New seasons are being announced every week now and Bachtrack is busy inputting an many as possible. Recent highlights from the opera houses include the Royal Opera, Oper Leipzig, Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Washington National Opera. Orchestral seasons announced recently include the Royal Concertgebouw, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Czech Philharmonic.
Oliver Mears had taken over the reins as Director of Opera at Covent Garden, but the 2017-18 season is doubtless the work of previous incumbent Kasper Holten. Among the new productions, the one which will come under the most scrutiny will be Richard Jones’ La bohème, which replaces John Copley’s venerable production which the company has employed since 1974. Bohème is one of those operas that a company needs to wheel out at least every other season, so the Royal Opera will be crossing its fingers that Jones comes up with a bums-on-seats banker. The same will be true of The Royal Ballet, which in May 2018 unveils Liam Scarlett’s new production of Swan Lake, also replaces a reliable staging which was looking a bit tired by the end.
David Alden’s production of Rossini’s Semiramide has already been seen in Munich, where it got a mixed reception. Many of the fine cast transfer to London next season. Another new production already unveiled elsewhere in Europe is Barrie Kosky’s staging of Carmen. The habanera is sung in a gorilla suit, so not exactly a traditional but one that was well received in Frankfurt. From the House of the Dead gets it Royal Opera première, heralding the start of a new Janáček series over the coming seasons. Kristine Opolais makes her Wagnerian debut in David Alden’s new production of Lohengrin.
The next instalment of Deutsche Oper Berlin’s Meyerbeer cycle is Le Prophète, to be directed by Olivier Py. Other highlights can be found in our preview. Oper Leipzig’s 2017-18 season includes some tempting new productions, including Verdi’s Don Carlo, Rusalka, and a Katharina Wagner-directed Tannhäuser. New productions at Berlin’s Komische Oper include Barrie Kosky’s take on The Nose (already seen in London), Pelléas et Mélisande (also Kosky), Philip Glass’ mystical Satyagraha, Calixto Bieito tackles Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten, and – continuing the company’s proud record of operetta stagings – there's a new production of Offenbach’s Bluebeard.
Bayerische Staatsoper has a terrific line-up of new productions for its coming season: Lotte de Beer directs Puccini’s Il trittico, with Ermonela Jaho singing Suor Angelica and Ambrogio Maestri as Gianni Schicchi; Christof Loy directs The Marriage of Figaro; Antú Romero Nunes tackles Les Vêpres siciliennes, with a starry cast led by Carmen Giannattasio and Erwin Schrott; and Frank Castorf offers From the House of the Dead – it’s a good season for Janáček’s opera. Kirill Petrenko conducts Pierre Audi’s production of Parsifal, which premiered at Dutch National Opera last December.
Orchestral seasons recently added to our listings database include the Czech Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. (Click their names to view the listings.)
Closer in the future – but only just announced – the BBC Proms offers a feast of classical music for the summer months. Highlights include international orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Filarmonica della Scala, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Vienna Philharmonic. Sakari Oramo takes charge of the Last Night, where soloists include Nina Stemme.
