"Ladies and gentlemen from all over the world, welcome to this brand new forum destined to all those opera lovers. It is my intention to create a cultural space to remember the great composers such as Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, as well as all the stars that walked through the most famous stages around the world like Caruso, Gigli, di Stefano, Pavarotti... I also intend this forum to be a debating space where readers can state their opinions, ideas, advises, likes and dislikes.

Through the last years opera has been losing popularity at the expense of more modern music, and though the heyday of the latter is a social and cultural worldwide phenomenon, it would be of great value to retrieve the transcendental meaning of opera in the history of man.

Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, may the world take its seat, let the curtain raise, come up to the stage with me and be the performers of this experience..."


-NACHO VENTURA-
Showing posts with label JAMES LEVINE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JAMES LEVINE. Show all posts

Saturday, March 15, 2008

The Metropolitan Opera' 2008 - 2009 season

Brand new season for the Metropolitan Opera House! And certainly not without a reason. In its 125th Anniversary, Opera Forum decided to publish a brief review of the marvellous titles that the Met will offer in the upcoming season.

125th Anniversary Gala - James Levine will conduct a gala performance of fully staged scenes from classic Met productions, which will be realized with scenic projections and new costumes made from the original designs. The gala will also celebrate Plácido Domingo’s 40th anniversary with the company.

"Adriana Lecouvreur" - Guleghina, Borodina, Álvarez, Frontali; Domingo.

"La Bohème" - Kovalevska / Netrebko, Phillips, Vargas, Kwiecien, Hakala, Gradus, Plishka; Chaslin.

"Cavalleria Rusticana" / "I Pagliacci" - Gruber, Alagna / Cura, Taylor, Focile, Alagna / Cura, Mastromarino / Maestri, Maltman / Ladyuk; Rizzo.

"La Cenerentola" - Garanca, Brownlee, Alberghini, Corbelli, Relyea; Benini.

"La Damnation de Faust" - Graham, Giordani, Relyea; Levine.

Daniel Barenboim Recital - For this special solo recital, the renowned maestro has chosen an all-Liszt program, including transcriptions of three beloved Verdi operas.

"Doctor Atomic" - Cooke, Arwady, Finley, Fink, Owens; Gilbert.

"Don Giovanni" - Stoyanova, Graham, Leonard, Polenzani, Schrott, D'Arcangelo, Bloom, Ens; Langrée | Iveri, Schnitzer, Leonard, Polenzani, Schrott, D'Arcangelo, Bloom, Youn; Koenigs | Frittoli, Isokoski, Bayrakdarian, Breslik, Mattei, Ramey, Shenyang, Aceto; Langrée.

"L'Elisir d'Amore" - Gheorghiu / Cabell, Villazón, Vassallo, Terfel; Benini.

"Eugene Onegin" - Mattila, Semenchuk, Beczala, Hampson, Morris; Belohlávek.

"La Gioconda" - Voigt, Borodina, Podles, Machado, Guelfi, Morris; Callegari.

"Götterdämmerung" - The Ring’s final chapter is a saga of passion and vengeance, culminating in an act of self-sacrifice and redemption.

"Lucia di Lammermoor" - Damrau / Netrebko, Beczala / Villazón, Stoyanov / Kwiecien, Abdrazakov; Armiliato.

"Madama Butterfly" - Racette / Gallardo-Domâs, Zifchak, Aronica / Giordani, Croft; Summers.

"The Magic Flute" - Cabell, Sieden, Pittas, Pogossov, Owens; Fisch.

"La Rondine" (New Year's Eve Gala) - Gheorghiu, Alagna; Joël.

Opening Night Gala - For the season-opening gala starring Renée Fleming on September 22, James Levine and Marco Armiliato will conduct fully staged performances of the second act of Verdi’s La Traviata, the third act of Massenet’s Manon, and the final scene from Richard Strauss’s Capriccio. Ramón Vargas, Thomas Hampson and Dwayne Croft join the soprano for this season-opener.

"Orfeo ed Euridice" - de Niese, Murphy / Huang, Blythe; Levine.

"The Queen of Spades" - Guleghina, Domashenko, Palmer, Heppner, Delavan, Stoyanov; Ozawa.

"Das Rheingold" - Harmer, Naef, Grove, Begley, Siegel, Morris, Fink, Selig, Tomlinson; Levine.

"Rigoletto" - Kurzak, Vizin, Filianoti / Beczala, Lucic, Petrenko; Frizza | Damrau, Mumford / Vizin, Calleja, Frontali, Aceto; Frizza.

"Rusalka" - Fleming, Goerke, Blythe, Antonenko, Sigmundsson; Belohlávek.

"Salome" - Mattila, Komlósi, Begley, Kaiser, Uusitalo; Franck.

"Siegfried" - Gods and monsters vanish before the greater power of human love as the young hero Siegfried, played by Christian Franz, pursues his destiny to unite with Brünnhilde.

"La Sonnambula" - Dessay, Flórez, Pertusi; Pidò.

"Thaïs" - Fleming, Schade, Hampson; López-Cobos.

"La Traviata" - Harteros, Giordano, Dobber / Lucic; Carignani.

"Tristan und Isolde" - Dalayman, DeYoung, Seiffert, Grochowski, Pape / Youn; Barenboim.

"Il Trovatore" - Radvanovsky, Zajick / D'Intino, Licitra, Hvorostovsky, Youn; Noseda | Papian, D'Intino, Berti, Lucic, Flores; Frizza.

"Die Walküre" - Brewer, Meier, Naef, Botha, Morris, Tomlinson; Levine.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (sixth part)

Ok, here's the last part of the Met's new Opera Season productions. Wagner and Prokofiev are the stars of this part.




"Tristan und Isolde" - 2008 - Mar 10, 14, 18, 22, 25, 28
Composer: Richar Wagner - Librettist: Richard Wagner
Approximate running time: 5hs. 0min.

Isolde: Deborah Voigt
Brangäne: Michelle De Young / Margaret Jane Wray
Tristan: Ben Heppner
Kurwenal: Eike Wilm Schulte / Richard Paul Fink
King Mark: Matti Salmine
Conductor: James Levine





"Die Walküre" - 2008 - Jan 7, 14, 28 | Feb 2, 6, 9
Composer: Richard Wagner - Librettist: Richard Wagner
Approximate running time: 5hs. 0min.

Brünnhilde: Lisa Gasteen
Sieglinde: Adrianne Pieczonka / Deborah Voigt
Frika: Stephanie Blythe / Michelle De Young
Siegmund: Clifton Forbis / Simon O'Neill
Wotan: James Morris
Hunding: Mikhail Petrenko
Conductor: Lorin Maazel





"War and Peace" - 2007 - Dec 10, 13, 15, 18, 22, 26, 28 | 2008 - Jan 3
Composer: Sergei Prokofiev - Librettist: Sergei Prokofiev, Mira Mendelson
Approximate running time: 4hs. 15min.

Natasha: Irina Mataeva / Marina Poplavskaya
Sonya: Ekaterina Semenchuk
Mme. Akhrosimova: Larisa Shevchenko
Count Bezukhov: Kim Begley / Alexei Steblianko
Prince Andrei: Vasili Ladyuk / Alexej Markov
Napoleon: Vassily Gerello
Kutuzov: Samuel Ramey / Mikhail Kit
Conductor: Valery Gergiev / Gianandrea Noseda

The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (fourth part)

Great titles in this fourth part of the Met's Opera Season!



"Lucia di Lammermoor" - 2008 - Mar 5, 8, 13
Composer: Gaetano Donizetti - Librettist: Salvadore Cammarano
Approximate running time: 3hs. 25min.

Lucia: Nataly Dessay
Edgardo: Giuseppe Filianoti
Enrico: Mariusz Kwiecien
Raimondo: John Relyea
Composer: James Levine / Joseph Colaneri





"Macbeth" - 2008 - Jan 5, 9, 12, 15 | May 9, 13, 17
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave
Approximate running time: 2hs. 50min.

Lady Macbeth: Maria Guleghina / Andrea Gruber
Macduff: Roberto Aronica / Dimitri Pittas / Jospeh Calleja
Macbeth: Lado Ataneli / Carlos Álvarez
Banquo: John Relyea / René Pape
Conductor: James Levine





"Manon Lescaut" - 2008 - Jan 29 | Feb 1, 5, 9, 12, 16, 20, 23
Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Approximate running time: 3hs. 20min.

Manon Lescaut: Karita Mattila
des Grieux: Marcellio Giordani
Lescaut: Dwayne Croft
Geronte: Dale Travis
Conductor: James Levine / Donald Runnicles