The Theater an der Wien, back home after a two-year exile, has unfurled a season of 13 new productions. They include a role debut for Asmik Grigorian as Norma, a piece called Voice Killer by the Czech composer Miroslav Srnka and a rare sighting of Prokofiev’s Betrothal in the Monastery. Vienna, with a population below 2 million, has three fully functioning opera house. London, pop. 9 million, has just Covent Garden, open ten months of the year. The post Vienna’s third opera house has more than London’s one appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more

Based on Oscar Wilde’s play, Strauss’s landmark opera was greeted with shock, horror, excitement, awe, respect, censorship, scandal, condemnation – just the kind of responses that fill theatres and cinemas to this day, brought to Slippedisc subscribers courtesy of OperaVision. The music, sweet, sour, erotic, often dizzily thrilling, has not been blunted by time. This is no overture. A rising arpeggio on the clarinet launches Narraboth into his rapturous vision of Salome and, from there to the end, there is let-up in the intensity and tension of the score. Composed in 1905, Salome is still one ..read more

by Susan Hall, New York:   Address Unknown, a short 1938 novel by Katherine Kressmann Taylor, has been made into a play by Marianna Arzumanova.  Mounted at Town Hall in New York by the Cherry Orchard Festival, it stars world-renowned pianist Evgeny Kissin as Max and world-renowned opera baritone, Thomas Hampson as Martin. Can these gentlemen act? We’ve seen Hampson as the Don, Germont pere, Dr. Faustus and Roald Amundsen racing to the South Pole. Now he makes his mark as Martin.  Kissen has mixed poetry with piano performance.  Set in 1932-33 Germany, the work consists larg ..read more

We reported yesterday that Aigul Akhmetshina, everyone’s favourite Carmen, was the sweetener in the new ‘strategic alliance’ between the Tact agency and IMG. She now seems to be declaring she was an active participant in the business deal: I am extremely excited to share the news, something we had been working over the last months to build and develop two great companies. TACT Artists Management and IMG Artists start collaboration creating the biggest musical network in world, bringing together fantastic artists, managers and years of experience on both sides of the globe. Has she got shares i ..read more

Local media are reporting that Cornelius Meister has resigned as Generalmusikdirektor in Stuttgart, following heated disagreements with the intendant, Viktor Schoner, and his team. Meister, 44, will leave Stuttgart in 2026. Things should be interesting between now and then. He has no other job on the side and has been quoted as saying he will not conduct again in Bayreuth, following dissension from some musicians there. The post German Meister quits appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more

The Mayor of Milan has announced that the head of La Fenice opera in Venice, Fortunato Ortombina, will become Sovrintendente of La Scala in September. Ortombina, 63, will succeed Dominique Meyer, 68, but the pair will have a year long handover, working together. Meyer has fallen foul of the Meloni government’s decree that foreigners cannot direct an Italian institution past the age of 70. No change has been announced to the position of music director, but Ortombina has let it be known that he favours Daniele Gatti to succeed Riccardo Chailly. The post Just in: Coup d’état at La Scala appeared ..read more

Statement from a cash-starved company: Due to increasing financial challenges, the Company has had to take the difficult decision to reduce its 2024/2025 Season. The changes mean that the Company will no longer be touring to The Bristol Hippodrome in February 2025, and will not be touring to Venue Cymru, Llandudno in May 2025. This has no impact on our commitment to extending our reach throughout Wales, and WNO will still be visiting Venue Cymru in the Autumn as planned with its new production of Rigoletto alongside Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi and an Opera Favourites performance. A perfo ..read more

Erato has signed the impressive young baritone Huw Montague Rendall, with a debut release scheduled for September and a Wigmore Hall showcase soon after. Rendall has pedigree. He is the son of mezzo-soprano Diana Montague and tenor David Rendall. The post UK baritone lands label deal appeared first on Slippedisc ..read more

This week’s run of Arnold Schoenberg’s monologue has lost its Berlin interpreter. Here’s the quick switch: Press Release Tamara Wilson has to cancel for personal reasons – Ausrine Stundyte takes over the soprano part in Arnold Schoenberg’s Erwartung under the baton of Eun Sun Kim Soprano Tamara Wilson has to cancel her participation in the concerts on 18, 19 and 20 April under the baton of Eun Sun Kim for personal reasons. Her part in Schoenberg’s Erwartung will now be sung by soprano Ausrine Stundyte. The Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation is very grateful to Ausrine Stundyte for stepping in ..read more

The former Chicago chief, relieved now of most worldly concderns, plans to take his Ravenna opera academy to the city of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, in November. The Suzhou Symphony Orchestra will support the teaching he gives to young musicians from around the world. The opera he will teach is Cavalleria Rusticana. In a launch video, Muti said: ‘China and Italy both have a profound culture and very long history. I know that there are many Chinese who love Italian opera and I have been trying to get close to Chinese culture. During the past decades, classical music has gained a large fan base in ..read more