2008-2009 season schedules

This post will remain available via the left column of this blog and is updated regularly.

Europe

Italy
• Pesaro (summer 2008) - Rossini Festival
  Highlights: Juan Diego Flórez, pagine da La donna del lago e Guillaume Tell (Aug.9); Patrizia Ciofi, concerto di belcanto (Aug.22); Joyce DiDonato, Malibran recital (Aug.19); Maometto II with Daniella Barcellona; Stabat Mater with Daniella Barcellona (Aug.20)
• Teatro del Maggio Fiorentino, Firenze
  Highlight: Lucia di Lammermoor, revival of Graham Vick's production from 1998, Elena Mosuc as Lucia, Stefano Secco as Edgardo
  
• Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova
  Highlight: Rigoletto with Leo Nucci & Annick Massis, prod. Festival Verdi di Parma, May-June 2009
  
• Teatro alla Scala, Milano: introduction, schedule
• Teatro Regio, Torino
  Highlights: Anna Caterina Antonacci as Medea (Cherubini), Stefano Secco in cast B as Giasone, Evelino Pido cond., October 2008; Nicolas Joël new production of Les Contes d'Hoffmann (coprod. Torino, Toulouse, Teatro Real, Madrid & Tel-Aviv) with Désirée Rancatore as Olympia, Jan.-Feb. 2009
• Teatro La Fenice, Venezia
  Highlights: to open the season on Jan.23, 2009, Fenice premiere of Korngold's Die tote Stadt ; Gounod's Roméo et Juliette with Jonas Kaufman & Nino Machaidze, coprod. with Arena di Verona & Trieste, Feb.2009 ; to end the season, a strange combination of Janáček's Šárka & Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Dec.2009 ; introduction of the season here
France
• Paris Opera, my comments there
• Salle Pleyel, Paris
• Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, my comments there
• Théâtre du Chatelet, Paris
  
• Opéra Comique, Paris (a season that consists of revivals from Paris or Lyon basically)
• Théâtre de l'Athénée - Louis Jouvet, my comments there
  
• Lyon, my comments there
• Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, my comments there
  
• Opéra de Monte Carlo
  Highlight: a new production of Norma directed by JC Maillot (costume design: Karl Lagerfeld, set design: Rolf Sachs) with Hasmik Papian (Norma), Beatrice Uria Monzon (Aldagisa) and Nicola Rossi Giordano (Pollione) in March 2009
• Opéra du Rhin, Strasbourg
  Highlight: Ludovic Tézier and Sophie Karthäuser in Le Nozze di Figaro (Dec 08, Jan 09)
• Opéra de Marseille
  
• Opéra National de Bordeaux
• Opéra National de Lorraine (Nancy), my comments there
  
• Opéra de Toulon, season online in the beginning of June
  
  Spain
  
  
• Liceu, Barcelona
  
• Teatro Real, Madrid
  Highlights:
  
  • Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Sept.Oct. 2008 (Marcelo Alvarez, Violeta Urmana, Carlos Alvarez, Jesus Lopez Cobos cond.)
  • Janacek's Katia Kobanova, Dec.2008 (Karita Mattila, director Robert Carsen)
  • Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust (concert version), May 2009
  • Rigoletto, June 2009 (Francesco Meli, Roberto Frontoli/Leo Nucci, Patrizia Ciofi/Inva Mula, Roberto Abbado conducting)
  • Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, July 2009 (Ludovic Tézier/Mariusz Kwiecien, Barbara Frittoli/Annick Massis), another impressive casting there
  To avoid : Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress in the production seen in Lyon last year (my review in French here), Jan. 2009
  
• Teatro Pérez Galdós, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  
UK
• Covent Garden, London (Royal Opera House)
  Highlights:
  
• Mozart's Don Giovanni, Sept.2008, Mariusz Kwiecien/Simon Keenlyside (Don Giovanni), Patrizia Ciofi (Donna Anna), Ramon Vargas (Don Ottavio), Joyce DiDonato (Donna Elvira), Antonio Pappano conducting. Can't have a more brilliant cast, can you?
• Juan Diego Flórez in Rossini's Matilde di Shabran, Oct/Nov.2008
  
• Rolando Villazón in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Nov/Dec.2008 (returning for a recital conducted by Pappano on June 24)
  
• Hänsel und Gretel, Dec.2008, Diana Damrau (Gretel) and Angela Krichschlager (Hänsel) conducted by Colin Davis in a new production by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser
• Rigoletto, Feb.2009, revival of David McVicar 2001 production, Leo Nucci (Rigoletto), Francesco Meli (Duca di Mantova), Ekaterina Siurina (Gilda), Daniel Oren cond. (not that memorable a cast, especially since Leo Nucci's singing has clearly deteriorated in the past fex years, but what a difference with the cast scheduled in Paris!)
• Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, March/April 2009, revival of a production from 1984 (really?), Anna Netrebko (watch out for the inevitable last minute cancellation here), Elina Garanca (Romeo), Dario Schmunck (Tebaldo)
• Verdi's Messa di Requiem, March 13 & 20, Antonio Pappano cond., Barbara Frittoli, Olga Borodina
• Il Trovatore, Apr/May 2009, Roberto Alagna (Manrico), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Count di Luna), Carlo Rizzi conducting the revival of the great 2002 production by Elijah Moshinsky
• Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, May 2009, revival of the 2006 production of Laurent Pelly, Diana Damrau (Adina), Giuseppe Filianoti (Nemorino), Simone Alaimo (Dulcamara), Richard Hicknox conducting (music director of the Opera Australia)
• La Traviata, Renée Fleming (Violetta), Joseph Calleja (Alfredo), Thomas Hampson (Giorgio Germont), Antonio Pappano cond.
• Il Barbiere di Siviglia, July 2009, Juan Diego Flórez (Almaviva), Simon Keenlyside (Figaro), Joyce DiDonato (Rosina), Alessandro Corbelli (Doctor Bartolo), Antonio Pappano cond. (another fantastic cast for this revival of the 2005 production of Caurier & Leiser)
• Tosca, July 2009, Deborah Voigt, Marcello Giordani, Bryn Terfel (if not dead by then), Daniel Oren conducting
  
This is only a personal selection of the great season to come in London. No doubt the Royal Opera House is one of best opera houses in the world, as far as their schedule is concerned. If you can afford the high prize tickets that will become even more expensive next season (£190 to £165 for the best seats), London will be a great place to hear some fantastic casts.
• English National Opera
  Cav/pag, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Haendel's Partenope, Aïda, Boris Godunov, Vaughan Wiliams' Riders to the Sea
  
• Welsh National Opera (official website)
• Scottish National Opera
  
Germany
• Deutsche Oper, Berlin
• Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin (also there)
  
• Dresden Semperoper, Germany
• Bayerische Staatsoper (new productions, repertoire)
  
Austria
• Wiener Staatsoper
  
Switzerland
• Grand Théâtre de Genève
• Opéra de Lausanne
• Zurich Opernhaus (pdf link)
Benelux
• Théâtre de la Monnaie, Bruxelles
  Highlights: Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande with Stéphane Degout, Sandrine Piau and Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Pierre Audi directing (they somehow forgot to put the dates on the website) ; Marc Minkowski conducting Rossini's La Cenerentola with Jennifer Larmore (Oct.08)
• Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Liège, Belgium
  Highlights: Juan Diego Florez in concert (Dec.5); Auber's Fra Diavolo, hardly ever played anywhere (April 2009); Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia with June Anderson (June 2009)
• De Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam
  
Northern Europe
• Den Norske Opera, Oslo, Norway
  Highlights: Verdi's Don Carlo (in Italian) with René Pape (Sept.-Oct. 2008)
• Det Kongelige Teater, Copenhagen, Denmark
  

United States

• Atlanta
  Highlights: Rossini's La Cenerentola with Jennifer Larmore (Nov.08), Verdi's Il Trovatore with Ewa Podles as Azuncena (March 09)
  
• Arizona Opera
• Baltimore
  Highlight: Bellini's Norma with Ruth Ann Swenson and Hasmik Papian (Nov.2008), via Operatically Inclined
• Boston
  
• Chicago
  (audio preview here, complete review here) highlights include Massenet's Manon (to open the season in September) cond. by Emmanuel Villaume with Natalie Dessay and Jonas Kaufman in a David McVicar's production & Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles in October (John Mauceri cond, Nicole Cabell as Leïla, Nathan Gunn as Zurga and Eric Cutler as Nadir)
  
• Cincinnati 2009 Summer Festival
  
• Colorado
• Dallas
• Houston
  Highlights: Berlioz's Beatrice and Benedict Oct.30 to Nov.14, with Joyce DiDonato, André Previn's Brief Encounter, libretto by John Caird, world premiere (commissionned by HGO), directed by John Caird, with Elizabeth Futral and Nathan Gunn
• Los Angeles
  Highlights: Madama Butterfly in October with Liping Zhang & Franco Farina (James Conlon cond., Robert Wilson directing), La Traviata with Elizabeth Futral, Massimo Giordano and Andrzej Dobber (May-June, performed in the same production in Washington in September); Puccini's Il Trittico will also be performed in October.
• Minnesota Opera
• New York, Metropolitan Opera
  My complete review here.
• Philadelphia
  Highlights: Puccini's Turandot with Francesca Patané and Ermonela Jaho (Feb/March 09); Britten's The Rape of Lucretia with Nathan Gunn and William Burden (June 09).
  

• Pittsburgh
  Highlight: St Saëns' Samson et Dalila with Stephanie Blythe singing Dalila (Oct.08)
  
• Portland
  
• San Francisco
  Highlights: Verdi's Simon Boccanegra with Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Barbara Frittoli in September & Donizetti's L'elisir d'Amore with Ramon Vargas and Inva Mula in November.
• San Diego (press release)
  
• Santa Fe
  
• Seattle
• Washington
  Highlights: Puccini's Turandot with Maria Guleghina/Sylvie Valayre as Turandot and Franco Farina. The Andrei Serban's production comes right from Covent Garden.
  

Canada

• Canadian Opera Company, Toronto

South America

• Teatro Argentino, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Theatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil