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As of this year, Cecilia Bartoli takes over the role of director of Monte-Carlo Opera – the first woman to hold this position in the history of this opera house. Ms Bartoli also stars in Handel’s Alcina, the first production by Monte-Carlo Opera of this new year. With direction by multi-award-winning Christof Loy, this co-production…

This weekend’s Live in HD transmission from the Metropolitan Opera features Umberto Giordano’s Fedora, starring Sonya Yoncheva and Piotr Beczała. This new production by David McVicar was premiered by the Met on New Year’s Eve in a performance described by the Observer as “Opera at its most irresistible!” – and will now be available to…

Violinist James Ehnes is the guest artist in this week’s San Francisco Symphony concert – the first of two this month featuring conductors making their debuts at Davies Symphony Hall. Elim Chan leads the Symphony and James Ehnes in Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto in a performance which also features the World Premiere of Elizabeth Ogonek’s…

For the final production of the year, Jean-Christophe Maillot and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo have selected a work which was first staged in Monaco in 2007 – Maillot’s interpretation of the story of Faust, he who sold his soul to the devil in return for eternal youth and a life of pleasure. The Company’s Choreographer/Director…

Cinema audiences worldwide will have an opportunity on Saturday to watch the Metropolitan Opera’s production of The Hours as part of The Met: Live in HD series. With a score by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts, The Hours stars soprano Renée Fleming, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and operatically-trained Broadway star Kelli O’Hara. Libretto is by playwright,…

Monte-Carlo Opera presents Léo Delibes’ Lakmé – an opera set in a location both exotic and beautiful, with mysterious religious rituals, and the added intrigue of Western colonials living in a foreign country. Lakmé was based on a book by French naval officer and novelist, Pierre Loti, who had travelled widely and written a number…

This month, Thomas Adès leads the Concertgebouworkest in the Dutch premiere of his Piano Concerto. The soloist is internationally renowned pianist Kirill Gerstein who plays a special version of Liszt’s Totentanz as well. The concert also features the first Dutch performance of Veronika Krausas’ Caryatids, and Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements. Thomas Adès, “One…

Ludwig Minkus’ Don Quixote is a lovely, light-hearted ballet – fun, colourful and entertaining, with a lively score and a wonderfully old-fashioned story in which all’s well that ends well – perfect for the run-up to the Festive Season. This new production for Greek National Opera Ballet has been choreographed by Thiago Bordin, based on…

San Francisco Opera presents the original 1762 Viennese edition of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice (Orfeo ed Eurydice) in a new staging by Matthew Ozawa. This production stars countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński as Orpheus, soprano Meigui Zhang as Eurydice and soprano Nicole Heaston as Amore. The conductor is Peter Whelan. The classical Greek myth…

This year marks the centenary of the death of Prince Albert I of Monaco, and appropriately, Monte-Carlo Opera pays tribute to one of its early directors, Raoul Gunsbourg, who was appointed to this role by Prince Albert I in 1892. Gunsbourg staged the world premiere of Berlioz’s opera The Damnation of Faust at Monte-Carlo Opera…