Unsung Opera on the Horizon

[edurban]

It should be a lively spring, summer and beyond, if you're close to these performances:

Opera Orchestra of New York has not officially announced its season for this year, but the Carnegie Hall calendar shows a performance of Leoncavallo's I Medici scheduled for April 8, 2014 @ 8pm.  No hints on the cast, although the conductor will be Alberto Veronesi, who led the fairly recent DG recording.  The opera is a hot-blooded 4 act historical melodrama with surprising Wagnerian moments.  Great fun, as is the recording which featured Domingo.  OONY's 2nd performance would seem to be Donizetti's Roberto Devereux (June 5 @ 7:30), which can hardly be considered unsung anymore.

The Caramoor Festival will present Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, more often heard of than heard, on July 12 and 18, 2014.  The marvelous Angela Meade will sing Lucrezia for the first time.

I think I've already mentioned somewhere that in August this year's Bard Festival will focus on Schubert and his World .  I haven't seen any programs announced, but there is always some attention paid to lesser known composers, so perhaps fellows like Franz Lachner will get an outing.  There will be chamber, vocal and orchestral works, as well as staged performances of Weber's Euryanthe...a rare occurrence to be sure.

Across the pond, the invaluable team at Opera Rara will present a concert performance of Donizetti's Les Martyrs on Nov.4, 2014 at the Royal Festival Hall.  Les Martyrs is a fascinating reworking of Poliuto as a French Grand Opera.  A recording will follow...

Best, David