2010-2011, 2011-2012 2012-2013:: Opera in the UK

2012-2013

English National Opera in London



New Productions: 

 
Julietta (opera by Martinu) [dir- Richard Jones, cnd- Edward Gardner, cast: Julia Sporsén et al]


Julius Caesar [dir- Michael Keegan-Dolan, cnd- Christian Curnyn, cast: Lawrence Zazzo, Patricia Bardon, ... ]

The Pilgrim's Progress (opera by Vaughan Williams) [dir- Yoshi Oida, cnd- Martyn Brabbins , cast: local]

Carmen [dir- Calixto Bieito, cnd- Ryan Wigglesworth, cast: Ruxandra Donose, Adam Diegel...]

The Mikado [dir- Jonathan Miller, cnd- David Parry, cast: Richard Suart , Robert Murray ...]

La Traviata [dir- Peter Konwitschny, cnd- Michael Hofstetter, cast: Corinne Winters, Anthony Michaels-Moore, Ben Johnson]

Medea (by Charpentier)  [dir- David McVicar, cnd- Christian Curnyn, cast: Sarah Connolly , Jeffrey Francis, ...]

Revivals:

The Magic Flute [dir- Nicholas Hytner, cnd- Nicholas Collon, cast: Shawn Mathey, Robert Lloyd...]

Don Giovanni [dir- Rufus Norris, cnd- Edward Garner, cast: Iain Paterson, Darren Jeffery, Sarah Tynan, Rebecca Evans, ....]

Royal Opera House in London 

(see details provided by our dear Intermezzo)

Winds of change in London definitely. Kasper Holten magic will work!


New Productions: 

December 2012: Robert Le Diable [dir -Laurent Pelly, cnd- Daniel Oren, cast: Diana Damrau, Marina Poplavskaya, Bryan Hymel, John Relyea...]

February 2013: Eugene Onegin [dir- Kasper Holten, cnd- Robin Ticciati, cast: Krassimira Stoyanova, Pavol Breslik, Simon Keenlyside, Elena Maximova, Peter Rose...]

March 2013: Written on Skin (opera by George Benjamin) [dir- Katie Mitchell, cnd- George Benjamin, cast: Barbara Hannigan, Bejun Mehta, Allan Clayton, Christopher Purves...]

March 2013: Nabucco [dir- Daniele Abbado, cnd- Nicola Luisotti, cast: Leo Nucci/Placido Domingo,Lyudmila Monastyrska, Marianna Pizzolato, Vitaly Kovalyov...]

May 2013: La donna del lago [dir- John Fulljames, cnd - Michele Mariotti, cast: Joyce Didonato, Juan Diego Florez, Daniela Barcellona, Colin Lee...]

June 2013: Gloriana [dir- Richard Jones, cnd- Paul Daniel, cast: Susan Bullock, Kate Royal, Toby Spence]



Among revivals The Ring directed by Keith Warner and conducted by Antonio Pappano will be rerun in 4 cycles in September-November 2012, and the brilliant opera by Stephen Langredge The Minotaur will be back on the program in January 2013. Great cast for Don Carlo with Kaufmann, Harteros, Kwiecien, Furlanetto...








Welsh National Opera

New Productions:

Lulu [dir- David Pountney, cnd- Lothar Koenigs, cast: Olga Pasichnyk, Natascha Petrinsky,...]

Lohengrin [dir- Antony McDonald, cnd- Lothar Koenigs, cast: Peter Wedd, Emma Bell, Susan Bickley, Matthew Best, John Lundgren]

Wagner Dream (by Jonathan Harvey) [dir- Pierre Audi, cnd- Nicholas Collon, cast: Dale Duesing et al]


Notable Revivals:
Cosi fan tutte  [dir- Benjamin Davis, cnd- Mark Wigglesworth, cast: Jacques Imbrailo, Cora Burggraaf, Elzabeth Watts, Andrew Tortise, Neal Davies, Joanne Boag]

The Cunning Little Vixen [dir- David Pountney, cnd- Lothar Koenigs, cast: local]

Jeptha [dir- Katie Mitchell, cnd- Paul Goodwin, cast: local]

2011-2012

The Royal Opera House

New productions:

• September: Il Trittico [dir- Richard Jones, cnd- Antonio Pappano, cast: Aleksanders Antonenko, Anja Harteros, Lucio Gallo, Eva-Maria Westbroek
• March: Miss Fortune (an opera by Judith Weir to be premiered during the Bregenz Festival 2011) [dir- Shi-Zheng Chen, cnd- Paul Daniel, cast: Jacques Imbrailo, Emma Bell...]
• May: Falstaff [dir- Robert Carsen, cnd- Daniele Gatti, cast: Ambrogio Maestri, Dalibor Jenis, Marie-Nicole Lemieux...]
• June: Les Troyens [dir- David McVicar, cnd- Antonio Pappano, cast: Anna Caterina Antonacci, Eva Maria Westbroek, Jonas Kaufmann, 

Good news is that they also purchased Rusalka, produced by Weiler and Morabito in Salzburg 2008. Of many revivals Der fliegende Holländer looks the most interesting with Anja Kampe, Stephen Milling, Falk Struckmann & with the phenomenal Jeffrey Tate conducting. Otello with excellent singers looks appealing in spite of a famously bad production. Three rounds of the Richard Eyre's production of La Traviata with terrific cast each, should be the house-filler. To be honest, apart from Les Troyens and Rusalka there is little one would feel too excited about.

Welsh National Opera

New productions:

• Don Giovanni [dir- John Caird, cnd- Lothar Koenigs, cast: Nuccia Focile, David Kempster, David Soar...]
• La Bohème [dir- Annabel Arden, cnd- Carlo Rizzi]

with some excellent revivals, including Kat'a Kabanova (dir- Katie Mitchell) with Amanda Roocroft, McVicar's La Traviata, or Tristan with Ann Petersen and Jay Hunter Morris (?)

Opera North

New productions (list incomplete):

• The Queen of Spades [dir- Neil Bartlett, cnd- Richard Farnes, cast: Jeffrey L Roberts, Orla Boylan...]

2010-2011

The Royal Opera House

New productions

• Niobe, regina di Tebe [dir Lukas Hemleb] conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock, with Véronique Gens among the soloists
• Adriana Lecouvreur [dir David McVicar] with Jonas Kaufmann, Angela Gheorghiu, Olga Borodina, Michaela Schuster, Alessandro Corbelli
• Tannhäuser [dir Tim Albery] Semyon Bychkov will conduct and cast includes Eva-Maria Westbroek, Christian Gerhaher, Johan Botha, Michaela Schuster
• Anna Nicole, a new opera by Mark Anthony Turnage [dir Richard Jones] with Antonio Pappano in charge for the musical side of it and Eva-Maria Westbroek will incarnate ANS
• The Tsar's Bride [dir Paul Curran] with Marina Poplavskaya, Ekaterina Gubanova, Dmytro Popov
• Cendrillon [dir Laurent Pelly] with Joyce DiDonato, Ewa Podles, Eglise Gutiérrez

Many well packed revivals of which the most appealing to me is Così fan tutte with Pavol Breslik, Stéphane Degout and Maria hot Bengtsson, as well as the David McVicar's production of Die Zauberflote with Chris Malman, Joseph Kaiser, Kate Royal and Franz-Josef Selig; a surreal purchase of the godawfull Flimm-production of Fidelio will be attenuated by a superb Leonora from Nina Stemme and with Kirill Petrenko conducting. Add to that one more run of indestructible Tosca with Mattila, Kaufmann, Terfel, then Macbeth with Simon Keenlyside and Martina Serafin, and many other interesting shows + Les Pêcheurs de perles in concert with Nicole Cabell, John Osborn and Gerald Finley all lead by Maestro Pappano. 

All in all it is a good conservative ROH program.

English National Opera

New productions

• Faust [dir Des McAnuff]   with Toby Spence (!), Melody Moore, Iain Paterson (!) 
• Radamisto [dir  David Alden]  with Lawrence Zazzo, Christine Rice,  Ailish Tynan 
• Don Giovanni [dir Rufus Norris] a superb Kirill Karabits will conduct and cast includes Iain Paterson, Rebecca Evans et al
• Lucrezia Borgia [dir  Mike Figgis]
• The Return of Ulysses [dir Benedict Andrews] with Tom Randle 
  The Damnation of Faust [dir Terry Gilliam !!!]  with  Christine Rice, Christopher Purves
  A Midsummer Night’s Dream [dir Christopher Alden] Leo Hussain will conduct, and among the soilist we find Willard White, Sarah Tynan, Allan Clayton 
  Simon Boccanegra [dir Dmitri Tcherniakov !!]
  Nico Muhly new commission  [dir Bartlett Sher]
  A Dog’s Heart by Raskatov [dir Simon McBurney] co=produced with DNO where this show is shown this year
  

This is my kind of program ;)  To the above --already excellent a list-- add the Nikolaus Lehnhoff's production of Parsifal with a brilliant cast: Ian Paterson, Tom Fox, John Tomlinson and Irene Theorin! Moreover they plan to rerun the Christopher Alden's production of Makropoulos.

Welsh National Opera

Potentially interesting

• Fidelio [dir Giuseppe Frigeni] new production, already presented at Opéra de Bordeaux-- Lothar Koenigs will conduct
• Die Fledermaus [dir John Copley] new production, with Nuccia Focile
• Ariadne auf Naxos, conducted by Lothar Koenigs, with Sarah Connollyas Composer

Also interesting might be Patricia Bardon as Azucena in Il Trovatore, and to listen to Rebecca Evans' Liu in Turandot.

Scottish Opera

• The Marriage of Figaro [dir Sir Thomas Allen] - unclear whether or not this is a new production but in any case Sir Thomas Allen producing the Nozze might be interesting
• Orlando [dir Harry Fehr]
• Intermezzo [dir Wolfgang Quetes] 
• Carmen [dir Ashley Dean]
  

They also program a revival or the 2005 production of Rigoletto by Matthew Richardson (?)

Opera North (Leeds)

• The Merry Widow [dir Giles Havergal] with Allan Clayton (!)

The rest of the season 2010-2011 will be fixed later this year (2010)

Opera Holland Park

Waiting for news from OHP