Jeni Bern makes her debut at the Teatro Real as Greta Fiorentino in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene.
The new production, directed by John Fulljames and conducted by Timothy Murray, premieres on 13 February, with performances through the season until 1 June.
The performance on 16 February, will be broadcast live on Mezzo HD Live.
Wyn Pencarreg makes his debut with Welsh National Opera as Alcade in David Pountney’s new production of La forza del destino, conducted by Carlo Rizzi.
The premiere takes place on 2 February at the Wales Millennium Centre, before touring until 21 April.
Nazan Fikret perform’s Arasse in Hasse’s opera seria, Siroe, re di Persia, for the Nederlandse Reisopera. The production, directed by Jakob Peters-Messer and conducted by George Petrou, is a co-production with the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater.
The premiere takes place on 26 January at the Wilminktheater in Enschede before touring The Netherlands hrough February.
Nazan last performed for the Reisopera as Flora The Turn of the Screw in 2006.
Gweneth Ann Rand makes her debut at English National Opera in the title role in Verdi’s Aida. This new production is directed by Phelim McDermott and conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson.
Performances take place at the London Coliseum on 29 November and 2 December.
Gweneth Ann Rand performs Messiaen’s Harawi at Opera North’s Howard Assembly Room in Leeds on 26 October, with long time collaborator, pianist, Simon Lepper.
Gweneth Ann is is widely noted as an exponent of the works of Messiaen and has performed them with the Gürzenich Orchester Köln, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, at Wigmore Hall, the BBC Proms and at the Southbank Centre, in London, as part of the composer’s centenary celebrations.
Claire Wild returns to Welsh National Opera as Emma in Mussorgsky’s epic opera, Khovanshchina, which opens their 2017/18 season. The production is directed by David Pountney and conducted by Tomáš Hanus.
Performances take place from 23 September in Cardiff, before touring to Birmingham and Llandudno.
Wyn Pencarreg performs Alcindoro in Richard Jones’ lavish new production of La bohème at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The long awaited production with designs by Stewart Laing, is conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.
The premiere takes place on 11 September with a further twenty four performances through the season.
In the wake of the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower, Nazan Fikret, with support and generous assistance from Cadogan Hall, the Royal Opera House, Garsington Opera, Opera Magazine, the International Opera Awards and leading arts professionals, has rallied fellow performers to organise a concert to raise funds for those affected.
The concert on at Cadogan Hall on 17 September, presented by Petroc Trelawny, will feature a sensational line-up of both established and up-and-coming artists. This is a one-off event and everyone involved has given their services for free.
All funds raised will be distributed equally between Rugby Portobello Trust (Charity No 1100143) and Grief Encounter (Charity No 1101277) which focus specifically on helping the affected families with rehabilitation and looking to the future.
We are delighted to welcome Welsh tenor Robyn Lyn Evans to our roster for general management. Robyn is a postgraduate of the Royal College of Music, London and graduate of Trinity College Carmarthen and recipient of the Stuart Burrows Bursary.
Future engagements include role debuts as Cavaradossi Tosca for Opera Project and Lensky Eugene Onegin for Mid Wales Opera. He will also make further appearances as Rodolfo for Diva Opera.
We are delighted to welcome Welsh soprano Llio Evans to out roster for worldwis representation. Llio gained a first class honours degree at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama before going on to study with Dennis O’Neill at the Wales International Academy of Voice.
Future engagements include her English National Opera debut as Celia in Iolanthe, Janaček Danube Symphony with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and a revival of her critically acclaimed production of The Golden Dragon with Music Theatre Wales.
Harry Nicoll performs in Anfinomo Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria at the inaugural Grange Festival.
The prodcution is directed by Tim Supple, with musical direction by festival artistic director Michael Chance.
Performances take place on 7, 16, 18, 24 June and 2 July.
Later this season Harry returns to Longborough Festival Opera as Monostatos in The Magic Flute, before appearing with The Royal Opera in Die Zauberflöte.
Philip Smith performs Der Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte at the Opera di Firenze in a co-production with the Teatro la Fenice. The production is directed by Damiano Michieletto and conducted by Roland Böer.
Philip has previously appeared in Florence as Sid in Albert Herring and Junius in The Rape of Lucretia.
Jeni Bern and Richard Roberts can be seen on BBC4 and BBC iPlayer in Opera North’s epic production of Der Ring des Nibelungen, conducted by Richard Farnes. The performances were filmed at Leeds Town Hall in 2016.
Das Rheingold will be broadcast on BBC4 on 12 February at 7pm, with Jeni and Richard as Woglinde and Mime respectively.
Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung will all be available exclusively on BBC iPlayer with Jeni as Waldvogel and Woglinde, and Richard as Mime.
Linda Richardson performs Cio-Cio-san in Welsh National Opera’s production of Madam Butterfly. The original production is directed by Joachim Herz (revived by Sarah Crisp) and conducted by Lawrence Foster and Andrew Greenwood.
Performances take place from 17 February until the end of June in Cardiff, Dubai, Bristol, Llandudno and Birmingham.
The UK premiere of Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín takes place at Durham Cathedral on Saturday 28 January. The concert tells the story of the courageous Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp (Terezín) during World War II, who performed the Verdi Requiem while experiencing the depths of human degradation.
Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín is a concert-drama that combines the magnificent music of Verdi with video testimony from survivors of the original Terezín chorus and footage from the 1944 Nazi propaganda film about Theresienstadt.
The concert will feature Gweneth Ann Rand, Alison Kettlewell, Philip Sheffield and Keel Watson, with the Durham Choral Society Orchestra, Durham University Orchestral Society, Durham Choral Society and University Chamber Choir, conducted by Murry Sidlin.
