NEWS: Glyndebourne and the Guardian team up for 2013 opera season. Three operas will be broadcast live this summer (dates to be announced) including the 2011 production of Donizetti's DON PASQUALE and new productions of R. Strauss' ARIADNE AUF NAXOS and Rameau's HIPPOLYTE ET ARICIE. They will also rebroadcast past performances of Britten's BILLY BUDD, Mozart's NOZZE DI FIGARO and Verdi's FALSTAFF.
* UPCOMING
Through January 6, 2013: WAGNER's TRISTAN UND ISOLDE from Glyndebourne: through Jan 6, 2013
January 5, 2013: VERDI's LA TRAVIATA from Brussels: available for three weeks
January 1, 2013: Haydn called Swedish composer JOSEPH MARTIN KRAUS (1756-1792) "one of the greatest geniuses that I have ever known". Kraus was Kapellmeister to the King of Sweden, Gustave III and attended the masked ball where Gustav III was assassinated (an event that served as the basis for operas by Auber and Verdi). Kraus' operatic retelling of tragic tale of Dido and Aeneas, AENEAS IN KARTHAGO, in prologue and 5 acts, is on as epic a scale as Berlioz' LES TROYENS (the January 5 MET HD broadcast). The work was never performed during Kraus' lifetime despite several attempts. Tenor Uno Stjernqvist sings the aria "O Gudar! Styrken mig" - Aeneas' farewell to Dido as he hastily leaves; the equivalent to Berlioz' aria "Inutiles regrets", once fabulously sung by George Thill (1897 - 1984).
