Anna Netrebko, soon after her performances of Andrea Chénier at La Scala, talked about her son, his autism and the abandonment by his father, bass-baritone…
Lilly Jorstad. Note the name. You’ll be hearing it more and more over the next few years. Lilly Jorstad is Rosina in La Scala’s Il…
35 living descendants of Leonardo Da Vinci’s family have been identified. Although Da Vinci didn’t have any children, a project – started in 1973 –…
Luisa Mandelli, who played Annina in Luchino Visconti’s La traviata at La Scala in 1955, is now 93 years old. Although a small role, she…
Renata Scotto has never been one to hold her tongue and at 81 she doesn’t intend to start. In a recent interview for Italy’s Il…
“Variation is not only a noble endeavour or a musical exercise, but also an intellectual tradition and virtuosity of the imagination,” said Giò Ponti, Italian architect and…
Ballet Season 2016-2017 Recital and Concert Season 2016-2017 The new season opens with another step along the path of Riccardo Chailly’s Puccini Project, Madama Butterfly,…
Q&A When did you start singing? I started singing when I was 12/13 years old. I was a tenor then… Why did you start singing?…
As part of the Great Voices at La Scala series, Raina Kabaivanska will be interviewed Sabino Lenoci and Giancarlo Landini of Italy’s L’Opera magazine in…
An (almost) unseen photo from the archives at Teatro alla Scala which shows an emotional Maria Callas moved to tears by the incredible success of…
I’ve been following this project for eight years and I’ve been to St Petersburg many times in train or by ship, because I don’t like…
La Scala’s La bohème has been a constant presence in the theatre’s programming after more than half a century and now edges towards its 240th performance. The…
Michael Feinstein’s book on the Gershwins called, sensibly, “The Gershwins and Me” (Simon & Schuster) was published in October. While he was still working in…
“Silence – Recording in Progress” reads the sign, as Maria Callas arrives at La Scala to record Il trovatore in 1956. More than any other…
A new song cycle exploring the realities of life as a black man in America will receive its world premiere performance with Opera Philadelphia tonight,…
Maria Callas: The Exhibition in Verona, runs throughout the summer opera season until 18 September 2016. It is the largest such exhibition dedicated to La…
Composer Julian Cochran has two phrases in his publicity blurb which leap out of the page. One, tender and intimate, gives a clue to the…
Jim Ratcliffe, the 64-year-old ‘British chemical engineer turned financier and industrialist’ – and, according to Forbes, is worth around 10 billion dollars – has bought…
Q&A When did you start singing? I can’t ever remember I time where I didn’t sing. Why did you start singing? I can’t remember the…
All the details of the 2016-2017 Opera Season at London’s Royal Opera House: skip to section: ROYAL OPERA 2016-2017 SEASON – IN BRIEF THE ROYAL…
Meyerbeer: GRAND OPERA with Diana Damrau This glorious new album finds Diana Damrau in sparkling, top-notch form. The exacting demands that Meyerbeer makes on the…
Vittorio Grigolo is not normal. While no artist is normal – and some are downright strange – Grigolo is something of an eccentric, both onstage (just…
When Renata Scotto made her début in I vespri siciliani at La Scala to open the theatre’s season on 7 December 1970, one of the…
With last night’s concert in Berlin, Barbra Streisand said auf wiedersehen to Europe forever. In fact, apart from two last concerts in Israel, she is saying…
Italy’s Classic Voice magazine has published a list of the current maximum fees paid by the Italian opera houses, and, surprisingly – though according to many…
Maria Callas would have been 90 today, yet she died 36 years ago. Her years at La Scala in Milan, where she also recorded most…
Q&A When did you start singing? I don’t remember exactly when… Why did you start singing? Because it felt good. Which singers inspired you most…
The staging of La traviata is the lavish Liliana Cavani production with sets by Dante Ferretti with which Verdi’s masterpiece returned to La Scala in…
You may not have heard the name of Canadian composer Steve Barakatt, but how many composers have had a composition played in space? This happened…
Mirella Freni is eighty, and to celebrate her birthday La Scala threw open its doors to her fans and opera lovers to see the great…
Friday night’s performance of Turandot at the open-air theatre in Torre del Lago nearly finished in more tragedy than the opera had already delivered when, just after midnight,…
Q&A When did you start singing? In the crib. Apparently, I was a very vocal baby … no seriously, I already sang as a child.…
I want to change my life – I want to go into straight theatre. Natalie Dessay announced to Examiner.com’s Sean Martinfield. After the summer Dessay…
Opera singing is a high-wire profession. Only the most tone-deaf will not wince when a note is off. It is all too obvious when part…
The popular Italian gossip magazine Chi has published a series of articles about soprano Daniela Dessì. Her death at 59, just over two months ago,…
Luciano Pavarotti’s three daughters Lorenza, Cristina and Giuliana, together with his widow, Nicoletta Mantovani, have requested that the Trump campaign stops using the Maestro’s voice.…
You shouldn’t reveal a lady’s age, they say, but how can I not say that Edita Gruberova is 68 years-old when she took on the final…
Jonas Kaufmann triumphed at Milan’s La Scala in his recital last night, with most of the packed house standing to applaud his generous encores. Although…
After nineteen years, Cecilia Bartoli’s return to Milan’s La Scala tonight was long overdue. Daniel Barenboim was the instigator of the event: the opening of…
Magda Olivero’s funeral was a life affirming mix of emotions. She was a practising Catholic, and three different priests, who had been close to her…
When the Royal Swedish Opera announced their “Night of the Vampires” dress rehearsal event on Facebook on 15 September, it became clear that there is…
Inside I feel 50, outside I feel 70, and my brain believes that I’m eternally young. But on 21 October the great soprano Virginia Zeani…
At 95, Franco Zeffirelli is returning to the opera house to direct a new production of Rigoletto. The opera will open in September 2020 at…
Jonas Kaufmann was 50 on 10 July this year. To celebrate, the esteemed Vienna-based publishing house Verlag für moderne Kunst has produced – in collaboration…
Italian soprano Daniela Dessi has died after a short battle with cancer of the colon. She was just 59. She possessed one of the most beautiful…
Angela Gheorghiu acts the diva, but she doesn’t seem to be one. Before her appearances in Italy she leaves bold statements in the newspapers – “I don’t…
Joyce DiDonato well and truly conquered La Scala’s audience during her recital last night. She was greeted by an ovation that took her aback –…
The concert programme includes some of the greatest living conductors. Riccardo Chailly will be on the podium for two evenings of the Symphony Season, Verdi’s…
Teatro alla Scala has learnt with profound sorrow of the loss, after a long illness, of the baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Born in Krasnoyarsk in 1962,…
Jakub Józef Orliński is the new countertenor name to add to an ever-growing roster of artists who are selling discs and selling out concert halls…
In an interview with Italy’s Vanity Fair, the always outspoken tenor, Vittorio Grigolo, responded to journalist Sara Faillaci’s question, “Is sex important for you?” with,…
Alexander Pereira’s appointment as General Manager of La Scala came with the usual chorus of protests which accompanies almost all changes at this highly conservative…
I’m in love and happy. His name’s Mihai Ciortea and he’s Romanian like me. He’s good-looking, kind and very, very young. Angela Gheorghiu is talking…
Lilly Jørstad — the mezzo-soprano who was strangely considered ‘unsuitable’ to continue her studies at the La Scala Academy — has gone on to demonstrate what a bizarre…
The 27 year-old partner of the new Sovrintendente at La Scala (Alexander Pereira, 66) has left her first interview with Italy’s Chi magazine. Daniela de Souza…
Carlo Fuortes, the new director of Rome Opera, has a difficult path ahead of him. During the first few months of his leadership he must…
It’s not often that the accompanist for a recital is mentioned in the opening paragraph of a review, but Anita Rachvelishvili’s recital at La Scala…
Q&A in italiano When did you start singing? From what I remember I’ve always sung: when I was seven I had emergency surgery for peritonitis…
Anna Netrebko opens the new season at La Scala – as each year, on 7 December – as Tosca. It will be her fourth time…
93-year-old Luisa Mandelli, who sixty years ago was the Annina in Luchino Visconti’s La traviata with Maria Callas, was due to perform the same role…
