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Gianmarco Segato

Gianmarco Segato

Arts writer, administrator and singer Gianmarco Segato is Assistant Editor for La Scena Musicale. He was Associate Artist Manager for opera at Dean Artists Management and, from 2017-2022, Editorial Director of Opera Canada magazine. Previous to that he was Adult Programs Manager with the Canadian Opera Company. Gianmarco is an intrepid classical music traveler with a special love of Prague and Budapest as well as an avid cyclist and cook.

Author:Gianmarco Segato

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Fleur Barron © Petra Hajská

Searing Kindertotenlieder from Fleur Barron and the Czech Philharmonic

By Gianmarco Segato, 18 February 2026

Fleur Barron delivers a searing Kindertotenlieder in the Czech Philharmonic's mini-survey of the Germanic Romantic repertoire under Semyon Bychkov.

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Fleur Barron © Petra Hajská

Searing Kindertotenlieder from Fleur Barron and Czech Philharmonic

By Gianmarco Segato

Hungarian National Ballet in the Kingdom of Shades from Albert Mirzoyan's La Bayadère © Valter Berecz / Hungarian State Opera

A thrilling, opulent La Bayadère at Hungarian National Ballet

By Gianmarco Segato, 14 June 2025

Hungarian National Ballet's La Bayadère revitalizes tradition with a new reconstruction of its forgotten final act.

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Hungarian National Ballet in the Kingdom of Shades from Albert Mirzoyan's La Bayadère © Valter Berecz / Hungarian State Opera

A thrilling, opulent La Bayadère at Hungarian National Ballet

By Gianmarco Segato

Andrea Szántó (Laura) and Francesca Tiburzi (La Gioconda) © Valter Berecz | Hungarian State Opera

Visually splendid, dramatically parched La Gioconda at Hungarian State Opera

By Gianmarco Segato, 11 June 2025

Hungarian State Opera's cut-down, dramatically inert Gioconda fails to ignite the stage in Budapest, despite a solid musical foundation.

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Andrea Szántó (Laura) and Francesca Tiburzi (La Gioconda) © Valter Berecz | Hungarian State Opera

Visually splendid, dramatically parched La Gioconda in Budapest

By Gianmarco Segato

National Ballet of Canada in Swan Lake © Karolina Kuras

Corps shines in National Ballet of Canada’s aesthetically muddled Swan Lake

By Gianmarco Segato, 08 March 2025

In the first revival of National Ballet of Canada's 2022 Swan Lake, a strong corps de ballet and star turn by Genevieve Penn Nabity almost overcome a muddled visual concept.

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National Ballet of Canada in Swan Lake © Karolina Kuras

Corps shines in National Ballet of Canada’s Swan Lake

By Gianmarco Segato

Kyle Ketelsen (Méphistophélès) and Long Long (Faust) © Michael Cooper

Scattered borrowings fail to cohere in Canadian Opera Company's new Faust

By Gianmarco Segato, 11 October 2024

Amy Lane's scattered borrowings from Tim Burton to Stanley Kubrick fail to cohere in the Canadian Opera Company's new Faust.

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Kyle Ketelsen (Méphistophélès) and Long Long (Faust) © Michael Cooper

Scattered borrowings fail to cohere in COC's new Faust

By Gianmarco Segato

Genevieve Penn Nabity as Kitri in Carlos Acosta's Don Quixote © Karolina Kuras

An unabashed celebration of dance, Carlos Acosta's Don Quixote thrills at the National Ballet of Canada

By Gianmarco Segato, 01 June 2024

Superstar dancer Carlos Acosta's Don Quixote debuts at the National Ballet of Canada, showcasing thrilling dancing in a sumptuous, sun-filled Spanish setting.

*****

Genevieve Penn Nabity as Kitri in Carlos Acosta's Don Quixote © Karolina Kuras

Carlos Acosta's Don Quixote thrills at the National Ballet of Canada

By Gianmarco Segato

Sondra Radvanovsky (Medea) © Marty Sohl | Met Opera (2022)

Sondra Radvanovsky triumphs in Canadian Opera Company's darkly grand Medea

By Gianmarco Segato, 03 May 2024

In the title role of Canadian Opera Company's Medea, soprano Sondra Radvanovsky offers the vocal and dramatic goods required by this flawed masterpiece.

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Sondra Radvanovsky (Medea) © Marty Sohl | Met Opera (2022)

Sondra Radvanovsky triumphs in COC's darkly grand Medea

By Gianmarco Segato

Joshua Hopkins (Malatesta), Misha Kiria (Don Pasquale) and Simone Osborne (Norina) © Michael Cooper

Canadian Opera Company’s Don Pasquale gets a one-note Dolce Vita treatment

By Gianmarco Segato, 26 April 2024

Canadian Opera Company's Don Pasquale offers a stylish Italian 1960s Fellini-inspired concept that delivers comedy but omits the pathos.

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Joshua Hopkins (Malatesta), Misha Kiria (Don Pasquale) and Simone Osborne (Norina) © Michael Cooper

COC’s Don Pasquale gets a one-note Dolce Vita treatment

By Gianmarco Segato

Koto Ishihara in UtopiVerse by William Yong © Karolina Kuras

National Ballet of Canada runs the gamut from sci-fi to suspendu in new triple bill

By Gianmarco Segato, 21 March 2024

National Ballet of Canada adds three new works to its repertoire with cutting-edge pieces by William Yong and Emma Portner as well as Serge Lifar's early 20th-century paean to classicism.

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Koto Ishihara in UtopiVerse by William Yong © Karolina Kuras

National Ballet of Canada runs the gamut from sci-fi to suspendu

By Gianmarco Segato

Polina Pasztircsák (Arabella) and Csaba Szegedi (Mandryka) © Attila Nagy | Hungarian State Opera

A sumptuous revival of Arabella at Hungarian State Opera that lands mostly on the side of tradition

By Gianmarco Segato, 10 February 2024

Hungarian State Opera revives their mostly period production of Strauss' Arabella with star turns by sopranos Polina Pasztircsák and Laura Topolánszky.

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Polina Pasztircsák (Arabella) and Csaba Szegedi (Mandryka) © Attila Nagy | Hungarian State Opera

Sumptuous revival of Arabella at Hungarian State Opera

By Gianmarco Segato

Lea Földi, the Girl and Iurii Kekalo, the Mandarin in Marianna Venekei's The Miraculous Mandarin © Valter Berecz

Tradition reconsidered in Bartók Dancetriptych at the Hungarian National Ballet

By Gianmarco Segato, 03 February 2024

Three iconic Bartók dance scores are newly-interpreted at the Hungarian National Ballet.

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Lea Földi, the Girl and Iurii Kekalo, the Mandarin in Marianna Venekei's The Miraculous Mandarin © Valter Berecz

Tradition reconsidered in Bartók Dancetriptych in Budapest

By Gianmarco Segato

The Bartered Bride at Ostrava © Martin Popelář

The forefather of Czech opera: Ostrava’s complete Smetana cycle

By Gianmarco Segato, 25 January 2024

Bedřich Smetana was the fountainhead of the national school of Czech composition – and this year all eight of his operas will be ambitiously presented by the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre.

The Bartered Bride at Ostrava © Martin Popelář

The forefather of Czech opera: Ostrava’s complete Smetana cycle

By Gianmarco Segato

John Powers as Scrooge with the Czech National Ballet School in The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol © Serghei Gherciu

The Nutcracker gets Scrooged at Prague’s National Theatre

By Gianmarco Segato, 30 December 2023

Youri Vámos’s mash up of The Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol makes for a devilishly Victorian take on Tchaikovsky’s holiday classic.

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John Powers as Scrooge with the Czech National Ballet School in The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol © Serghei Gherciu

The Nutcracker gets Scrooged at Prague’s National Theatre

By Gianmarco Segato

Harrison James and Artists of the Ballet in The Nutcracker © Karolina Kuras. Courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada

National Ballet of Canada cracks open its sumptuous Nutcracker in a Fabergé egg once again

By Gianmarco Segato, 12 December 2023

James Kudelka's Czarist vision of The Nutcracker offers Imperial splendour and a conceptual twist at The National Ballet of Canada.

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Harrison James and Artists of the Ballet in The Nutcracker © Karolina Kuras. Courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada

National Ballet of Canada cracks open its sumptuous Nutcracker

By Gianmarco Segato

Maxim Emelyanychev © Jag Gundu

Maxim Emelyanychev takes The Sleeping Beauty back to its Baroque roots

By Gianmarco Segato, 01 December 2023

Young Russian maestro Maxim Emelyanychev makes his Toronto Symphony with a dip into Russian imperial ballet.

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Maxim Emelyanychev © Jag Gundu

Maxim Emelyanychev takes The Sleeping Beauty back to its Baroque roots

By Gianmarco Segato

Artists of National Ballet of Canada in John Cranko's Onegin © Karolina Kuras

Farewells and bold debuts in National Ballet of Canada's Onegin

By Gianmarco Segato, 24 November 2023

National Ballet of Canada's connections to John Cranko's Onegin run deep and this revival featured beloved company farewells and exciting next generation debuts.

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Artists of National Ballet of Canada in John Cranko's Onegin © Karolina Kuras

Farewells and bold debuts in National Ballet of Canada's Onegin

By Gianmarco Segato

Eric Abramovitz © Jaime Hogge

Varying variations: Toronto Symphony Orchestra presents Elgar and Vaughan Williams

By Gianmarco Segato, 14 October 2023

Trevor Wilson conducts Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Copland and Wijeratne in the TSO's tour of a century of tonalism.

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Eric Abramovitz © Jaime Hogge

Varying variations: Elgar and Vaughan Williams in Toronto

By Gianmarco Segato

Zsuzsanna Ádám (Elettra) and ensemble © Attila Nagy | Hungarian State Opera

Hungarian State Opera goes full The Last of Us with new Idomeneo

By Gianmarco Segato, 01 June 2023

Hungarian State Opera presents Idomeneo for the first time in almost 50 years in a musically superb, but controversial pandemic-informed dystopian setting.

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Zsuzsanna Ádám (Elettra) and ensemble © Attila Nagy | Hungarian State Opera

Hungarian State Opera goes full The Last of Us with new Idomeneo

By Gianmarco Segato

Nathalie Forget, Gustavo Gimeno, Marc-André Hamelin and the Toronto Symphony © Allan Cabral

Toronto Symphony burns down the barn with Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie

By Gianmarco Segato, 04 May 2023

Gustavo Gimeno, Marc-André Hamelin and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra raise the roof with Messiaen’s epic – and eclectic – Turangalîla-Symphonie.

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Nathalie Forget, Gustavo Gimeno, Marc-André Hamelin and the Toronto Symphony © Allan Cabral

Toronto Symphony burns down the barn with Messiaen's Turangalîla

By Gianmarco Segato

Jeffrey Beecher © Toronto Symphony

Toronto Symphony Orchestra goes bold with Britten and Mazzoli

By Gianmarco Segato, 02 March 2023

They may have come out for the Mozart, but it is the boldly programmed Britten and Mazzoli that make this midwinter concert stand out.

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Jeffrey Beecher © Toronto Symphony

Toronto Symphony Orchestra goes bold with Britten and Mazzoli

By Gianmarco Segato

Tomáš Netopil © Petra Hajska

Tomáš Netopil: traversing 140 years of Czech music

By Gianmarco Segato, 13 December 2022

Conductor Tomáš Netopil discusses his love of Czech music, and his upcoming program with the Czech Philharmonic in January, featuring an unusual work of Janáček’s and a world premiere from Miloš Orson Štědroň.

Tomáš Netopil © Petra Hajska

Tomáš Netopil: traversing 140 years of Czech music

By Gianmarco Segato

Aleš Briscein (Boris) and Corinne Winters (Kátya) © Marek Olbrzymek

Tatjana Gürbaca’s Geneva staging of Kátya Kabanová travels to Brno’s Janáček Festival

By Gianmarco Segato, 13 November 2022

Director Tatjana Gürbaca and Czech conductor Tomáš Netopil deliver a “Romantic” Kátya Kabanová from the Grand Théâtre de Genève at Brno’s Janáček Festival.

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Aleš Briscein (Boris) and Corinne Winters (Kátya) © Marek Olbrzymek

Tatjana Gürbaca’s Geneva staging of Kátya Kabanová travels to Brno

By Gianmarco Segato

Julius Drake and Nicky Spence © Marek Olbrzymek

A scorching Diary of One Who Disappeared at Janáček Brno Festival

By Gianmarco Segato, 12 November 2022

Tenor Nicky Spence and mezzo Václava Krejčí Housková thrill with a theatrical take on Janáček's The Diary of One Who Disappeared with pianist Julius Drake.

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Julius Drake and Nicky Spence © Marek Olbrzymek

A scorching Diary of One Who Disappeared at Janáček Brno Festival

By Gianmarco Segato

Kátya Kabanová © Zdeněk Sokol

Bieito's parched aesthetic strips the emotion from Kátya Kabanová at Brno's Janáček Festival

By Gianmarco Segato, 09 November 2022

The Spanish director's emotionally-sapped staging for the Prague National Theatre travels to Brno for the Janáček Festival.

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Kátya Kabanová © Zdeněk Sokol

Bieito's parched aesthetic strips the emotion from Kátya Kabanová

By Gianmarco Segato

From the House of the Dead © Marek Olbrzymek

Eternal life for the downtrodden? From the House of the Dead and the Glagolitic Mass in Brno

By Gianmarco Segato, 06 November 2022

Jakub Hrůša leads a musically thrilling but dramatically problematic From the House of the Dead and Glagolitic Mass at the 2022 Janáček Brno International Festival.

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From the House of the Dead © Marek Olbrzymek

Eternal life for the downtrodden? A Janáček double bill in Brno

By Gianmarco Segato