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Browsing: Vocal

Photo: Nomi Baumgartl

Remembering José van Dam (1940-2026)

By Kaitlyn Chan on 19 February 2026 Classical Music, Obituaries, Opera, Vocal

Celebrated bass-baritone José van Dam has passed away at age 85. His death on February 17, 2026, was announced by the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, a Belgian academic institute that was greatly shaped by van Dam’s contributions as founder and Master in residence of its voice section. Van Dam was one of today’s most requested interpreters of the bass-baritone repertoire, and he featured on the cover of La Scena’s October 2000 issue. As a tribute, we republish our interview with the singer below. José van Dam: Master Singer by Wah Keung Chan, October 1, 2000 It is refreshing to hear…

Newswire | An Exciting World Premiere at the Centre of Canadian Opera Company’s 2026-2027 Season

By Newswire on 18 February 2026 Classical Music, Newswire, Opera, Toronto

Toronto – The Canadian Opera Company’s newly unveiled 2026/2027 season will feature a bold Canadian world premiere, two new-to-Toronto productions on its mainstage at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, as well as an additional new work from Opera 5, the COC’s Company-in-Residence, to be performed at the Canadian Opera Company Theatre. The season’s full lineup includes: La Traviata, Verdi’s timeless tale of love and heartbreak; Così fan tutte, Mozart’s comic test of fidelity and desire; two new productions: The Turn of the Screw, Britten’s operatic adaptation of the chilling novella, and Richard Strauss’ tragicomedy Ariadne aux Naxos; Donizetti’s ever-charming The Elixir of Love; and the highly anticipated world premiere of Empire of…

Budapest Festival Orchestra performing Mahler 3. Photo: Budapest Festival Orchestra/Róbert Zentai

Review | Budapest Festival Orchestra & Iván Fischer’s Triumphant Mahler 3 in Toronto

By David Fanning on 17 February 2026 Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Toronto, Vocal

Mahler’s longest, most philosophically ambitious, and second most lavishly scored symphony, in a less than full-sized hall, could so easily have proved too much of a good thing. Not a bit of it. Among several special—if not unique—features, the Budapest Festival Orchestra is known for its quality of listening: listening to each other and listening to the music. Accordingly, under Iván Fischer’s economical, yet never less than whole-hearted direction, they never pushed sonic thrills across the physical pain barrier or into mere vulgarity. Textures were transparent, the balance against orchestral and vocal solos optimally discreet. The notion that Mahler expanded…

A scene from National Theatre’s Das Rheingold. Photo: Petr Neubert

Review | Misogyny Unveiled in New National Theatre Das Rheingold in Prague

By Gianmarco Segato on 17 February 2026 Concert Reviews, Opera, Vocal

With director Sláva Daubnerová’s production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold (seen Feb. 15), Prague’s National Theatre embarks on a new Ring Cycle between now and 2028. The last time the company presented the Ring was in 2005, in a version from Germany’s Deutsche Oper am Rhein with Canadian soprano Frances Ginzer as Brünnhilde. For any company, a new staging of Wagner’s tetralogy is a huge undertaking and upon first evidence, things are off to a provocative, if visually overladen start. Daubnerová, along with set designers Boris Kudlička and Kateřina Hubená (also on costumes) and costume designer Dorota Karolczak have created a…

Listen | Yuma Kagiyama Skates Olympic Free Program to Premiere of Christopher Tin’s Turandot Finale

By Wah Keung Chan on 13 February 2026 Contemporary, Opera, Orchestral

When Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama skated his free program at the 2026 Olympic Men’s Figure Skating Finals, it was to the World premiere of a special condensed version of composer Christopher Tin’s new ending of Puccini’s Turandot. Tin reduced his 18 minute ending to 4:17 and it was recorded over two days at Abbey Road Studios in London, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the English National Opera Chorus, and then added soloists Grammy-winning soprano Christine Goerke and tenor Clay Hilley. Unfortunately, Kagiyama made several mistakes and only placed sixth in the Free Program, which when combined with his second place…

Newswire | Vancouver Opera Announces 2026—2027 Season

By Newswire on 12 February 2026 Classical Music, Newswire, Opera, West

FEBRUARY 6, 2026, VANCOUVER, B.C. / Traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations – Vancouver Opera announces an audience-inspired 2026–2027 season featuring three iconic works by Puccini, Rossini, and Verdi, with season tickets now on sale. Opening with the white-hot intensity of Tosca in October 2026, followed by Rossini’s effervescent comedy The Barber of Seville in February 2027, the season concludes in grand style with Verdi’s beloved La Traviata in April/May 2027. “Our 67th season invites audiences to confront power, delight in comedy, and open themselves to vulnerability with timeless classics that are adored by opera audiences everywhere,” said Tom Wright, Vancouver Opera General Director. “We are bringing…

Ludovic Tézier (Renato) & Anna Netrebko (Amelia) in Paris Opera's Un ballo in maschera. Photo: Franck Ferville

Review | Paris Opera Ballo: Netrebko & Tézier in a Dramatic Void

By Denise Wendel-Poray on 10 February 2026 Concert Reviews, Opera, Vocal

With the Paris Opera’s 2026 season now in full swing—and offering several genuinely striking productions, Eugene Onegin directed by Ralph Fiennes among them — this Un ballo in maschera (seen Feb. 8) feels thoroughly routine, save for the presence of Anna Netrebko and Ludovic Tézier. Verdi’s Ballo occupies an intriguing middle position in his output. Written in 1859, it belongs neither to the early “galley years” nor to the fully mature period of Don Carlo or Otello. It is a transitional work in which political drama, psychological shading, and melodic brilliance coexist somewhat uneasily—a piece that can support, and even…

Photo: Gaetz Photography

Newswire | Canadian Opera Company Appoints Ian Derrer as Next General Director

By Newswire on 10 February 2026 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Employment, Newswire, Opera, Toronto

Toronto, ON—The Canadian Opera Company (COC) announced today that Ian Derrer has been appointed the company’s next General Director, marking an exciting step forward for Canada’s largest opera producer. Derrer will assume the role on July 1, 2026, aligning with the start of the COC’s 2026/2027 season. The appointment follows an extensive national and international search led by the COC Board of Directors’ Search Committee, in collaboration with executive search firm Isaacson Miller. Spanning more than a year, the comprehensive process included broad consultation with stakeholders from across the organization and the wider opera sector. Recruitment also reflected the Board’s…

Lebrecht Weekly | Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius (Hyperion)

By Norman Lebrecht on 6 February 2026 Choral, Lebrecht Weekly, Opera, Vocal

Edward Elgar’s great oratorio could justly be called a deathbed masterpiece – not his own, for it was written in the fullness of his powers, but that of Gerontius who spends the first part of the work dying in an agony of faith and doubt and the second in the company of a Guardian Angel who escorts him into eternity. The dying man is a tenor, the angel a soprano. A baritone and chorus cover the rest. The work is devotional and Roman Catholic though not preachy or pompous. Elgar is not in the business of saving immortal souls. He…

A scene from Paris Opera's Eugene Onegin. Photo: Guergana Damianova

Review | Ralph Fiennes’ Eugene Onegin at Paris Opera

By Denise Wendel-Poray on 3 February 2026 Concert Reviews, Opera, Vocal

The excitement around this sold-out Eugene Onegin at the Palais Garnier (seen Feb. 1) begins with a name: Ralph Fiennes. One senses his presence before a note is played. This is not a production that announces a concept; it unfolds as an act of direction in the cinematic sense. Fiennes shapes time, stillness, and gesture with the instincts of an actor and film-maker. The theatre itself—Garnier’s red velvet, gold leaf, painted ceilings—lingers in the peripheral vision like a living extension of the staging. Built in the same decade as Tchaikovsky’s opera, it feels less like a venue than like part…