August 2024

Stolen Happiness, a classic of the Ukrainian repertoire, is on our front cover, with Liubov Kachala and Petro Radeiko at the Lviv National Opera.

Features include a profile of the tenor Jonathan Tetelman; we also report from the World Opera Forum in Los Angeles and explore the operatic life of the great pianist Rudolf Firkušný.

• The Editor reports from the World Opera Forum and Opera America Conference in Los Angeles
• The legendary pianist Rudolf Firkušný had a rich opera-going life, beginning with the Janáček premieres he attended with the composer – John Allison presents some previously unpublished memoirs 
• We profile the tenor Jonathan Tetelman, who stars as Pinkerton in LA Opera’s Madama Butterfly in September
• Jon Tolansky celebrates the composer Ferruccio Busoni, a century after his death
• Our rising star is the Anglo-Venezuelan soprano Sofia Kirwan-Baez

Our Disc of the Month is The Hours, by Kevin Puts, with Renée Fleming, Kelli O’Hara, Joyce DiDonato and the chorus and orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Warner Classics).

The Stage Door emerging artist in this issue is Sofia Kirwan-Baez, fresh from the National Opera Studio and straight into performances of Musetta in Longborough Opera’s new production of La Bohème.

Performance reviews from around the world include Die Walküre in Atlanta, Platée at Garsington Opera and in Gothenburg, L’Olimpiade at Versailles, The Merry Widow at Glyndebourne, Dan Malloy’s Three Houses in New York, L’incoronazione di Poppea in Basel, Die Meistersinger in Madrid, Mefistofele in Venice Il trittico in Amsterdam, La rondine in Milan, Boris Godunov in Budapest, Lucia di Lammermoor in Melbourne, Turandot in Washington