February 2024

Our front cover features the new production of Simon Boccanegra at the New National Theatre Tokyo.

Inside this issue:

Tomasz Konieczny in conversation with Roger Pines as he prepares to sing Vladislav in David Pountney’s new production of Smetana’s Dalibor in Brno, conducted by Tomáš Hanus.

David Chandler looks back at the work of Retrospect Opera over the past decade, recording and re-evaluating operas by British composers.

Suriname’s first opera composer, Johannes Nicolaas Helstone, is celebrated by Robbert Nachbahr as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra prepares to perform his music drama The Pledge of the Gods.

James Conlon of LA Opera talks to Rebecca Paller about his pioneering Recovered Voices project.

The baritone Justin Austin is profiled by Mark Thomas Ketterson as he prepares to sing the role of Emile Griffith in Terence Blanchard’s Champion in Chicago.

We have full listings of Metropolitan Opera broadcasts and reviews from around the world include: Boris Godunov in Toulouse, Tosca in Dallas, Die Frau ohne Schatten in Stuttgart, La Bohème in Perth, Médée in Berlin, Donizetti’s Alfredo il grande in Bergamo, Simon Boccanegra in Tokyo, Ermione in Washington, Adriana Lecouvreur in Moscow, Antony and Cleopatra in Barcelona, Das Rheingold in Basel, Schwanda the Bagpiper and Le Grand Macabre in Vienna, A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Genoa, The Turn of the Screw in Bath

Disc of the Month is Lully’s Thésée, with Karine Deshayes, Deborah Cachet and Mathias Vidal, and Les Talens Lyriques conducted by Christophe Rousset (Aparte).

Our Stage Door young artist of the month is Alejandro Del Ajel, who impressed the audience at the International Opera Awards singing arias from Halka and Il corsaro.