nelman continues to sing brilliantly: an amazing artist we have here. Miss Pine once more attains a light frothy and velvety tone. Technique is relied on here.. and it see’s her in excellent stead. Miss Pine use of trills is delightful as she finishes on a C.

On to Una Furtiva Lagrima… here we go. Mr. Fabiano brings everything to the air.. the finest piano.. the delicacy of his handling makes anyones eyes moist. This is sensational in its ethereal heavenliness. Love does exist after all and Mr. Fabiano has broken this heart with his rendition of this air. The audience will go bonkers after this. They did, though you could hear a pin drop through out.

Can Miss Pine equal Mr. Fabiano with ‘Prendi’? Here we go. Miss Pine handles the air with measured delicacy, if her lower register seems slightly tenuous..her top is stellar. The depth of feeling is communicated without issue. Brava.

The Opera concludes on a high C taken by both Mr. Fabiano and Miss Pine. The house erupts into a well deserved standing ovation which continues for at least 5 minutes….

In summation COMMANDOpera is obliged to note it was Mr. Fabiano’s brilliant performance which stole the show vocally. ‘Una Furtiva lagrima’ which is at the end of the work requires an artist to have something left after a great deal of strenuous singing beforehand, as opposed to a set concert air or recording. When Mr. Fabiano sang the air, all one could think of was how this could have been recorded. While it is a little much to suggest Mr. Fabiano owns the role of Nemorino, no artist that I know of captured the gentle character of Nemorino so wholly. Once again, as with his Edgardo of Lucia, Mr. Fabiano MADE one feel as though one knew Nemorino personally. There is just something about Mr. Fabiano in Donizetti….  Mr. Nelman as Dulcamara was outstanding. The duets between these two artists blazed to life in a manner of singing not heard since the golden era of the 50′s. Such style is breathtaking and rare. Miss Pine as Adina had some truly excellent moments throughout, although COMMANDOpera found her vocal instrument ’reedy’ by the middle of the final scene. Brilliant in her top, the middle to lower register while seamless, was not as golden. Perhaps one is being picky, but this should not exist in such a young artist, and perhaps in noting such, may well be addressed in the future. Mr. Bolduc did a nice job of Belcore, however his prime will begin a few years from now: as is typical of this vocal range. Indeed, Mr. Bolduc is now on the radar of COMMANDOpera to watch. Mr. Robertson handled the turns of Donizetti’s score adroitly. For COMMANDOpera the true test of great Donizetti conducting is when the individual on the podium manages to balance the correct amount of  symphonic architecture with the vocal music. It is not an easy task. Mr. Bonynge had it right, Mr. Muti does not. Mr. Robertson was on game with the twists and turns of L’Elisir well under his strong and suitably velvety yet rigid baton. The chorusmaster of Fort Worth Opera is to be commended for the unexpected brilliancy of this chorus.

Miss Borodina sings Marfa’s ACT 3 air. Mariinsky December 2009.

The principal theme of Khovanshchina is stated outright in the choral number “Akh, ty Rodnaya, Matushka Russ” (“Oh poor Motherland”), which laments that Russia is bleeding and dying not because of a foreign enemy, but because of fragmentation within. Something like a three-way civil war is in progress. Tsar Peter is modernizing, and two powerful forces are resisting his changes: the Streltsy and the Old Believers. The Streltsy are decommissioned elite soldiers/guards (“Streltsy” literally means “shooters”, just like “musketeers”), past their prime and on indefinite furlough. They are fanatically loyal to Prince Ivan Khovansky. The Old Believers are Russian Orthodox Christians who have left the state-sponsored church because it went along with Tsar Peter’s changes. Their leader is Dosifey. Fortunately for Tsar Peter, these two factions despise each other, as the Streltsy are rowdy degenerates and the Old Believers are pious ascetics. Each of the three principal basses believes himself to represent the “true” Russia against her internal enemies: Prince Ivan Khovansky by noble birth and military prowess, Dosefei by religion, and Shaklovity by supporting Tsar Peter.

For those who are unaware, here is the plot to Khovanshchina:
Act 1
Moscow, Red Square.
Shaklovity, a Boyar and agent for Tsar Peter, dictates a letter to the Tsar, warning of a rebellion planned by Prince Ivan Khovansky (captain of the Streltsy Guards) and the Old Believers. He conceals himself as Prince Ivan arrives. Prince Ivan promises an adoring crowd that he will defend the “young Tsars”, by whom he means Tsar Peter’s conservative rivals within the royal family. He and the crowd exit. Prince Andrey, Ivan’s son, chases in Emma, a German girl, intending to assault her. Marfa, an Old Believer, interferes. Andrey threatens to kill Emma, but Prince Ivan returns, and decides to capture Emma himself. The ensuing quarrel between father and son is interrupted by the arrival of Dosifey, the leader of the Old Believers. Dosifey reproves everyone for being so quarrelsome and un-Christian. Marfa leaves with Emma.

Act 2
Summer study of Prince Vasily Golitsin.
Golitsin, a nervous progressive nobleman, hires Marfa to tell his fortune in secret. She predicts that he will fall from power. After she leaves, Golitsin orders his servants to kill her. Prince Ivan Khovansky disrespects Golitsin by entering without waiting to be announced, and complains loudly that Golitsin has been interfering with his friends in the nobility. A quarrel ensues, each making insulting remarks about the other’s military campaigns, but Dosifey enters and draws their attention away from their argument by criticising both of them—Golitsin for his modern views, and Prince Ivan for letting the Streltsy get drunk and run around making trouble all the time. Marfa, who has been saved by the Tsar’s guards, reappears, followed by Shaklovity, who menacingly announces that the Tsar has been warned of the planned rebellion, and has issued orders to arrest the Princes Khovansky. At this unlikely moment, the curtain falls.

Act 3
The Streltsi Quarter, south of the Moscow River.
Marfa is overheard singing of her love, by Susanna, a fellow Old Believer. Susanna scolds Marfa until Dosifey appears and drives Susanna away. Marfa admits to Dosifey that she loves Andrey Khovansky (the one she restrained from assaulting Emma). Dosifey tells her to pray for relief. They exit and Shaklovity, who until now had been presented as a purely threatening character, sings a haunting prayer for troubled Russia’s protection from the Streltsi (he refers to them as “mercenaries”) and from the rebellious powers they obey. Hearing them coming he exits; some of the Streltsi enter and sing a drinking chorus. The scribe arrives and informs them that Hungarian troops are invading, and that Tsar Peter’s bodyguard fought with the foreigners against the Streltsi—Russian soldiers and foreign soldiers killing other Russian soldiers together. Ivan Khovanski enters and begs their forgiveness for the defeat.

Act 4
Scene 1: A richly furnished chamber in Ivan Khovansky’s mansion.
Prince Ivan Khovansky is warned by a servant of Golitsin that he is in danger, but he ignores the warning and watches his servant girls dance. Shaklovity enters and kills him, scornfully imitating the servants’ song.

Scene 2: Moscow. The square before the Cathedral of Vasiliy the Blessed.
Golitsyn is led into exile. Dosifey mourns the conspirators’ downfall and the success of Tsar Peter. Marfa offers sanctuary to Andrey with the Old Believers. The Streltsy are led to their execution. Peter, through an agent, intervenes to pardon them (which is not in agreement with historical fact).

Act 5
A pine forest, a secluded monastery, a moonlit night.
Dosifey and his followers prepare to immolate themselves. As Dosifey, Marfa, Andrey, and the Old Believers perish in the flames of a burning chapel, Peter’s soldiers arrive in a vain attempt to capture them.

If you are curious as to what else is coming up at the festival, here are some highlights from the Mariinsky:

“Anna Netrebko, Denis Matsuev, Gérard Depardieu, Massimo Giordano, Vladimir Galuzin, Olga Borodina, Nikolaj Znaider and Yekaterina Kondaurova are among those appearing during the first weeks of the Festival. 
 
Russia’s greatest festival of music  – the eighteenth Stars of the White Nights festival  – opens its packed programme celebrating the  Year of Russia and France and France in Russia 2010 on 21 May at two venues. At the Mariinsky Theatre at 18:00 there will be an evening of ballet including the theatre’s recent repertoire acquisition  – Bizet and Shchedrin’s Carmen-Suite under the baton of Valery Gergiev with Yekaterina Kondaurova in the title role. At the Concert Hall at 21:00 renowned French actor Gérard Depardieu will be performing as the Narrator in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, while dazzling mezzo Elena Zhidkova will be performing solo in Berlioz’ vocal symphony cycle Nuits d’été. Valery Gergiev will be conducting the programme. Depardieu, a friend and fan of the Mariinsky Theatre will be performing in Russia for the first time as part of the  Year of Russia and France and France in Russia as the narrator in an opera production, a role new for both him and his fans. 
     
Continuing the Festival’s “French” programme, internationally acclaimed violinist Nikolaj Znaider will be performing on 22 May at 17:00 at the theatre’s Concert Hall. He will be performing the popular Méditation – an intermezzo for solo violin and orchestra – from the opera Thaïs by French composer Jules Massenet as well as Edward Elgar’s Violin Concerto, now regarded as the musician’s calling card. 
     
Star of the Mariinsky Opera Company Anna Netrebko will be performing as Micaëla in the opera Carmen on 23 May, the role of Don José to be sung by acclaimed Italian tenor Massimo Giordano, with whom Anna has performed this season in Paris, Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm. 
     
Concerts featuring French pianist Hélène Grimaud planned for the Festival on 23, 27 and 28 May have been cancelled due to the performer’s illness.
The theatre has asked many renowned performers to come to the Festival’s assistance and perform in place of Hélène Grimaud. 
     
On 23 May Alexei Volodin will be performing the solo in Ravel’s Piano Concerto. 
     
On 27 May the charismatic pianist Denis Matsuev, the darling of St Petersburg audiences and a frequent guest at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre, will be giving a recital. The programme of his recital will repeat the programme of his concert at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire on 16 May: Beethoven’s famous Appassionata, sonatas by Schubert and Grieg and Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz. This concert by the highly acclaimed pianist will not be his only appearance at the Festival. On 16 June he will be performing the solo in Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto. 
     
On 28 May at the Concert Hall, the Festival will be presenting the young and highly promising Russian violinist Alyona Bayeva. 
     
The first weeks of the Festival will see the theatre’s renowned soloists Vladimir Galuzin and Olga Borodina perform their finest roles. On 26 May Galuzin will be performing as Herman in Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades (production by Yuri Temirkanov); and on 2 June Olga Borodina will be appearing as Marfa alongside Galuzin as Prince Andrei Khovansky in Modest Musorgsky’s opera Khovanshchina, one of the most significant works in the Mariinsky Theatre’s repertoire. 
     
The Festival runs until 21 July, and for eight weeks will be presenting over ninety operas and ballets, concerts of symphony and chamber music and recitals by international stars of world music. The Festival will include not just opera and symphony programmes of classical music but works from various other genres as well, such as the musical drama The Infernal Comedy featuring John Malkovich.”

De Nederlandse promotional video of A Dog’s Heart.

For those who are unaware here is the plot to A Dog’s Heart:

ACT I
The surgeon Filip Filipovitsj Preobrasjenski is experimenting with organ transplants to see if he can make his patients young again. He takes the pituitary gland of an alcoholic criminal and transplants it into a dog called Sjarik, a common street mongrel. The animal is transformed into a man-like creature named Sjarikov. His first words are appallingly coarse.

ACT II
The experiment has become the talk of the town. All Sjarikov wants is to be a normal human being. Nonetheless, he attempts to rape a woman and people think that he should be executed. The scientist has a nightmare in which he sees himself called to account before a tribunal of academics: Sjarikov has been chasing cats — a metaphor for intellectuals and members of the opposition, in contrast with the academics of Preobrasjenski’s nightmare, all supporters of the (Soviet) regime. Although Sjarikov has got a job and seems a normal person, he now has to tell his fiancée the truth; this depresses him deeply and he goes away. The situation becomes even more untenable after the arrival of the Big Boss and Preobrasjenski decides to destroy his creation. Sjarikov arrives to claim the surgeon’s apartment, but is seized and operated on for the second time.

EPILOGUE
Sjarik is a dog once more. His last words as a human were ‘No swearing!’ The lights go out slowly and clones of Sjarikov appear everywhere.

Well. The gods have indeed smiled upon us all. The world debut as Nemorino of Primo Tenore Assoluto Michael Fabiano will be audio broadcast LIVE from the Fort Worth Opera Festival THIS SUNDAY at 2 P.M. Fort Worth time. The performance will also star the interesting Miss Ava Pine as Adina, Mr. Rod Nelman as Dulcamara, and Mr. Christopher Bolduc as Belcore. COMMANDOpera need not mention the extraordinary circumstance of a top tier artist debuting a role live: the pitfalls are enormous. Although it is not noted on the Fort Opera website, COMMANDOpera has confirmed with the company the prima will be broadcast locally and web streamed globally by Fort Worth classical radio station WRR 101.FM. COMMANDOpera advises readers download the Abacast plug in for the highest fidelity.

UPDATE:

COMMANDOpera is in possession of a full set of dress photographs which will be released simultaneously and progressively as COMMANDOpera reviews the performance live.

Photo Credit: Mr. Brian Hinrichs courtesy of The Madison Opera.

The Overture Centre house several different theatres which gives the possibility to present smaller works without the necessity to remove to another venue, which is the misfortune of other companies. Pictured above is the main hall, and COMMANDOpera who has been to virtually every house of relevance on the planet, can advise the acoustics in this theatre are superb. One has only to note the character of the room architecturally and the various media utilised to outfit the space. Well….. onto the season as explained by the house:

The Marriage of Figaro by W.A. Mozart | Nov. 5 & 7, 2010 | Overture Hall

Figaro and Susanna are set to be married, but Count Almaviva has plans of his own. At the end of the day, who will cut the cake? Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro turns one day of madness into comic gold, all set to the composer’s brilliant, shimmering score. Madison Opera assembles an unbeatable cast for the opening of its 50th Anniversary Season, with Jason Hardy starring as Figaro, fresh off of rave reviews for his performance in New York City Opera’s Don Giovanni. The radiant Anya Matanovic sings Susanna and Melody Moore (Opera in the Park, 2008) returns as the Countess. Metropolitan Opera baritone Jeff Mattsey sings the Count. Maestro John DeMain conducts, with stage direction by A. Scott Parry in a production from Glimmerglass Opera. Sung in Italian with projected English translations.
Figaro: Jason Hardy
Susanna: Anya Matanovic
Count Almaviva: Jeff Mattsey
Countess Almaviva: Melody Moore

Conductor: John DeMain
Director: A. Scott Parry

The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill | Feb. 4 – 13, 2011 | The Playhouse

Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera follows the travails of the notorious criminal Macheath as he navigates a world of beggars, thieves, and prostitutes in Victorian London. With music deeply rooted in jazz and Viennese operetta, Weill’s provocative setting of Bertolt Brecht’s gritty drama has enchanted audiences for the last century. American Players Theatre favorites James DeVita and Tracy Michelle Arnold make their Madison Opera debuts as Macheath and Jenny Diver in this company premiere. With such memorable numbers as “The Ballad of Mack the Knife” and “Pirate Jenny,” this new production, led by conductor John DeMain and acclaimed stage director Dorothy Danner, is sure to leave its mark. Sung in English.
Macheath: James DeVita
Jenny Diver: Tracy Michelle Arnold

Conductor: John DeMain
Director: Dorothy Danner

La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi | Apr. 29 & May 1, 2011 | Overture Hall

A free-spirited courtesan is tamed by true love, but for how long? The tragic tale of Violetta Valery and Alfredo Germont has mesmerized opera audiences for decades with some of Verdi’s most recognizable music and transfixing characters. La Traviata brings the 2010-11 mainstage season to a close in a lavish production with sets from the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Elizabeth Caballero (Carmen, 2009) returns to Madison as Violetta after recent performances in the role had Opera News calling her “an excellent heroine…commanding and vulnerable by turns.” The young Italian tenor Giuseppe Varano makes his US debut as Alfredo, with Donnie Ray Albert (Opera in the Park, 2005) as Giorgio Germont. Maestro John DeMain conducts, with stage direction by Garnett Bruce. Raise a toast as we celebrate 50 years of opera in Madison…“Libiamo, libiamo!” Sung in Italian with projected English translations.
Violetta Valery: Elizabeth Caballero
Alfredo Germont: Giuseppe Varano !!!!!!!
Giorgio Germont: Donnie Ray Albert

Conductor: John DeMain
Director: Garnett Bruce

Opera in the Park 2011: 10th Anniversary | July 16, 2011 | Garner Park

A Madison summer tradition, this free outdoor concert features leading opera singers alongside the talents of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Madison Opera Chorus in a program of selections from opera and Broadway.

I’m sorry, but did we miss something here? Mr. Giuseppe Varano as Alfredo? Do readers know just who this tenor is the Madison Opera has determined to bring to the U.S. for his official American debut? The fast rising Mr. Varano has blown the roof off of every house he appears in, audiences in Europe are ripping their hair out to get tickets to hear this tenor. He is going to be big Big BIG!!! COMMANDOpera is working towards an exclusive interview with this critically important artist. Here is an example of what Madison audiences have in store:  

Mr. Varano sings ‘Di quella pira’ Il Trovatore Spoleto 2007.

Finale of Jeanne d’Arc au Bucher Teatro Massimo di Palermo 2004.