We're blessed to have such a huge number of new productions to be premiered in May 2010 all across Europe, very many of which look super-promising on the paper. In June the offer will be as grand if not even better.
As usual, I expect the best to come from Germany. I hope to see the premiere of the new production of
L'étoile by Chabrier, directed by Dale Duesing, and with Sir Simon Rattle conducting [which also means that the cast includes Madge Kozena ;)]. Towards the end of May at the Deutsche Oper Berlin is scheduled a big prima of
Otello, produced by the phenomenal Andreas Kriegenburg and with José Cura, Zeljko Lucic and Anja Harteros among the soloists. In Stuttgart, Jossi Wieler will unveil his take on
Kat'a Kabanova, while in Frankfurt Vera Nemirova will show off her
Rheingold, the first chapter of the Frankfurter Ring that she will be producing over the next 3-4 years. In Hamburg, instead, Guy Joosten prepares his first
Aida, to be premiered in May too.
Tristan und Isolde in Leipzig might be a surprising gem.
It will be an exciting month in Switzerland too. Jan Bosse, a 40 year old German director who produced his first opera in Basel 2 years ago, will be back to Theater Basel with his new production of
La Calisto with Nikolay Borchev. The limelight will be in Geneva though, where Joyce DiDonato and Gregory Kunde will shine in the new production of
La Donna del Lago, directed by Christof Loy. My guess, however, is that the most interesting thing will happen in Zurich where they prepare a new Jens-Daniel Herzog's production of
Der ferne Klang, with Ingo Metzmacher conducting.
Two special events in England will be the new
Tosca at ENO, directed by Catherine Malfitano, and the first Glyndebourne show this year, the premiere of
Billy Budd, directed by the multiple Laurence Olivier award winning director - Michael Grandage.
The major event in France this May will be
Die Walkure that will be premiered on May 31 in Paris. Hope the second chapter of the Ring produced by Gunter Kramer & Philippe Jordan will be as enjoyable as the Rheingold. [ On that note I must mention an excellent paper/review about that Rheingold in Paris that is to appear in
The Wagner Journal -- do check it out or wait till it appears on
Boulezian. ] Théâtre des Champs Élysées will "
surprise" us with
La Calisto, and in Lyon they continue with the Pushkin inspired operas and in May they will premiere
The Queen of Spades, directed by Peter Stein, with a strong Russian cast and with Kirill Petrenko conducting.
La Scala in Milan will open the long awaited
"Barenboim-er" Ring with
Das Rheingold. Guy Cassiers will direct and the cast looks great. Belcanto fans will rush to Palermo where Kate Aldrich, Dimitra Theodossiou and Shalva Mukeria will
bel-cantare in a new production of
Maria Stuarda.
Don Quichotte, a new production by Laurent Pelly in Brussels, will be live broadcast
on Arte-TV.
In Spain, Emilio Sagi's is preparing
Les mamelles de Tirésias, but I guess the fans will be running to Madrid where William Christie will conduct Les Arts Florissants and a knockout cast for 9 shows of
L'incoronazione di Poppea, in a new production signed Pier Luigi Pizzi.
See a more detailed list...
