French tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac joins the all-star line up of Nadine Sierra, Lea Desandre, Erwin Schrott and instrumentalists Alice Saraa Ott, Jérôme Ducros, Gautier Capuçon and Leonidas Kavakos for the biggest French celebration of the year, the Bastille Day Concert, which takes place every year in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The event attended by huge crowds of people, precedes the extraordinary firework display and is broadcast on national radio and TV.
For more information on the programme and the event click here.
Freddie De Tommaso's newly launched album Il Tenore has debuted at No 1 in the Uk Classical Charts, with his interpretation of Puccini's Nessun Dorma attracting more than one million streams this year alone.
The album features a collection of arias and duets from famous operas by Puccini: Tosca, Turandot and Madama Butterfly and Bizet: Carmen. He is joined by fellow Decca artist Lise Davidsen (Tosca) and Natalya Romaniw (Cio-Cio-San) and Aigul Akhmetshina (Carmen).
We are thrilled to share that MWA Artists feature heavily in Summer Festivals both in the UK and Internationally in the 2021/22 season:
BBC PROMS
David Junghoon Kim: First Night of the Proms Verdi Requiem 15thJuly, 20:00 (cond. Sakari Oramo)
Lise Davidsen: Last Night of the Proms with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason 10th September, 19:30 (cond. Dalia Stasevska)
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Erin Morley: Norina in Don Pasquale
Huw Montague Rendall: Malatesta in Don Pasquale, 22nd July – 27th August (cond. Ben Glassberg, dir. Mariame Clément)
David Junghoon Kim: Rodolfo in La bohème, 7 – 14 August (cond. Jordan de Souza (conductor), dir. Floris Visser)
Grange Park Opera
Ruxandra Donose: Laura in La Gioconda, 11th June – 13th July (cond. Stephen Barlow, dir. Stephen Medcalf)
Opera Holland Park
Thomas Atkins: Lensky in Eugene Onegin, 31st May – 25thJune (cond. Lada Valešová, dir. Julia Burbach)
Verbier Festival
Stanislas de Barbeyrac: Mozart Requiem with the Münchener Bach-Chor, 20th July, 19:00
Iulia Maria Dan: Beethoven Symphony No.9 with the Münchener Bach-Chor, 18th July, 19:00 (cond. Gábor Takács-Nagy)
Freddie de Tommaso: Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera 2th July, 19:00 (cond. Gianandrea Noseda)
Bayreuther Festspiele
Lise Davidsen: Sieglinde in Die Walküre 1st – 26th August (cond. Pietari Inkinen, dir. Valentin Schwarz) and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser 8th – 24th August (cond. Axel Kober, dir. Tobias Kratzer)
Iréne Theorin: Brünnhilde in Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung5th – 30th August (cond. Pietari Inkinen, dir. Valentin Schwarz)
Bayerische Staatsoper
Brindley Sherratt: Swallow in Peter Grimes 9th – 12th July (cond. Edward Gardner, dir. Stefan Herheim)
Angela Brower: The Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen 11th – 16thJuly (cond. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, dir. Barrie Kosky)
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence
Jacquelyn Stucker: the title role of L'incoronazione di Poppea 9th – 23rd July (cond. Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, dir. Ted Huffman)
Kissinger Sommer
Lise Davidsen: Strauss Vier letzte Lieder with the Wiener Symphoniker, 9th July, 19:30 (cond. Patrick Hahn)
Turku Music Festival
Lise Davidsen: Recital with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, 15th August, 19:00
Salzburg Festival
David Butt Philip: Boris in Káťa Kabanová 7th – 29th August (cond. Jakub Hrůša, dir. Barrie Kosky)
Festival Internacional de Musica Castell de Peralada.
Anna Pirozzi: Abigaille in Nabucco cond. Nicola Luisotti, 30thJuly, 22:00
Lise Davidsen: Recital with pianist Sophie Reynaud, 4th August, 19:00
Arena di Verona
Freddie De Tommaso: Alfredo in La Traviata cond. Marco Armiliato 20th August & 1st September, 20:45
One of the most celebrated classical artists today, the Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen is set to make a huge splash as the star of the much coveted Last Night of the Proms, the UK’s greatest classical music event. She will perform among others her signature aria: Dich teure Halle from Wagner’s Tannhäuser, the Easter Hymn from Masagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana as well as taking on Lady Macbeth’s entrance scene Vieni t’affretta from Verdi’s Macbeth as a nod the British culture and history. She is joined by star cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and conductor Dalia Stasevska.
Davidsen is currently the Artist in Spotlight at the Barbican, where her next appearance on 30th of May is a gala operatic evening together with none other than Freddie De Tommaso and pianist James Baillieu. For more ticket and more information click here.
Next season, UK audiences can also see Davidsen at the Royal Opera House as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser (29th January –16th February 2023) and her role debut as Elisabetta in Verdi’s Don Carlo (30th June – 15th July 2023). https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2022/prom-72-last-night-of-the-proms-2022/
The Gramophone-award winning partnership of Gerald Finley and Julius Drake will release on 3 June Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin on Hyperion Records.
The duo's previous recordings of Schubert have been praised as faultless (Winterreise) and richly satisfying (Schwanengesang) exalted standard. This third and final release completes their survey of the great Schubert song cycles on the label.
Finley and Drake have won three Solo Vocal Awards in the Gramophone Classical Music Awards – for songs by Schumann, Britten and Barber, all for Hyperion.
Listen and order here
We are thrilled to welcome for exclusive general management the sensational Anna Pirozzi, the leading Italian dramatic soprano today. Shortly after making her debut in 2012 at the Teatro Regio in Turin as Amelia Ballo in Maschera, which prompted Corriere della Sera to write “an extraordinary dramatic coloratura soprano that in time will be able to place herself in the footsteps of Anita Cerquetti, the greatest dramatic soprano of coloratura from 1945 to today", she was invited at the Salzburg Festival to sing Abigaille Nabucco under the musical direction of Riccardo Muti. The rapturous success quickly led to appearances on all the great stages of the world: Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, Teatro Alla Scala di Milano, Opera de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper, Arena di Verona, Teatro Real Madrid, San Francisco Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona and Bayerische Staatsoper Munich. In summer 2021 she celebrated at the Arena di Verona the anniversary of her 100th Abigaile to huge press and public acclaim.
Currently performing her signature role of Lady Macbeth Macbeth at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, her many highlights this season include a double appearance at Royal Opera House Covent Garden as Tosca and Lady Macbeth, a role which she also returns to Wiener Staatsoper with; a concert performance of I due Foscari in Paris; Abigaille at Teatro Real; Tosca at Teatro Massimo di Palermo; Turandot at Bayerische Staatsoper; and Amelia Ballo in Maschera at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Teatro Regio di Parma. She also sings Elvira Ernani at Opera de Las Palmas and appears in concert in Trieste at Teatro Verdi; and in Ankara and Istanbul with gala concerts together with tenor Murat Karahan.
Future seasons see her revisit beloved roles such as Leonora La forza del destino, Amelia Un ballo in maschera and the title role of Norma, as well as role debuts as Minnie La fanciulla del West and the title roles of Adriana Lecouvreur and Madama Butterfly.
We are thrilled to welcome British bass Brindley Sherratt, one of today’s most respected singers to the MWA roster for general management. Noted for his extraordinary vocal and stage presence, his many career highlights include Sarastro Die Zauberflöte at the Vienna State Opera, Dutch National Opera and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Claggart Billy Budd at the Aldeburgh and Glyndebourne Festivals, the BBC Proms, Teatro Real in Madrid, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and in New York at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; Arkel Pelléas et Mélisande in Frankfurt and Zurich Opera; Sparafucile in a new production of Rigoletto at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Rocco Fidelio and Ochs Der Rosenkavalier at the Glyndebourne Festival; Bottom A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Festival d’Aix en Provence; Doctor Wozzeck at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Pogner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Welsh National Opera; Filippo Don Carlo for Opera North; Pimen Boris Godunov at English National Opera and Zurich Opera; and Fiesco Simon Boccanegra at English National Opera.
Highligths of the 2021/22 season include Oliver Mears’ new production of Rigoletto as well as Sarastro Die Zauberflöte , both at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Hunding in Richard Jones’ new production of The Valkyrie for the English National Opera; Swallow in Stefan Herheim’s new production of Peter Grimes at the Bayerische Staatsoper and a return to the Salzburg Festival. Concert appearances include Gremin Eugene Onegin with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Fabio Luisi and his role debut as Gurnemanz in semi-staged performances of Parsifal with the Orchestra of Opera North conducted by Richard Farnes. Future seasons see him return to Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as well as making his company debut with Opera national de Paris.
He works regularly with the leading orchestras and conductors and recent engagements have included the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House with Pappano; the Philharmonia with Sir Andrew Davis; the Hallé Orchestra with Sir Mark Elder; the Mahler Chamber Orchestra with Harding; the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Bicket; the Monteverdi Choir with Gardiner; the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen with Langrée.
Born in Lancashire into a family of strong singers, he initially studied trumpet at the Royal Academy of Music, of which of which he is now a Fellow and Visiting Professor.
Lise Davidsen and Norway's foremost pianist Leif Ove Andsens join forces to capture for Decca Classics the beautifully haunting music of their fellow Norwegian Edvard Grieg. The recording, released on 7 January 2022, is centred around Grieg's Haugtussa and also includes the composer's Five Songs, Op 69, and the Six Songs, Op 48, as well as a well-chosen selection of other songs.
The two musicians can also be heard live this January in four European cities:
8 January in Madrid at the Teatro Real
9 January in Munich at the Bayerische Staatsoper
11 January in Vienna at the Konzerthaus
13 January in London at the Barbican
Freddie De Tommaso took the Covent Garden stage by storm when he jumped in as Cavaradossi in Royal Opera’s production of Tosca on December 8, thus becoming the youngest ever tenor to perform the role on the iconic stage and the first Brit since 1963.
De Tommaso, who was due to perform the role on the 11th, took to the stage after the first interval when the tenor originally scheduled became unwell during the first of the three acts, prompting Neil Fisher to write in his review for The Times: "How did he fare? I’ll let Cavaradossi answer that: “Vittoria!”
The real excitement, however, was for Cavaradossi, Freddie De Tommaso (...) He had upstaged himself already, days earlier, attracting rave headlines by jumping in halfway through for Brian Hymel, taken unwell during the other cast’s opening night. Half Italian but raised in Tunbridge Wells, De Tommaso – remember the name – is hurtling to stardom.
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Having trained at the Royal Academy of Music, first as a baritone, then switching up to tenor, he won the international Plácido Domingo Tenor prize in 2018 and was quickly signed up to Decca. Bright-toned in the Italianate style, but with heft to soar over the orchestra in mid-range, De Tommaso is not shy to show how loudly, how securely, how effortlessly he can sing. That prolonged, dazzling high A sharp on “Vittoria!” was, to tell it straight, milked. Why not… it was a rare thrill to hear a tenor voice of this ease and brilliance. The new Pavarotti? We’ve heard that before. This time it might just be true (The Guardian)
" A star is born as Freddie De Tommaso set the house alight" : Freddie De Tommaso is the real deal, a glorious Italianate throb animating a voice whose fate-sealing, defiant cries of “Vittoria!” in Act II set the house trembling.
Baritonal warmth at the lower end of the voice only adds to the sunburst-reveal of the top, and he’s just getting started (The Independent)
The superb Erin Morley took on the title role of Eurydice for its Metropolitan Opera premiere. Staged by Mary Zimmerman and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Matthew Aucoin's new opera tells the story the Greek myth of Orpheus from his wife's, Eurydice, perspective and her descent into the underworld. The librettist Sarah Ruhl adapted it from her own 2003 play.
A recipient of the Beverly Sills Award and a graduate of Lindemann Young Program, Morley has now sung more than 100 performances at the Met and has been featured in five “Live in HD” broadcasts, but this was her first star-vehicle production for the company: “She’s singing ‘what it means to love an artist.’ But we are learning what it means to love her, the incomparable Erin Morley.” Peter Gelb was quoted as saying by the NY Times , whilst the Washington Post published: Soprano Erin Morley was superb, masterfully handling some of Aucoin’s more gravity-defying requests, which here and there flutter and flip like a sheet of paper in the air. A stunning centerpiece aria (“This is what it is to love an artist”) brought her powers into focus — her voice is lithe, lean and luminous, and her tone stayed consistent and strong throughout the opera’s three acts.
With her crystalline voice and multi-faceted characterization, Erin Morley was a captivating Eurydice. Her final aria, in which she writes to Orpheus and prepares to dip herself in the river of forgetfulness, was exquisitely sung and extremely moving. (Seen and Heard)
MWA Management is proud to announce that Grammy Award-winning Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley, one of the most influential artists of our time, is joining the company for general management.
Celebrated for his performances and artistry worldwide, Finley’s long and distinguished career encompasses the complete spectrum of vocal art, ranging from Mozart to Verdi and Wagner, to Adams and Turnage. Revered by audiences and his peers alike, Finley has been constantly expanding his repertoire with new roles and collaborations with the greatest opera companies, orchestras and conductors.
This month Finley joins forces with The Theatre of Sound in an innovative production of Bartok’s monumental work Bluebeard’s Castle in a new chamber version at Stone Nest, London, to raise awareness about dementia. Usually presented as a Gothic horror story centred around an abusive relationship, this new, fully staged presentation reimagines the piece as a love story between a long-married couple coming to terms with living with the illness. Click here for more information: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/theatreofsound/545916#.
Bluebeard is a role that features heavily in Finley’s diary this season, as he also performs it with l’Orchestre de Paris and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and with the Vienna Symphony and Marin Alsop. Other engagements include the title role in Le nozze di Figaroat the Berlin State Opera with Daniel Barenboim and the Count at Bayerische Staatsoper and the Metropolitan Opera; the opening gala concert at the Paris Opera with Gustavo Dudamel; the title role in Falstaff at the Vienna State Opera; the world premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s song cycle Without Ceremony at Vienna’s Konzerthaus, followed by performances across Europe, Canada and the US.
Gerald Finley: “I am thrilled to be joining Maria Mot and the dynamic team at MWA Management, following the retirement of my previous manager Stefania Almansi, and am looking forward immensely to the future of projects and collaboration with them. I want to thank IMG for all their support throughout the years and very much look forward to this new chapter in my professional life.”
Maria Mot, founder of MWA Management: “I am absolutely thrilled to welcome one of my favourite artists to the MWA family. I have always been a huge fan of Gerald Finley’s astonishing artistry and commitment to the art form. It is hard to imagine a more complete artist today and it is a true honour to work with him and to continue to support his extraordinary legacy”.
We are thrilled to announced the signing of 25-year-old baritone Blake Denson, winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2020 and one of the most exciting vocal talents to have emerged in recent seasons. Currently on his second and final year at the prestigious Houston Grand Opera Studio, Denson is already booked for debuts with Bayerische Staatsoper, English National Opera and Santa Fe Opera next season.
Originally from Paducah, Kentucky he obtained his Bachelor of Music in voice degree from the University of Kentucky School of Music and completed his Master of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Denson was also a studio artist at Wolf Trap Opera in 2018 and before joining the Houston Grand Opera Studio, he was offered a place on every major young artist programme in the US.
The National Norwegian Television, NRK, are airing on 21 September a documentary about Lise Davidsen, filmed over the course of 18 months. The documentary which is an intimate portrayal from her childhood until now, had the camera crew follow her during her debuts in Bayreuth and Metropolitan as well as the Covid pandemic. Davidsen made history in May 2021 when she reopened Teatro Alla Scala in Milan with a solo concert with Riccardo Chailly on the same night she was named "Female Singer of the Year" by the Opera Awards. Two days later she inaugurated the reopening of Bayerische Staatsoper. Earlier this month, she received the Anders Jahre Culture Prize and has been nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize. The documentary will be available in Norway only.
Komische Oper Berlin inaugurated their new season with the premiere of George Enescu's Oedipe starring Leigh Melrose in the title role. A real "tour de force" musically and dramatically which garnered him huge public and critical acclaim:
" The outstanding Leigh Melrose carries the evening with a singing that is close to speaking - and in fact Enescu has repeatedly noted transitions into the spoken song. At the same time, Melrose still has reserves for magically soft tones until the conciliatory final vocal" (Berliner Zeitung)
"Leigh Melrose, in the fraught title role, gives a remarkable performance, gripping and powerful, consummately emotional yet always in control." (Financial Times)
"Leigh Melrose’s mesmerising performance in the title role. One felt, rather than merely observed, every twist and turn of the fatal screw, words, music, and gesture conceived and delivered in post-Wagnerian whole." (Seen and Heard International)
We are delighted to welcome Hungarian/Romanian bass Alexander Köpeczi for worldwide management. Winner of the best performance of a Verdi aria and Internationale OpernWerkstatt prizes at the 2020 Francisco Viñas Singing Competition in Barcelona, Köpeczi will join the hugely prestigious Salzburg Festival Young Artist Project this summer. He will also make his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut next season as Sacristano Tosca in a cast which includes fellow Romanian superstar soprano Angela Gheorghiu and Stefan Pop in December 2021 and as Lodovico in Otello in July 2022.
An ensemble member of the Hungarian State Opera in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and a frequent collaborator of the Hungarian National Opera in Budapest his roles include: Sparafucile Rigoletto, Old Hebrew Samson et Dalila, Fafner Das Rheingold, Commendatore Don Giovanni; Ferrando Il Trovatore; Brander La damnation de Faust; Zuniga Carmen; Il Re Aida; Sarastro The Magic Flute; Jose Castro La fanciulla del West and Colline La Boheme.
Köpeczi can be heard as Jose Castro and Billy Jackrabbit on the PENTATONE recording of La fanciulla del West. Following this performance he was immediately invited to sing Doctor Grenville in a recording of La Traviata for the same label, which stars Lisette Oropesa and is due for release later this year.
We are thrilled to announce the signing of hugely exciting Tongan-New Zealander tenor Filipe Manu, who joins shortly before graduating from the prestigious Jette Parker Young Artist Programme. Upon his graduation, Manu will make his debut with the Edinburgh International Festival in their production of Ariadne auf Naxos conducted by Sir Andrew Davis and will be joining the ensemble of Stadttheater Bern, where his roles will include Tamino Die Zauberflöte, Arbace Idomeneo and Tebaldo I Capuleti ed i Montecchi, and in 2022 he will return to Covent Garden in a leading Mozart role.
An alumnus of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and of University of Waikato, Manu made his Royal Opera debut in the 2018/19 Season as Hippolyt Phaedra in the Linbury Theatre he joined the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme a season later. During his time in the programme he sang Gastone de Letorières La traviata and First Prisoner Fidelio for The Royal Opera and has appeared extensively in concert and recital with the company, including: the Royal Opera House Stars Gala with Lisette Oropesa and Gerald Finely conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano; Christmas Gala Concert conducted by Mark Wigglesworth; and an intimate recital of song and aria’s with Sir Antonio Pappano.
His next appearance is on the stage of the Royal Opera House as Genaro Lucrezia Borgia and Fenton Falstaff on 17 July .
Lise Davidsen will make her Teatro alla Scala debut on 10 May, in the reopening concert of the opera house, marking 75 years since La Scala was rebuilt. She will perform a solo concert conducted by Maestro Riccardo Chailly, with a programme featuring works by Verdi, Wagner, Purcell, Tchaikovsky and Richard Strauss.
On 16 April Decca Classics release Freddie De Tommaso's debut album Passione , recorded in London with the Philharmonic Orchestra and Renato Balsadonna. The album explores De Tommaso's Italian heritage and pays tribute to his two heroes: tenor Franco Corelli, whose centenary we celebrate this year, and to his late father, Franco De Tommaso.
On 26 March Decca Classics will release Lise Davidsen's much anticipated second solo album, which features music by Beethoven, Wagner and Verdi, including some arias from operas Davidsen has performed on stage in recent years, including Fidelio (Leonore’s aria ‘Abscheulicher!’), Cherubini’s Medea and Santuzza' in Cavalleria rusticana. Other operatic heroines explored include Verdi’s Leonora from La forza del destino and Desdemona from Otello plus the first of Wagner’s five Wesendonck Lieder. To honour the launch, Lise will make several TV and Radio appearances as well as gracing the cover of Gramophone Magazine. To keep up to date with her latest appearances and interviews follow us on social media.