Andrew Shore News

Welsh National Opera has announced full details of its Autumn 2021 Season which features a new production of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly and WNO’s much-loved production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. A series of digital talks and events to explore the themes of Madam Butterfly are also planned. 

12 a?" 28 June 2020 would have been the 73rd Aldeburgh Festival and this is the first time in its history that it will not go ahead. During the period that the Festival would have taken place, Britten Pears Arts presents a celebration of the Festival's unique programming over more than 70 years, in collaboration with BBC Radio 3 and BBC Four.

Joe Hill-Gibbins returns to ENO with his staging of The Marriage of Figaro, making his main stage debut alongside Chief Conductor of the Munich Symphony Orchestra Kevin John Edusei, who makes his ENO debut in the pit.

Gilbert & Sullivan's topsy-turvy story focuses on the unfolding love between Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum and the absurdity of laws and law-makers.

Jonathan Miller's hilarious and much loved production of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic returns to the London Coliseum, almost 35 years after its premiere.

Originally broadcast live from the world famous London Coliseum in 2015, cinema audiences will have a rare opportunity to see these classic Gilbert and Sullivan operas again in stunning multi-camera HD and amazing 5.1 surround sound.

At the Embassy Ball, wealthy widow, Hanna Glawari, leads her society suitors on a merry dance. But how will she win Danilo who counts her riches worthless? Let's see what the critics had to say.

A comic operetta is a difficult thing to pull off, but the ENO has good form with the genre, having had great success with an irreverent version of Iolanthe last year. This year, they turn their attention to a new version of The Merry Widow for the first time in over a decade.

Opening the spring season is a new production of Un ballo in maschera, where love, power and politics collide to create a tale of deception, intrigue and revenge. The second instalment in WNO's Verdi trilogy, the production is directed by David Pountney, conducted by Gareth Jones and is a co-production with Oper der Stadt Bonn. Performing from 10 - 13 April, the company will also bring revivals of Mozart's The Magic Flute and Donizetti's Roberto Devereux.

Well, it's that time of the year again--time for a look-back on what was worth making note of during the calendar year that's about to come to an end. It's from a totally personal, subjective point of view, of course, but frankly that's the way opera-lovers always seem to like it, n'est-ce pas? The productions worth noting come from places big, small and in-between, from composers old as the hills to freshly minted or somewhere in between (likewise the performers), from traditional or boldly modern to simply stand up and sing.

I hope somebody from New York City Opera was at BAM last weekend, because Mark-Anthony Turnage's GREEK--a modern retelling of the Oedipus myth from Scottish Opera/Opera Ventures, presented by BAM's Next Wave Festival--is just what the doctor ordered for that company. A great story, a small cast, a score that maybe won't leave you humming but moves like gangbusters, a simple production that doesn't look cheesy (except maybe in a mozzarella-ish way). And, oh yes, a happy audience for a work that deserves greater reach on these shores.

Although we only saw Act III, any Wagner is better than none at all.

Some of Australia's finest opera voices will perform together for one night only when the State Opera of South Australia (SOSA) presents The Mastersingers of Nuremberg Act III at the Adelaide Festival Theatre on Saturday, August 4.

Originally intended as a stinging satire on Victorian politics and the House of Lords in particular, Gilbert and Sullivan's supremely silly comic opera Iolanthe is in fine form as it returns to the Coliseum. The story is of the eponymous fairy Iolanthe, banished from fairyland as she married a mortal. Her son Strephon wants to marry Phyllis, but all the members of the House of Peers wants to marry Phyllis as well. When Phyllis suspects Strephon of being unfaithful, she sets off a huge confrontation between the fairies and the peers.

Small town charm is the fuel for the Canadian Opera Company's ELIXIR OF LOVE. Set in any town Ontario, Donizetti's beloved characters appear even more appealing and recognizable in James Robinson's quaint production. As part of the bel canto operatic repertoire, beautiful singing is an exceptionally fitting description for this production, masterfully sung by a cast of emerging Canadian artists.

Laughter and love stories carry over into the new Canadian Opera Company production of Donizetti's The Elixir of Love, one of the most popular comedies of the opera world for almost 200 years. The Elixir of Love runs for eight performances at Toronto's Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on October 11, 15, 17, 21, 27, 29, November 2, 4, 2017.

Let's get this straight. The pirates, who take pity on orphans, are really peers of the realm. The 21-year-old, who has sworn to put them behind bars, is really only five. And the policemen, whose lot is not a happy one, are really, really hopeless at foiling felons…

It is no secret that acclaimed film director Mike Leigh has a passion for Gilbert and Sullivan; his 1999 film Topsy-Turvy was an outright celebration of them and their music. In this first revival of his version of Pirates of Penzance, Leigh maintains and expands on that celebratory spirit in a colourful and vivacious production at the London Coliseum.

The Canadian Opera Company presents a 2017/2018 season that defies conventions on what opera can be and cements the art form's enduring relevance as a reflection of timeless human relations and universal themes.

Opera's greatest love story, LA BOHEME, will return to ENO's London Coliseum this winter in Jonathan Miller's stunning production, weaving together true love with heartbreak in this enduring and devastating story. Check out photos from the show below!