Marco Berti News

Plácido Domingo, the Eli and Edythe Broad General Director of LA Opera, has announced new details for the opening production of the company's 30th Anniversary Season. The 2015/16 season will open on September 12 with a double bill featuring two of LA Opera's most celebrated productions, Gianni Schicchi and Pagliacci, and highlighting Mr. Domingo's artistry as both singer and conductor.

Željko Lucic has withdrawn from his spring Met engagements due to illness. In his place, George Gagnidze will sing Alfio in the new production of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. Gagnidze, who will also sing Tonio in Pagliacci as originally scheduled, will join Marcelo Álvarez in performing in both halves of the evening's double bill; Álvarez sings both Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and Canio in Pagliacci.

Plácido Domingo, LA Opera's Eli and Edythe Broad General Director, has announced the company's 2015/16 season. This will be the 30th season presented by the company, created by Mr. Domingo in collaboration with Richard Seaver Music Director James Conlon and President and CEOChristopher Koelsch. The company's 30th anniversary season will include six mainstage productions and two concerts at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with a total of 40 performances taking place in that venue, as well as 13 performances presented elsewhere through the company's Off Grand initiative. The season will open onSeptember 12, 2015, and will run through June 19, 2016.

The New Year finds Grammy and ECHO Klassik Award-winner Fabio Luisi back at the helm of the Zurich Opera.

Verdi's Egyptian tragedy Aida, one of the most-performed operas in company history, will return to the Met stage October 30 for a 16-performance revival with rotating casts of acclaimed artists and rising stars. The initial performances will star Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska, who made a notable Met debut in the role in 2012, as Aida; Olga Borodina in one of her best-known portrayals as the jealous princess Amneris; Marcello Giordani as the war hero Radamès, a role he first sang at the Met in 2012; Željko Lu?i? in his first-ever Met performances as Amonasro, Aida's father; Ukrainian bass Dmitri Belosselskiy in his Met role debut as the high priest Ramfis; and American bass Soloman Howard in his Met debut as the King. Italian tenor Antonello Palombi will make his Met debut as Radamès on November 22.

San Francisco Opera today announced a cast change for the Company's current production of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma. American tenor Russell Thomas will sing the role of Pollione for the remaining five performances of the opera on September 14m, 19, 23, 27 and 30, 2014. Mr. Thomas replaces Italian tenor Marco Berti, who has withdrawn from the production for personal reasons.

American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, previously announced to sing Adalgisa for five of seven performances in San Francisco Opera's current production of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, will sing the role for the entire run, including performances on September 19 and 23.

San Francisco Opera recently announced a cast change for the Company's season-opening new production of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, presented September 5-30, 2014 at the War Memorial Opera House. American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton--recent winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition--will make her Company debut as Adalgisa for five of the opera's seven performances today, September 5 and September 10, 14, 27 and 30. Ms. Barton replaces Daveda Karanas, who has withdrawn from the production for personal reasons. A casting update for the September 19 & 23 performances will be announced at a later date.

San Francisco Opera's 2014-15 Season opens tonight, September 5, 2014 with a dramatic new production of Vincenzo Bellini's bel canto masterpiece Norma, starring American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in one of opera's most dazzling and demanding roles. American mezzo-soprano Daveda Karanas is the young priestess Adalgisa; Italian tenor Marco Berti is Pollione; and American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn is Oroveso. Music Director Nicola Luisotti conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus and Director Kevin Newbury and set designer David Korins return to San Francisco Opera to premiere this vivid, large-scale new co-production with Toronto's Canadian Opera Company, Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Norma runs for seven performances through September 30.

San Francisco Opera today announced a cast change for the Company's season-opening new production of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, presented September 5-30, 2014 at the War Memorial Opera House. American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton--recent winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition--will make her Company debut as Adalgisa for five of the opera's seven performances on September 5, 10, 14, 27 and 30. Ms. Barton replaces Daveda Karanas, who has withdrawn from the production for personal reasons. A casting update for the September 19 & 23 performances will be announced at a later date.

San Francisco Opera's 2014-15 Season opens September 5, 2014 with a dramatic new production of Vincenzo Bellini's bel canto masterpiece Norma, starring American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in one of opera's most dazzling and demanding roles. American mezzo-soprano Daveda Karanas is the young priestess Adalgisa; Italian tenor Marco Berti is Pollione; and American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn is Oroveso. Music Director Nicola Luisotti conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus and Director Kevin Newbury and set designer David Korins return to San Francisco Opera to premiere this vivid, large-scale new co-production with Toronto's Canadian Opera Company, Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Norma runs for seven performances through September 30.

San Francisco Opera celebrates the opening of its 92nd Season on Friday, September 5, 2014 with a gala performance of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, conducted by San Francisco Opera Music Director Nicola Luisotti and featuring an illustrious cast led by soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role. The opening night festivities are highlighted by Opera Ball 2014: Passione, a benefit supporting the education programs of San Francisco Opera Guild and San Francisco Opera Education Department, and BRAVO! CLUB's Opening Night Gala.

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.

Royal Opera House London in der UCI Kinowelt

Spring will bring a trio of striking productions to Houston Grand Opera, starting with the return-by-popular-demand of the world's first mariachi opera - Cruzar la Cara de la Luna ('To Cross the Face of the Moon'). Cruzar - an HGO commission that the company premiered to acclaim in 2010, with the Houston Chronicle calling it 'a multicultural winner' - will run today, March 22-24 at the Wortham Theater Center. Next up is HGO's new production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (April 18-May 5), conducted by the company's music and artistic director, Patrick Summers, and starring two of today's greatest Wagnerian singers: soprano Nina Stemme as Isolde and tenor Ben Heppner as Tristan, both in their company debuts.

For the music alone, you can't beat Verdi's IL TROVATORE, with a demanding string of arias that, in the right hands (or voices), can raise the rafters. But when it comes to the action, you must suspend your disbelief at the door--or stay home and watch the Marx Brothers have fun with it in 'A Night at the Opera.'

Elena Manistina will sing the role of Azucena in this evening's performance of Verdi's Il Trovatore, replacing Stephanie Blythe, who is ill.