Laurent Naouri News

There's some famous and gorgeous music in Gounod's ROMEO ET JULIETTE—Juliet's waltz, Romeo's “Ah, leve-toi, soleil” and a number of duets —but this is definitely not one of those operas where the title characters can take turns with the showpieces but never look each other in the eye. Luckily, that wasn't the case with Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo in the Met's new Bartlett Sher production, where they lit some fires at Tuesday's performance.

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale) will make its eighth appearance at the Verbier Festival on July 23 and 25, 2016 in concerts conducted by Charles Dutoit and Gabor Takacs-Nagy. MasterVoices cherishes a rich collaboration with the Verbier Festival since its first appearance there under James Levine in 2005, and is pleased to return and celebrate their shared vision for artistic excellence and inter-generational exchange through music.

The 68th season of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, under the leadership of General Manager Bernard Foccroulle, will present an international roster of artists in six major vocal productions plus an opera-in-concert from June 30 - July 20. New Festival productions this year are Mozart's Cosi fan tutte directed by Christophe Honore and conducted by Louis Langree with the Freiburger Barockorchester; Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande led by Esa-Pekka Salonen with the Philharmonia Orchestra; and completing the Festival's Handel Cycle, Il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno conducted by Emmanuelle Haimwith Le Concert d'Astree. In addition, the 2016 season will feature a concert version of Rameau's Zoroastre with Raphael Pichon leading the orchestra and choir of the Ensemble Pygmalion.

Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann will return to the Met stage January 12, with Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo in his first company performances of the title role, a poet whose attempts at romance are repeatedly thwarted.

William Christie's internationally acclaimed Baroque music ensemble, Les Arts Florissants, today announced highlights of its 37th season, encompassing more than 70 performances in approximately 35 venues, two international tours, the 7th edition of the young singers Academy Le Jardin des Voix— this season offering the musical theme of In an Italian Garden— and four new recordings on its own newly created label, Les Editions Arts Florissants.

Having just added Genoa's prestigious 2014 Grifo d'Oro to honors that include both Grammy and ECHO Klassik Awards, Fabio Luisilooks forward to conducting a wealth of important operatic and orchestral projects this spring. Highlights include premiering a major new production of Verdi's Aida at the Zurich Opera, where he serves as General Music Director, and presenting Joyce DiDonato's company title role debut in Rossini's La Cenerentola at the Metropolitan Opera, where he is Principal Conductor; the final performance will be transmitted live to movie theaters around the world in the Met's celebrated Live in HD series. Tellingly, both Zurich Opera and the Met are among the six opera houses named as finalists for the 2014 International Opera Award for Best Opera Company. The eminent Italian conductor is no less distinguished in the concert hall, and this spring he will make his London Symphony Orchestra debut, return to guest conduct the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and lead the last two programs of his season with the Zurich Philharmonia.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 season will feature 26 operas, three of them company premieres, in six new productions and 18 revivals showcasing the talents of the world's leading singers, conductors, and theater artists. The three operas that will have their first-ever Met performances, each staged by a director making his Met debut, are John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer, conducted by David Robertson and directed by Tom Morris, opening October 20; Rossini's La Donna del Lago, conducted by Michele Mariotti and directed by Paul Curran, opening February 16, 2015; and Tchaikovsky's one-act opera Iolanta, conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Mariusz Treli?ski. Iolanta will be presented in a double bill with a new staging of Bartok's one-act Duke Bluebeard's Castle, also conducted by Gergiev and directed by Treli?ski.

Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Jane Moss today announced the roster for Lincoln Center's fourth multidisciplinary White Light Festival, today October 24 through November 23, 2013.

Lincoln Center announces its October lineup. Events include Target Free Thursdays, Poetry Competition, White Light Festivals, and Great Performers concerts.

The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), India's premiere arts and culture institution is proud to present Felicity's Favourites featuring one of Britain's best-loved sopranos, Dame Felicity Lott tonight, August 13, 2013 at Tata Theatre, NCPA. Dame Felicity, who returns to Mumbai after her maiden performance in March 2010, will be accompanied by celebrated pianist Maciej Pikulski.

A number of program changes and additions have been made to the performances, screenings, and events presented by Great Performers and the White Light Festival at Lincoln Center this season. Below is a final schedule of events for both series through June 4, 2013.

The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), India's premiere arts and culture institution is proud to present Felicity's Favourites featuring one of Britain's best-loved sopranos, Dame Felicity Lott on August 13, 2013 at Tata Theatre, NCPA. Dame Felicity, who returns to Mumbai after her maiden performance in March 2010, will be accompanied by celebrated pianist Maciej Pikulski.

Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Jane Moss today announced the roster for Lincoln Center's fourth multidisciplinary White Light Festival, October 24 through November 23, 2013. The Festival's focus is music's capacity to illuminate the many dimensions of our interior lives, with a particular emphasis this year on the power of the voice. Spanning numerous musical traditions, genres, and disciplines, the Festival will offer 23 performances, films, and events featuring seven premieres and debuts by artists and companies from more than a dozen countries, including France, India, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, the U.K., Mali, Estonia, Italy, Austria, Canada and the U.S. New to this edition of the Festival is White Light on Film, film screenings followed by discussions with their directors. Other Festival components include: a panel discussion focused on the subject of time, pre- and post-performance artist discussions, and the popular post-performance White Light Lounges.

When Fabio Luisi took up his post as General Music Director of the Zurich Opera last fall, he helped launch a new era, marked by bold productions and inspired artistic collaborations. For the great Swiss opera house's newly announced 2013-14 season, he continues to build on this auspicious start. As the Intermezzo blog reports, "Zurich's programming is showing an increasingly adventurous touch," and Luisi has succeeded once again in attracting some of today's most visionary directors and conductors - with such young stars as Mikko Franck, Teodor Currentzis, Cornelius Meister, and Pavel Baleff - and in drawing together first-rate casts that juxtapose living legends like Cecilia Bartoli, Edita Gruberova, Anne-Sofie von Otter, Rene Pape, and Nina Stemme with emerging singers on the cusp of international stardom. Anchoring the new season are eleven new productions, 18 revivals, and six orchestral concerts. Having just won a Grammy Award for his leadership of Wagner at the Metropolitan Opera, in Zurich Luisi sets his sights on this year's other great operatic bicentennial, with four operas by Giuseppe Verdi. The conductor himself will play a major part in the new season, premiering important productions of Fidelio and Aida, as well as leading four programs with the Philharmonia Zurich and revivals of Don Carlo, Les contes d'Hoffmann, and Bellini's La straniera. By way of a prelude to the upcoming season, the company's new take on this bel canto classic will form the centerpiece of Luisi's summer in Zurich, which also sees him directing Rigoletto, Der Rosenkavalier, and concerts of Schumann's orchestral and choral music.

American soprano Ailyn Perez earned yet another honor on Wednesday when she was named the winner of the 15th annual Placido Domingo Award. The prestigious award, personally given by Maestro Domingo to an artist of his choosing, celebrates the accomplishments of Hispanic artists as well as those who contribute to the awareness of opera and its educational value in the Latino community of Los Angeles. Earlier this year, Perez also won the namesake award of one of the other legendary tenors in opera's history - the 2012 Richard Tucker Award. Born in Chicago to Mexican parents, Perez is the first Hispanic singer to receive the Richard Tucker Award in its 34-year history.

Soprano Ailyn Pérez, winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award, was fresh from a string of European appearances, including her Bolshoi Theater debut and performances at the Hamburg State Opera, when she lit up the stage at New York's Avery Fisher Hall at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala on November 11. The gala was filmed for national broadcast in the U.S. as part of the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center series on PBS and will air tonight, December 13. Live from Lincoln Center: The Richard Tucker Opera Gala, which is being hosted by singer and actress Audra McDonald, will include a feature on Pérez, backstage access to the artists, and selections from the musical performance.

Soprano Ailyn Perez, winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award, was fresh from a string of European appearances, including her Bolshoi Theater debut and performances at the Hamburg State Opera, when she lit up the stage at New York's Avery Fisher Hall at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala on November 11. The gala was filmed for national broadcast in the U.S. as part of the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center series on PBS and will air on Thursday, December 13. Live from Lincoln Center: The Richard Tucker Opera Gala, which is being hosted by singer and actress Audra McDonald, will include a feature on Perez, backstage access to the artists, and selections from the musical performance.