January 29
Spoleto Festival USA 2011, Charleston, SC
Gian Carlo Menotti: The Medium
Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra
Joseph Flummerfelt, conductor
CAST: (The Medium): Jennife Aylmer (Monica); Barbara Dever (Madame Flora); Caitlin Lynch (Mrs. Gobineau); Stephen Bryant (Mr. Gobineau); Jennifer Feinstein (Mrs Nolan); Gregg Morgala (Toby)
KAIJA SAARIAHO: Émilie
Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra
John Kennedy, conductor
CAST: (Émilie): Elizabeth Futral (Émilie du Châtelet)
A fascinating double bill from one of America's premiere summer festivals. Menotti's early opera The Medium ran on Broadway for more than 200 performances in 1947-48. Émilie, by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, is a mesmerizing one-act, one-woman opera heard in its American premiere production, featuring a virtuoso turn by soprano Elizabeth Futral.
February 5
Gioachino Rossini: Moses in Egypt
Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro
Bologna Municipal Theater Orchestra and Chorus
Roberto Abbado, conductor
CAST: Sonia Ganassi (Elcia); Dmitry Korchak (Osiride); Riccardo Zanellato (Moses); Olga Senderskaya (Amaltea); Alex Esposito (Pharoah); Enea Scala (Mambre); Yijie Shi (Aaron); Chiara Amarù (Amenofi)
To skirt the official prohibition of opera performances during Lent, Rossini came up with an operatic take on the biblical story of Moses and the exodus from Egypt, complete with the parting of the Red Sea, as in Hollywood's The Ten Commandments. You might think of this one as "Rossini meets Cecil B. DeMille," with bass Riccardo Zanellato filling in for Charlton Heston.
February 12
Giuseppe Verdi: Oberto
Champs-Elysées Theatre, Paris
National Orchestra of France, Radio France Chorus
Carlo Rizzi, conductor
CAST: Michele Pertusi (Oberto); Maria Guleghina (Leonora); Ekaterina Gubanova (Cuniza); Sophie Pondjiclis (Imelda); Vater Borin (Riccardo)
Oberto was Verdi's first opera, and the young composer picked an intimidating a venue for his first world premiere: Milan's La Scala. The opera's high-octane story involves an illicit romance that leaves the title character dead, the lead tenor's character in exile, and his girlfriend headed for a cloister.
February 26
Gioachino Rossini: La Cenerentola
Opéra Garnier, Paris
Paris National Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Bruno Campanella, conductor
CAST: Karine Deshayes (Cenerentola); Javier Camarena (Don Ramiro); Riccardo Novaro (Dandini); Carlos Chausson (Don Magnifico); Alex Esposito (Alidoro); Jeannette Fischer (Clorinda); Anna Wall (Tisbe)
Based on the fairytale favorite "Cinderella" La Cenerentola is one of Rossini's most delicate and delightful comedies. But in this version of the story, it's not magic slippers and fairy godmothers that carry the day, but rather the strength of love and the resiliency of the human spirit.
March 4
Mikhail Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmilla
Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow
Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and Chorus
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
CAST: Albina Shagimuratova (Lyudmilla); Mikhail Petrenko (Ruslan); Vladimir Ognovenko (Svetozar); Yuri Minenko (Ratmir); Almas Shvilpa (Farlaf); Alexandrina Pendachanska (Gorislava); Charles Workman (Finn/Bayan); Elena Zaremba (Naina)
Glinka's opera has a famously rollicking overture -- and the rest of the opera keeps the action going strong. Based on a poem by Pushkin, it might be called an "epic frolic" -- a lush but lighthearted romp, through a world of fantastic adventures and fairytale love, heard here from Moscow's historic Bolshoi.
March 11
W.A. Mozart: Don Giovanni
La Scala, Milan
La Scala Orchestra and Chorus
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
CAST: Peter Mattei (Don Giovanni); Anna Netrebko (Donna Anna); Barbara Frittoli (Donna Elvira); Bryn Terfel (Leporello); Giuseppe Filianoti (Don Ottavio); Anna Prohaska (Zerlina); Stefan Kocan (Masetto); Kwangchul Youn (Commendatore)
If ever a story fell right into a composer's wheelhouse, this would be the one. It's hard to imagine a more complex weave of antic comedy, shocking violence and emotional betrayals than Lorenzo da Ponte's incisive adaptation of the Don Juan legend -- or a composer better equipped to handle it than Mozart.
March 18
Giacomo Puccini: La Boheme
Maggio Musicale, Florence
Maggio Musicale Orchestra and Chorus
Zubin Mehta, conductor
CAST: Gianluca Terranova (Rodolfo); Carmela Remigio (Mimi); Alessandra Marianelli (Musetta); Stefano Antonucci (Marcello); Simone del Savio (Schaunard); Marco Vinco (Colline); Andrea Cortece (Alcindoro)
Puccini's love-stoked tearjerker may end tragically, but the opera's multiple levels of passion and sentiment still make for a great "date night." And, as the perfect remedy for any tottering romance, La Boheme is also among the most popular operas ever composed.
March 25
Giuseppe Verdi: La Forza del Destino
Bastille Opera, Paris
Paris National Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Phillipe Jordan, conductor
CAST: Violeta Urmana (Leonora); Marcelo Alvarez (Alvaro); Vladimir Stoyanov (Don Carlo di Vargas); Mario Luperi (Marquis of Calatrava); Nadia Krasteva (Preziosilla); Nicola Alaimo (Fra Melitone); Rodolphe Briand (Trabuco); Nona Javakhidze (Curra)
The last of this quarter's trio of shows from the great opera houses of Paris, this production of Verdi's relentless drama of politics, passion and revenge boasts a top-notch, international cast.
April 1
Theater an der Wien, Vienna
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony
Kiril Petrenko, conductor
P. I. TCHAIKOVSKY: Iolanta
CAST (Iolanta): Olga Mykytenko (Iolanta); David Pittsinger (René); Dalibor Jenis (Robert); Saimir Pirgu (Vaudémont); Elchin Azizov (Ibn-Hakia); Vladimir Baykov (Bertrand)
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF: Francesca da Rimini
CAST: Olga Mykytenko (Francesca Malatesta); David Pittsinger (Ghost of Virgil); Ladislav Elgr (Dante Alighieri); Dmitry Beloselski (Lanciotto Malatesta); Saimir Pirgu (Paolo Malatesta)
This intriguing double bill features two very different love stories. In Iolanta, tender romance leads to a powerful vision of healing light. In Francesca, based on a famous episode from Dante's Inferno, illicit lovers meet a violent death.
