2017-18 CALENDAR

Musikalische Leitung Stéphane Fromageot / Pietro Rizzo
Inszenierung Ben Baur
Bühne Ben Baur
Kostüm Uta Meenen
Licht Mariella von Vequel-Westernach
Choreinstudierung Michael Vogel
Dramaturgie Marius Bolten
Ernesto Marco Caria
Imogene Joyce El-Khoury
Gualtiero Arthur Espiritu
Goffredo Martin Summer
Adele Tatjana Schneider
Itulbo Riccardo Botta
Chor Chor des Theaters St. Gallen
Opernchor St. Gallen
Orchester Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen
Statisterie Statisterie des Theaters St. Gallen

Musikalische Leitung Stéphane Fromageot / Pietro Rizzo
Inszenierung Ben Baur
Bühne Ben Baur
Kostüm Uta Meenen
Licht Mariella von Vequel-Westernach
Choreinstudierung Michael Vogel
Dramaturgie Marius Bolten
Ernesto Marco Caria
Imogene Joyce El-Khoury
Gualtiero Arthur Espiritu
Goffredo Martin Summer
Adele Tatjana Schneider
Itulbo Riccardo Botta
Chor Chor des Theaters St. Gallen
Opernchor St. Gallen
Orchester Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen
Statisterie Statisterie des Theaters St. Gallen

Musikalische Leitung Stéphane Fromageot / Pietro Rizzo
Inszenierung Ben Baur
Bühne Ben Baur
Kostüm Uta Meenen
Licht Mariella von Vequel-Westernach
Choreinstudierung Michael Vogel
Dramaturgie Marius Bolten
Ernesto Marco Caria
Imogene Joyce El-Khoury
Gualtiero Arthur Espiritu
Goffredo Martin Summer
Adele Tatjana Schneider
Itulbo Riccardo Botta
Chor Chor des Theaters St. Gallen
Opernchor St. Gallen
Orchester Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen
Statisterie Statisterie des Theaters St. Gallen

Musikalische Leitung Stéphane Fromageot / Pietro Rizzo
Inszenierung Ben Baur
Bühne Ben Baur
Kostüm Uta Meenen
Licht Mariella von Vequel-Westernach
Choreinstudierung Michael Vogel
Dramaturgie Marius Bolten
Ernesto Marco Caria
Imogene Joyce El-Khoury
Gualtiero Arthur Espiritu
Goffredo Martin Summer
Adele Tatjana Schneider
Itulbo Riccardo Botta
Chor Chor des Theaters St. Gallen
Opernchor St. Gallen
Orchester Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen
Statisterie Statisterie des Theaters St. Gallen

Musikalische Leitung Stéphane Fromageot / Pietro Rizzo
Inszenierung Ben Baur
Bühne Ben Baur
Kostüm Uta Meenen
Licht Mariella von Vequel-Westernach
Choreinstudierung Michael Vogel
Dramaturgie Marius Bolten
Ernesto Marco Caria
Imogene Joyce El-Khoury
Gualtiero Arthur Espiritu
Goffredo Martin Summer
Adele Tatjana Schneider
Itulbo Riccardo Botta
Chor Chor des Theaters St. Gallen
Opernchor St. Gallen
Orchester Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen
Statisterie Statisterie des Theaters St. Gallen

Musikalische Leitung Stéphane Fromageot / Pietro Rizzo
Inszenierung Ben Baur
Bühne Ben Baur
Kostüm Uta Meenen
Licht Mariella von Vequel-Westernach
Choreinstudierung Michael Vogel
Dramaturgie Marius Bolten
Ernesto Marco Caria
Imogene Joyce El-Khoury
Gualtiero Arthur Espiritu
Goffredo Martin Summer
Adele Tatjana Schneider
Itulbo Riccardo Botta
Chor Chor des Theaters St. Gallen
Opernchor St. Gallen
Orchester Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen
Statisterie Statisterie des Theaters St. Gallen

Musikalische Leitung Stéphane Fromageot / Pietro Rizzo
Inszenierung Ben Baur
Bühne Ben Baur
Kostüm Uta Meenen
Licht Mariella von Vequel-Westernach
Choreinstudierung Michael Vogel
Dramaturgie Marius Bolten
Ernesto Marco Caria
Imogene Joyce El-Khoury
Gualtiero Arthur Espiritu
Goffredo Martin Summer
Adele Tatjana Schneider
Itulbo Riccardo Botta
Chor Chor des Theaters St. Gallen
Opernchor St. Gallen
Orchester Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen
Statisterie Statisterie des Theaters St. Gallen

Musikalische Leitung Stéphane Fromageot / Pietro Rizzo
Inszenierung Ben Baur
Bühne Ben Baur
Kostüm Uta Meenen
Licht Mariella von Vequel-Westernach
Choreinstudierung Michael Vogel
Dramaturgie Marius Bolten
Ernesto Marco Caria
Imogene Joyce El-Khoury
Gualtiero Arthur Espiritu
Goffredo Martin Summer
Adele Tatjana Schneider
Itulbo Riccardo Botta
Chor Chor des Theaters St. Gallen
Opernchor St. Gallen
Orchester Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen
Statisterie Statisterie des Theaters St. Gallen

Donizetti completed the score for L’Ange de Nisida in 1839, for the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris. But the theatre went bankrupt and the opera was never performed. Donizetti was able to recycle some of his music in later works – most notably in La Favorite – but much of the score has never been heard. Mark Elder’s Opera Rara presents a concert performance of a new performing edition by Italian musicologist Candida Mantica, in the world premiere of this unknown Donizetti opera.

Donizetti had enjoyed a period of extraordinary productivity throughout the 1830s, his last decade in Italy. He wrote 25 operas over 1830–8, including such works as L’elisir d’amore, Lucia di Lammermoor and Maria Stuarda. In 1838 he left Naples for a new life in Paris, and from 1840 would equal and surpass his Neapolitan successes – albeit with some casualties, including L’Ange de Nisida and Le Duc d’Albe. This world premiere sheds new light on this international phase of Donizetti’s later career.

Donizetti completed the score for L’Ange de Nisida in 1839, for the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris. But the theatre went bankrupt and the opera was never performed. Donizetti was able to recycle some of his music in later works – most notably in La Favorite – but much of the score has never been heard. Mark Elder’s Opera Rara presents a concert performance of a new performing edition by Italian musicologist Candida Mantica, in the world premiere of this unknown Donizetti opera.

Donizetti had enjoyed a period of extraordinary productivity throughout the 1830s, his last decade in Italy. He wrote 25 operas over 1830–8, including such works as L’elisir d’amore, Lucia di Lammermoor and Maria Stuarda. In 1838 he left Naples for a new life in Paris, and from 1840 would equal and surpass his Neapolitan successes – albeit with some casualties, including L’Ange de Nisida and Le Duc d’Albe. This world premiere sheds new light on this international phase of Donizetti’s later career.

Under its Principal Conductor Kirill Karabits, the Staatskapelle Weimar will give the world premiere of a rediscovered Italian opera Sardanapalo by Franz Liszt – which was left incomplete and has lain largely forgotten in a German archive for almost 100 years. ‘The name of the composer Franz Liszt has never been associated with Italian opera’, Karabits explains. ‘I’m delighted to be conducting the premiere of Sardanapalo in Weimar. This discovery should open a new page not only in Liszt’s musical heritage but also in the music history of the 19th century.’ Act I of the opera survives complete. This will be presented in a concert version.

The music has been resurrected by David Trippett, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Music at the University of Cambridge. He discovered the opera manuscript was legible more than ten years ago, a century after it had been catalogued and largely forgotten in the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv in Weimar. ‘The music that survives is breath-taking – a unique blend of Italianate lyricism and adventurous harmonic turns and side-steps’, Trippett explains. ‘There is nothing else quite like it in the operatic world. It is suffused with Liszt’s characteristic style, but contains elements from Bellini and Meyerbeer, alongside glimmers of Wagner.’

On 19 and 20 August 2018, soprano Joyce El-Khoury and tenor Charles Castronovo will lead the cast in the world premiere of this notable work in Weimar, where Liszt composed it and where he served as Kapellmeister of the Hofkapelle, today’s Staatskapelle Weimar.

The libretto, based on Lord Byron’s tragedy Sardanapalus, is topical. It tells the story of Sardanapalo, King of ancient Assyria (modern-day Syria and Northern Iraq). He is a peace-loving monarch, more interested in revelry and women than politics and war. He deplores violence and brutality, and, perhaps naively, he believes in the innate goodness of humankind, but is overthrown by rebels and burns himself alive with his lover, amid scents and spices, in a great inferno. Liszt’s opera focusses on the love between king Sardanapalo and his favourite concubine, Mirra, who seeks to persuade the king to go to war to defend his realm, against his better judgment.

Known only to a handful of Liszt scholars, the manuscript – with much of its music written in shorthand and only one act completed – was assumed to be fragmentary, often illegible and consequently indecipherable. However, after Trippett spent the last three years working critically on the manuscript, including using Liszt’s own instructions for orchestrating the score, the music can be heard for the first time. As the Cambridge academic explained: ‘Fortunately, Liszt left just enough information to retrieve what was evidently the continuous musical conception he had at the time. We will never know why exactly he abandoned his work on the opera. It seems Liszt was not satisfied with the libretto for Acts II and III.’ Trippett adds: ‘I suspect he would have been surprised to learn that Act I is resurfacing in the 21^st century. But I like to think he would have smiled on it.’

The world premiere concert performance will be broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur, and a recording will be released with audite.

A trailer with extracts of ‘Sardanapalo’ can be seen here, a research documentary chronicling the resurrection is here, and a short aria is available here.

A critical edition of the music will be published by Editio Musica Budapest (Universal Music Publishing) in 2019, and the underlying research will appear in the Journal of the Royal Musical Association later this year.

Under its Principal Conductor Kirill Karabits, the Staatskapelle Weimar will give the world premiere of a rediscovered Italian opera Sardanapalo by Franz Liszt – which was left incomplete and has lain largely forgotten in a German archive for almost 100 years. ‘The name of the composer Franz Liszt has never been associated with Italian opera’, Karabits explains. ‘I’m delighted to be conducting the premiere of Sardanapalo in Weimar. This discovery should open a new page not only in Liszt’s musical heritage but also in the music history of the 19th century.’ Act I of the opera survives complete. This will be presented in a concert version.

The music has been resurrected by David Trippett, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Music at the University of Cambridge. He discovered the opera manuscript was legible more than ten years ago, a century after it had been catalogued and largely forgotten in the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv in Weimar. ‘The music that survives is breath-taking – a unique blend of Italianate lyricism and adventurous harmonic turns and side-steps’, Trippett explains. ‘There is nothing else quite like it in the operatic world. It is suffused with Liszt’s characteristic style, but contains elements from Bellini and Meyerbeer, alongside glimmers of Wagner.’

On 19 and 20 August 2018, soprano Joyce El-Khoury and tenor Charles Castronovo will lead the cast in the world premiere of this notable work in Weimar, where Liszt composed it and where he served as Kapellmeister of the Hofkapelle, today’s Staatskapelle Weimar.

The libretto, based on Lord Byron’s tragedy Sardanapalus, is topical. It tells the story of Sardanapalo, King of ancient Assyria (modern-day Syria and Northern Iraq). He is a peace-loving monarch, more interested in revelry and women than politics and war. He deplores violence and brutality, and, perhaps naively, he believes in the innate goodness of humankind, but is overthrown by rebels and burns himself alive with his lover, amid scents and spices, in a great inferno. Liszt’s opera focusses on the love between king Sardanapalo and his favourite concubine, Mirra, who seeks to persuade the king to go to war to defend his realm, against his better judgment.

Known only to a handful of Liszt scholars, the manuscript – with much of its music written in shorthand and only one act completed – was assumed to be fragmentary, often illegible and consequently indecipherable. However, after Trippett spent the last three years working critically on the manuscript, including using Liszt’s own instructions for orchestrating the score, the music can be heard for the first time. As the Cambridge academic explained: ‘Fortunately, Liszt left just enough information to retrieve what was evidently the continuous musical conception he had at the time. We will never know why exactly he abandoned his work on the opera. It seems Liszt was not satisfied with the libretto for Acts II and III.’ Trippett adds: ‘I suspect he would have been surprised to learn that Act I is resurfacing in the 21^st century. But I like to think he would have smiled on it.’

The world premiere concert performance will be broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur, and a recording will be released with audite.

A trailer with extracts of ‘Sardanapalo’ can be seen here, a research documentary chronicling the resurrection is here, and a short aria is available here.

A critical edition of the music will be published by Editio Musica Budapest (Universal Music Publishing) in 2019, and the underlying research will appear in the Journal of the Royal Musical Association later this year.

Tatyana’s quiet existence is turned upside down with the arrival of the handsome and charismatic Onegin. Romantic fantasies burst into vivid reality, inspiring Tatyana’s famous letter, which Onegin arrogantly rejects. Years later, separated by time and circumstance, they are reunited for one final, explosive encounter.

Acclaimed for its beauty and elegant simplicity, this stunning production, originally created for the Metropolitan Opera, is directed by Robert Carsen and designed by Michael Levine, two Canadian visionaries of the opera stage. [text from COC website]

Tatyana’s quiet existence is turned upside down with the arrival of the handsome and charismatic Onegin. Romantic fantasies burst into vivid reality, inspiring Tatyana’s famous letter, which Onegin arrogantly rejects. Years later, separated by time and circumstance, they are reunited for one final, explosive encounter.

Acclaimed for its beauty and elegant simplicity, this stunning production, originally created for the Metropolitan Opera, is directed by Robert Carsen and designed by Michael Levine, two Canadian visionaries of the opera stage. [text from COC website]

Tatyana’s quiet existence is turned upside down with the arrival of the handsome and charismatic Onegin. Romantic fantasies burst into vivid reality, inspiring Tatyana’s famous letter, which Onegin arrogantly rejects. Years later, separated by time and circumstance, they are reunited for one final, explosive encounter.

Acclaimed for its beauty and elegant simplicity, this stunning production, originally created for the Metropolitan Opera, is directed by Robert Carsen and designed by Michael Levine, two Canadian visionaries of the opera stage. [text from COC website]

Tatyana’s quiet existence is turned upside down with the arrival of the handsome and charismatic Onegin. Romantic fantasies burst into vivid reality, inspiring Tatyana’s famous letter, which Onegin arrogantly rejects. Years later, separated by time and circumstance, they are reunited for one final, explosive encounter.

Acclaimed for its beauty and elegant simplicity, this stunning production, originally created for the Metropolitan Opera, is directed by Robert Carsen and designed by Michael Levine, two Canadian visionaries of the opera stage. [text from COC website]

Tatyana’s quiet existence is turned upside down with the arrival of the handsome and charismatic Onegin. Romantic fantasies burst into vivid reality, inspiring Tatyana’s famous letter, which Onegin arrogantly rejects. Years later, separated by time and circumstance, they are reunited for one final, explosive encounter.

Acclaimed for its beauty and elegant simplicity, this stunning production, originally created for the Metropolitan Opera, is directed by Robert Carsen and designed by Michael Levine, two Canadian visionaries of the opera stage. [text from COC website]

Opera Canada is proud to announce the three distinguished honourees who will receive the 2018 Opera Canada Awards for their exemplary contributions to the industry:

Wayne Gooding, opera educator and Editor, Opera Canada (1994-2017)

Dominique Labelle, soprano and vocal pedagogue

Alexander Neef, General Director, Canadian Opera Company and Artistic Director, Santa Fe Opera

Selected by a committee comprising of leading opera professionals from across the country, our three honourees will be celebrated at a gala award evening on October 22, 2018 at First Canadian Place in downtown Toronto.

Opera Canada magazine first introduced the Opera Canada Awards in 2000, which were nicknamed ‘The Rubies,’ in honour of its founding Editor, Ruby Mercer. The Rubies celebrate the talent and accomplishments of Canadians who have made a significant contribution to the opera world as artists, builders, administrators and philanthropists.

PERFORMANCE BY
Joyce El-Khoury, soprano
Rachel Andrist, piano

Tatyana’s quiet existence is turned upside down with the arrival of the handsome and charismatic Onegin. Romantic fantasies burst into vivid reality, inspiring Tatyana’s famous letter, which Onegin arrogantly rejects. Years later, separated by time and circumstance, they are reunited for one final, explosive encounter.

Acclaimed for its beauty and elegant simplicity, this stunning production, originally created for the Metropolitan Opera, is directed by Robert Carsen and designed by Michael Levine, two Canadian visionaries of the opera stage. [text from COC website]

Tatyana’s quiet existence is turned upside down with the arrival of the handsome and charismatic Onegin. Romantic fantasies burst into vivid reality, inspiring Tatyana’s famous letter, which Onegin arrogantly rejects. Years later, separated by time and circumstance, they are reunited for one final, explosive encounter.

Acclaimed for its beauty and elegant simplicity, this stunning production, originally created for the Metropolitan Opera, is directed by Robert Carsen and designed by Michael Levine, two Canadian visionaries of the opera stage. [text from COC website]

Tatyana’s quiet existence is turned upside down with the arrival of the handsome and charismatic Onegin. Romantic fantasies burst into vivid reality, inspiring Tatyana’s famous letter, which Onegin arrogantly rejects. Years later, separated by time and circumstance, they are reunited for one final, explosive encounter.

Acclaimed for its beauty and elegant simplicity, this stunning production, originally created for the Metropolitan Opera, is directed by Robert Carsen and designed by Michael Levine, two Canadian visionaries of the opera stage. [text from COC website]

With the flickering of a candle, love sparks. Two hands meet in the dark and four friends’ lives are changed forever.

The way first love grabs hold and floods you with something you’ve never felt before. The fire that burns the first time jealousy flares. The growing up you do in the instant that you realise love can’t last forever. Puccini takes these achingly human feelings and sets them to music — music that soars with the ecstasy of love, crackles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss.

Some human emotions are too big for words alone, and for that, we have music. La Bohème exposes your soul to the feelings that only music can express.

Gale Edwards’ glittering production is set among the fishnets and fairy lights of 1930s bohemian Berlin.

Two brilliant casts share the season led by three Australian conductors. Joyce El-Khoury and Ivan Magrì make their Australian debuts as Mimì and Rodolfo, alongside the return of audience favourites Anna Princeva, Samuel Dundas, Maija Kovalevska, Diego Torre, Julie Lea Goodwin, Luke Gabbedy and Lorina Gore. [text from Opera Australia Website]

With the flickering of a candle, love sparks. Two hands meet in the dark and four friends’ lives are changed forever.

The way first love grabs hold and floods you with something you’ve never felt before. The fire that burns the first time jealousy flares. The growing up you do in the instant that you realise love can’t last forever. Puccini takes these achingly human feelings and sets them to music — music that soars with the ecstasy of love, crackles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss.

Some human emotions are too big for words alone, and for that, we have music. La Bohème exposes your soul to the feelings that only music can express.

Gale Edwards’ glittering production is set among the fishnets and fairy lights of 1930s bohemian Berlin.

Two brilliant casts share the season led by three Australian conductors. Joyce El-Khoury and Ivan Magrì make their Australian debuts as Mimì and Rodolfo, alongside the return of audience favourites Anna Princeva, Samuel Dundas, Maija Kovalevska, Diego Torre, Julie Lea Goodwin, Luke Gabbedy and Lorina Gore. [text from Opera Australia Website]

With the flickering of a candle, love sparks. Two hands meet in the dark and four friends’ lives are changed forever.

The way first love grabs hold and floods you with something you’ve never felt before. The fire that burns the first time jealousy flares. The growing up you do in the instant that you realise love can’t last forever. Puccini takes these achingly human feelings and sets them to music — music that soars with the ecstasy of love, crackles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss.

Some human emotions are too big for words alone, and for that, we have music. La Bohème exposes your soul to the feelings that only music can express.

Gale Edwards’ glittering production is set among the fishnets and fairy lights of 1930s bohemian Berlin.

Two brilliant casts share the season led by three Australian conductors. Joyce El-Khoury and Ivan Magrì make their Australian debuts as Mimì and Rodolfo, alongside the return of audience favourites Anna Princeva, Samuel Dundas, Maija Kovalevska, Diego Torre, Julie Lea Goodwin, Luke Gabbedy and Lorina Gore. [text from Opera Australia Website]

With the flickering of a candle, love sparks. Two hands meet in the dark and four friends’ lives are changed forever.

The way first love grabs hold and floods you with something you’ve never felt before. The fire that burns the first time jealousy flares. The growing up you do in the instant that you realise love can’t last forever. Puccini takes these achingly human feelings and sets them to music — music that soars with the ecstasy of love, crackles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss.

Some human emotions are too big for words alone, and for that, we have music. La Bohème exposes your soul to the feelings that only music can express.

Gale Edwards’ glittering production is set among the fishnets and fairy lights of 1930s bohemian Berlin.

Two brilliant casts share the season led by three Australian conductors. Joyce El-Khoury and Ivan Magrì make their Australian debuts as Mimì and Rodolfo, alongside the return of audience favourites Anna Princeva, Samuel Dundas, Maija Kovalevska, Diego Torre, Julie Lea Goodwin, Luke Gabbedy and Lorina Gore. [text from Opera Australia Website]

With the flickering of a candle, love sparks. Two hands meet in the dark and four friends’ lives are changed forever.

The way first love grabs hold and floods you with something you’ve never felt before. The fire that burns the first time jealousy flares. The growing up you do in the instant that you realise love can’t last forever. Puccini takes these achingly human feelings and sets them to music — music that soars with the ecstasy of love, crackles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss.

Some human emotions are too big for words alone, and for that, we have music. La Bohème exposes your soul to the feelings that only music can express.

Gale Edwards’ glittering production is set among the fishnets and fairy lights of 1930s bohemian Berlin.

Two brilliant casts share the season led by three Australian conductors. Joyce El-Khoury and Ivan Magrì make their Australian debuts as Mimì and Rodolfo, alongside the return of audience favourites Anna Princeva, Samuel Dundas, Maija Kovalevska, Diego Torre, Julie Lea Goodwin, Luke Gabbedy and Lorina Gore. [text from Opera Australia Website]

With the flickering of a candle, love sparks. Two hands meet in the dark and four friends’ lives are changed forever.

The way first love grabs hold and floods you with something you’ve never felt before. The fire that burns the first time jealousy flares. The growing up you do in the instant that you realise love can’t last forever. Puccini takes these achingly human feelings and sets them to music — music that soars with the ecstasy of love, crackles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss.

Some human emotions are too big for words alone, and for that, we have music. La Bohème exposes your soul to the feelings that only music can express.

Gale Edwards’ glittering production is set among the fishnets and fairy lights of 1930s bohemian Berlin.

Two brilliant casts share the season led by three Australian conductors. Joyce El-Khoury and Ivan Magrì make their Australian debuts as Mimì and Rodolfo, alongside the return of audience favourites Anna Princeva, Samuel Dundas, Maija Kovalevska, Diego Torre, Julie Lea Goodwin, Luke Gabbedy and Lorina Gore. [text from Opera Australia Website]

With the flickering of a candle, love sparks. Two hands meet in the dark and four friends’ lives are changed forever.

The way first love grabs hold and floods you with something you’ve never felt before. The fire that burns the first time jealousy flares. The growing up you do in the instant that you realise love can’t last forever. Puccini takes these achingly human feelings and sets them to music — music that soars with the ecstasy of love, crackles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss.

Some human emotions are too big for words alone, and for that, we have music. La Bohème exposes your soul to the feelings that only music can express.

Gale Edwards’ glittering production is set among the fishnets and fairy lights of 1930s bohemian Berlin.

Two brilliant casts share the season led by three Australian conductors. Joyce El-Khoury and Ivan Magrì make their Australian debuts as Mimì and Rodolfo, alongside the return of audience favourites Anna Princeva, Samuel Dundas, Maija Kovalevska, Diego Torre, Julie Lea Goodwin, Luke Gabbedy and Lorina Gore. [text from Opera Australia Website]

With the flickering of a candle, love sparks. Two hands meet in the dark and four friends’ lives are changed forever.

The way first love grabs hold and floods you with something you’ve never felt before. The fire that burns the first time jealousy flares. The growing up you do in the instant that you realise love can’t last forever. Puccini takes these achingly human feelings and sets them to music — music that soars with the ecstasy of love, crackles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss.

Some human emotions are too big for words alone, and for that, we have music. La Bohème exposes your soul to the feelings that only music can express.

Gale Edwards’ glittering production is set among the fishnets and fairy lights of 1930s bohemian Berlin.

Two brilliant casts share the season led by three Australian conductors. Joyce El-Khoury and Ivan Magrì make their Australian debuts as Mimì and Rodolfo, alongside the return of audience favourites Anna Princeva, Samuel Dundas, Maija Kovalevska, Diego Torre, Julie Lea Goodwin, Luke Gabbedy and Lorina Gore. [text from Opera Australia Website]

Sänger*innen und Publikum lieben Belcanto! Wir zeigen nach Anna Bolena eine weitere Oper aus Donizettis Trilogie über die Dynastie der Tudors. Die unglückliche Liebesgeschichte zwischen Roberto und Elisabeth I. von England, die Devereux letztendlich das Leben kosten wird, hat der Komponist in wunderbar gefühlvolle Melodien gegossen. Am Ende der Oper erkennt die Königin, dass sie keine Hoffnung mehr auf eine glückliche Zukunft hat, verzichtet auf den Thron und beendet die Herrschaft des Hauses Tudor. Das Lieben, Leiden und Schmachten der Figuren erreicht uns beim Zuhören unmittelbar. Eine große Huldigung an die Gesangskunst des Komponisten von Der Liebestrank (L’elisir d’amore)! Für die Karlsruher Ensemblemitglieder Kammersängerin Ina Schlingensiepen als Königin Elisabeth, Eleazar Rodriguez als Roberto Devereux und Armin Kolarczyk in der Rolle des Herzogs von Nottingham sind Donizettis Melodien Parade-Partien.

Der britische Regisseur und Belcanto-Spezialist Harry Fehr gibt nach Erfolgen in Großbritanien und Dänemark mit Roberto Devereux sein Deutschland-Debüt am STAATSTHEATER.

MUSIKALISCHE LEITUNG Daniele Squeo REGIE Harry Fehr
BÜHNE Yannis Thavoris KOSTÜME Mark Bouman LICHT Rico Gerstner CHOR Ulrich Wagner DRAMATURGIE Deborah Maier

BADISCHE STAATSKAPELLE & BADISCHER STAATSOPERNCHOR

Créé en 2013, le concept de L’INSTANT LYRIQUE a déjà attiré et séduit plus de deux mille privilégiés, en leur proposant des récitals lyriques intimes et uniques servis par des artistes de renommée mondiale dans des endroits insolites tels que notre dôme.

“Furtif et rare, ai-je dit un jour, L’INSTANT LYRIQUE est un luxe, celui qui nous permet d’écouter, d’approcher les artistes différemment. Champagne dans les salons, récital dans le Dôme !”
Richard Plaza
Directeur artistique de L’INSTANT LYRIQUE

LES ARTISTES
Joyce El-Khoury – Soprano
Antoine Palloc – Piano

This summer, WNO Orchestra returns with an ever-popular collection of unmissable opera classics

This summer, WNO Orchestra returns with an ever-popular collection of unmissable opera classics. WNO’s talented orchestral musicians are joined by conductor Harry Ogg and soloists Joyce El-Khoury and Jason Howard for this special concert.

The programme journeys through a wealth of operatic repertoire including works by Verdi, Puccini, Dvořák and Wagner. We also enter the world of musical theatre, and feature delights from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific.

With much-loved favourites and a few lesser-known gems, be sure to book soon for an unforgettable evening of opera.

Wagner: Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Verdi: ‘D’amor sull’alli rosee’ from Il trovatore
Verdi: ‘Credo’ from Otello
Mascagni: Intermezzo to Cavalleria rusticana
Verdi: Prelude to Rigoletto
Verdi: ‘Parla, siamo soli’/‘Tutte le festa al tempio’/‘Piangi fanciulla. Si vendetta’ from Rigoletto

Interval

Mozart: Overture to The Magic Flute
Mozart: ‘La li darem la mano’ from Don Giovanni
Puccini: Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut
Puccini: ‘Vissi D’arte’ from Tosca
Giordano: ‘Nemico della Patria’ from Andrea Chenier
Tchaikovsky: Waltz from Eugene Onegin
Dvořák: ‘Song to the Moon’ from Rusalka
Rodgers: Overture to South Pacific
Rodgers: ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ from South Pacific
Lehar: ‘Lippen Schweigen’ from The Merry Widow

The Summer Opera Classics concert on 28 June is dedicated to the memory of Merlyn and Elaine Brown: the gift they left to WNO in their will ensures their passion for opera lives on. [text from WNO Website]

This summer, WNO Orchestra returns with an ever-popular collection of unmissable opera classics

This summer, WNO Orchestra returns with an ever-popular collection of unmissable opera classics. WNO’s talented orchestral musicians are joined by conductor Harry Ogg and soloists Joyce El-Khoury and Jason Howard for this special concert.

The programme journeys through a wealth of operatic repertoire including works by Verdi, Puccini, Dvořák and Wagner. We also enter the world of musical theatre, and feature delights from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific.

With much-loved favourites and a few lesser-known gems, be sure to book soon for an unforgettable evening of opera.

Wagner: Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Verdi: ‘D’amor sull’alli rosee’ from Il trovatore
Verdi: ‘Credo’ from Otello
Mascagni: Intermezzo to Cavalleria rusticana
Verdi: Prelude to Rigoletto
Verdi: ‘Parla, siamo soli’/‘Tutte le festa al tempio’/‘Piangi fanciulla. Si vendetta’ from Rigoletto

Interval

Mozart: Overture to The Magic Flute
Mozart: ‘La li darem la mano’ from Don Giovanni
Puccini: Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut
Puccini: ‘Vissi D’arte’ from Tosca
Giordano: ‘Nemico della Patria’ from Andrea Chenier
Tchaikovsky: Waltz from Eugene Onegin
Dvořák: ‘Song to the Moon’ from Rusalka
Rodgers: Overture to South Pacific
Rodgers: ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ from South Pacific
Lehar: ‘Lippen Schweigen’ from The Merry Widow

The Summer Opera Classics concert on 28 June is dedicated to the memory of Merlyn and Elaine Brown: the gift they left to WNO in their will ensures their passion for opera lives on. [text from WNO Website]

This summer, WNO Orchestra returns with an ever-popular collection of unmissable opera classics

This summer, WNO Orchestra returns with an ever-popular collection of unmissable opera classics. WNO’s talented orchestral musicians are joined by conductor Harry Ogg and soloists Joyce El-Khoury and Jason Howard for this special concert.

The programme journeys through a wealth of operatic repertoire including works by Verdi, Puccini, Dvořák and Wagner. We also enter the world of musical theatre, and feature delights from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific.

With much-loved favourites and a few lesser-known gems, be sure to book soon for an unforgettable evening of opera.

Wagner: Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Verdi: ‘D’amor sull’alli rosee’ from Il trovatore
Verdi: ‘Credo’ from Otello
Mascagni: Intermezzo to Cavalleria rusticana
Verdi: Prelude to Rigoletto
Verdi: ‘Parla, siamo soli’/‘Tutte le festa al tempio’/‘Piangi fanciulla. Si vendetta’ from Rigoletto

Interval

Mozart: Overture to The Magic Flute
Mozart: ‘La li darem la mano’ from Don Giovanni
Puccini: Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut
Puccini: ‘Vissi D’arte’ from Tosca
Giordano: ‘Nemico della Patria’ from Andrea Chenier
Tchaikovsky: Waltz from Eugene Onegin
Dvořák: ‘Song to the Moon’ from Rusalka
Rodgers: Overture to South Pacific
Rodgers: ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ from South Pacific
Lehar: ‘Lippen Schweigen’ from The Merry Widow

The Summer Opera Classics concert on 28 June is dedicated to the memory of Merlyn and Elaine Brown: the gift they left to WNO in their will ensures their passion for opera lives on. [text from WNO Website]

Festival Napa Valley uncorks its 14th season with a glamorous alfresco celebration and a performance by three of the world’s most exciting opera stars at Meadowood Napa Valley.

Soprano Joyce El-Khoury, tenor Francesco Demuro, and baritone Lucas Meachem perform operatic favorites with the Festival’s Blackburn Music Academy Orchestra on the estate’s elegant Redwood Fairway.

The Lebanese-Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury has performed at some of the world’s most esteemed opera houses. Celebrated for her “star power and superb vocal presence” (BachTrack), she has gained a reputation for bringing rarely performed works to life. Joining her are Grammy Award-winning baritone Lucas Meachem, who was praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for his “fluent, lyrical phrasing,” and named San Francisco Opera’s 2016 Emerging Star of the Year, and festival favorite Sardinian tenor Francesco Demuro, celebrated for his “open, bright, superbly focused tone…reminiscent of Pavarotti” (Opera News).

Star power, a gourmet feast prepared by Meadowood’s exceptional culinary team, and Napa’s finest wines – Festival Napa Valley kicks off in style.

Francesco Demuro, Lucas Meachem and Joyce El-Khoury appear as part of
the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Vocal Arts Series

Blackburn Music Academy Orchestra, Christian Reif, conductor

Joyce El-Khoury, soprano
Jason Howard, baritone
Brian Finley, piano

The world of opera comes to the Barn stage with international singers Joyce El-Khoury (soprano) and Jason Howard (baritone). Receiving Juno attention for her debut album Écho, Joyce has performed leading roles around the world from the Sydney Opera House to Glyndebourne, Canadian Opera Company, Opera National de Bordeaux, Bavarian State Opera and Santa Fe. Of her recent portrayal of Violetta at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, critics wrote that “her pianissimi are exquisite, her coloraturas bold, fearless and immaculate, and the expressiveness of her timbre touches the heart.”

Raised in the rich singing tradition of South Wales, Jason Howard is now recognized as one of the UK’s leading performers on the international operatic stage. Known for having a voice “as rich and smooth as old port”, Jason has sung to critical acclaim throughout Europe and North America, in addition to his many UK engagements.

Accompanied by Brian Finley at the piano, the program includes Vissi D’Arte (Tosca), Credo (Otello), and other arias and duets selected from Don Giovanni, La traviata, Eugene Onegin, The Merry Widow and more.