Table Of Contents: May 2013

KING OF THE ROAD: FERRUCCIO FURLANETTO RETURNS TO COVENT GARDEN FILIPPO IN DON CARLO

Vol. 77, No. 11

• House Building: The Mariinsky's New Theater
• World Premiere of The Merchant of Venice at Bregenz
• Success Story: Frankfurt Opera's Magic Touch
• Cutting Edge: Visiting the Ruhrtriennale
• Sound Bites: Claudia Boyle
• European Festivals Preview
• The Solti Legacy

Features

Industrial Design

In an age when so many arts festivals have interchangeable programming, the Ruhrtriennale remains devoted to works that can't be experienced anywhere else. A. J. GOLDMANN talks with composer Heiner Goebbels, the intendant of Germany's most unconventional arts festival.

Tragic Dimension

This summer, the Bregenz Festival will offer the world premiere of André Tchaikowsky's Merchant of Venice, more than twenty-five years after the composer's death. A. J. GOLDMANN reports.

The Lion Speaks

For decades, Ferruccio Furlanetto has exemplified the highest performing standard in opera. As he prepares to sing Filippo in Covent Garden's Don Carlo, the Italian bass speaks to BARRY SINGER about maintaining that standard — and where he fears the opera world is heading.

Capital Gains

As other international theaters lose their luster in the ongoing financial crisis, the unveiling of the Mariinsky II is a bold step for Russian culture. JENNIFER MELICK charts the rise of the new theater, which opens this month with a three-day program of festival activities.

Risk and Return

PHILIP KENNICOTT examines the controversy behind the opening of the Mariinsky's new theater, which marks a significant alliance between Russia's cultural and political powers.

The Main Event

REBECCA SCHMID raises the curtain on Frankfurt Opera, which has become one of Europe's most exciting theaters — thanks to the savvy of intendant Bernd Loebe.

Departments

Recordings

RECORDING CRITIC'S CHOICE: Nelsons paces Opolais as Suor Angelica. A new recording of Mayr's Gioas; a gutsy 1959 performance of Lo Schiavo; recitals from Cencic, Racette and von Otter; Purves sings Handel. VIDEO CRITIC'S CHOICE: Phelan stages a highly musical Jenůfa at Malmö. Warlikowski directs Cherubini's Médée for La Monnaie; Rihm's Oedipus in Berlin; Sofia Opera's Attila; I Masnadieri in Naples; Jaroussky issues an impressive video anthology.

In Review

Books

Reflections on the meaning of opera; the world of Camille Saint-Saëns.

Voices of Summer

The best of the European Festivals

The Eighth Annual OPERA NEWS Awards
David Daniels and Scott Walters arrive at the Plaza via a Maserati GranTurismo Range provided by Maserati of Manhattan.

April 21, 2013 | The Plaza, NYC

Undiscovered Country

Online Exclusive

BRIAN KELLOW interviews conductor, intellectual and administrator Leon Botstein, who next month leads the American Symphony Orchestra in a concert highlighting the music of forgotten interwar Hungarian composers.