Nouvelles productions en Europe

May is usually a bit low key in terms of new productions. All theaters seem to be busy preparing to unleash their best shows in June to conclude their operatic season on a high note.

However, some highly promising new productions are scheduled to open this month, with  4+"1" among them standing out:

1. Il trionfo del tempo e del disanganno new Calixto Bieito production in Stuttgart should be the director's first encounter with baroque. Calixto-shows are nowadays considered as being extraordinary cultural events.  DVD release is anticipated this time (contrary to the missed opportunity with Parsifal last year), and I predict Marina Prudenskaya will show everyone once again how brilliant she is. 
2. Die Frau ohne Schatten will open in Copenhagen -- the house's artistic director Kasper Holten will direct this show that will be his goodbye to the house that he's given his finest creations: the best Ring we could see so far, amazing Maskerade... Respect! 
3. La Damnation de Faust at the London Coliseum: Terry Gilliam is Monty Python, and anything created by Monty Python is more than worth our attention. Way to go ENO!
4. Idomeneo at the Komische in Berlin will be directed by Benedikt von Peter whose extraordinary Parsifal is still running at Theater Basel: definitely one of your must-see productions this year. 
5. Keith Warner presents his new show in Frankfurt --  Pizzetti's Murder in the Cathedral [Warum englische Fassung?], while Luc Bondy is preparing to show off his look on Rigoletto in Vienna. Peter Konwitschny instead  will shake the ramblas with his new Freischütz (GTL) and hopefully delete from our memory  a  pitiful production of this opera recently presented in Paris (Comique).

Ordered chronologically according to their premiere, a list of new productions to be presented this May in Europe includes:

• Sun 1 at Oper Frankfurt: Murder in the Cathedral [dir- Keith Warner, cnd- Martyn Brabbins, cast: John Tomlinson, Michael McCown...]
• Sun 1 at Theater Achen:  Arabella [dir- Ludger Engels, cnd- Marcus R. Bosch, cast: Irina Popova, Mark Adler, Moritz Gogg...]
• Tue 3 at La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels: Matsukaze (opera by Toshio Hosokawa) [dir- Sasha Waltz, cnd- Pablo Heras-Casado, cast: Barbara Hannigan, Frode Olsen...]
• Wed 4 at Grand Théâtre de Genève: Les Vêpres siciliennes [dir- Christof Loy, cnd- Yves Abel, cast: Malin Byström, Balint Szabo, Tassis Christoyannis...]
• Thu 5 at Opera North in Leeds: From the House of the Dead in Leeds [dir- John Fulljames, cnd- Richard Farnes, cast: Roderick Williams, Robert Hayward...]
• Fri 6 at ENO in London: La Damnation de Faust [dir- Terry Gilliam, cnd- Edward Gardner, cast: Christine Rice, Christopher Purves...]
• Sat 7 at Theater Narodni in Prague: Die Entführung aus dem Serail [dir- Joël Lauwers, cnd- Tomas Netopil, cast: Richard Samek et al]
• Sun 8 at Staatsoper in Hamburg: La Cenerentola [dir- Renaud Doucet, cnd- Andrés Orozco-Estrada, cast: Maxim Mironov, Maité Beaumont, Tigran Martirossian...]
• Tue 10 at Teatro alla Scala in Milan: Turandot [dir- , cnd- Valery Gergiev, cast: Lise Lindstrom, Marco Berti, Ekaterina Scherbachenko...]
• Wed 11 at Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg: Die Entführung aus dem Serail [dir- Waut Koeken, cnd- Rinaldo Alessandrini, cast: Laura Aikin, Szabolcs Brickner, Daniela Fally...]
• Thu 12 at GTL in Barcelona: Der Freischütz [dir- Peter Konwitschny, cnd- Michael Boder, cast: Peter Seiffert Christopher Ventris, Petra-Maria Schnitzer, Albert Dohmen, Matti Salminen...] 
• Fri 13 at FNO in Helsinki:  Il Trittico [dir- Ville Saukkonen + Johanna Freundlich + Katariina Lahti, cnd- Mikko Franck, cast: Anna-Kristiina Kaappola, Zoran Todorovich / Mikhail Agafonov...]
• Fri 13 at DNO in Amsterdam: Der Rosenkavalier [dir- Brigitte Fassbaender, cnd- Sir Simon Rattle, cast: Anne Schwanewilms. Michelle Breedt, Sally Matthews, Kurt Rydl, Ismael Jordi...]
• Sat 14 at Komische Oper in Berlin: Idomeneo [dir- Benedikt v Peter, cnd- Patrick Lange, cast: Brigitte Geller, Rainer Trost, Karolina Gumos...]
• Sun 15 at Deutsche Oper in Berlin: Samson et Dalila at [dir- Patrick Kinmonth, cnd- Alain Altinoglu, cast: Vesselina Kasarova, José Cura, Laurent Naouri, Ante Jerkunica...]
• Sun 15 at DKT in Copenhagen Die Frau ohne Schatten [dir- Kasper Bech Holten, cnd- Michael Schønwandt, cast: Susanne Resmark, Peter Lodahl. Linda Watson, Sylvie Valayre, Sine Bundgaard, Johnny van Hal...]
• Sun 15 in Firenze:  L'Italia del destino (new opera by Luca Mosca) [dir- Davide Livermore, cnd- Marco Angius, cast: Sara Mingardo, Davide Livermore...]
• Sun 15 at Opernhaus in Zurich: Moses und Aron [dir- Achim Freyer, cnd- Christoph von Dohnányi, cast: Peter Weber, Daniel Brenna...]
• Tue 17 at Teatro Verdi in Trieste: The Medium/Gianni Schichi [dir- Giulio Ciabatti, cnd- Matteo Beltrami]
• Thu 19 at ENO in London: A Midsummer Night's Dream [dir- Christopher Alden, cnd- Leo Hussain, cast: Allan Clayton, Willard White, Sarah Tynan...]
• Thu 19 at Opéra Dijon: Dido and Aeneas [dir- Lilo Baur, cnd- Jonathan Cohen]
• Fri 20 at Opéra National de Bordeaux: La belle Hélène [dir- Frédéric Maragnani, cnd- Claude Schnitzler, cast: Maria Riccarda Wesseling, Sébastien Droy...]
• Fri 20 at Teatro la Fenice in Venice: Lucia di Lammermoor [dir- John Doyle, cnd- Antonino Fogliani, cast: Jessica Pratt, Shalva Mukeria, Mirco Palazzi...]
• Sat 21 in Glyndebourne: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg [dir- David McVicar, cnd- Vladimir Jurowski, cast: Gerald Finley, Marco Jentzsch, Topi Lehtipuu, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Anna Gabler...]
• Tue 24 at Opera di Roma: La battaglia di Legnano (rarely staged opera by Verdi) [dir- Gabriele Lavia, cnd- Pinchas Steinberg, cast: Yonghoon Lee et al]
• Thu 26 at Opéra de Rennes: Die Entführung aus dem Serail [dir- Vincent Vittoz, cnd- Stuart Bedford, cast: Mathias Vidal, Susanne Elmark...]
• Sat 28 at Palau de les Arts in Valencia: Tosca [dir- Luis Pasqual, cnd- Zubin Mehta, cast: Oxana Dyka, Marcelo Alvarez, Bryn Terfel...]
• Sat 28 at Staatsoper in Stuttgart: Il trionfo del tempo e del disanganno [dir- Calixto Bieito, cnd- Sébastien Rouland, cast: Marina Prudenskaya, Charles Workman, Judith Gauthier, Ezgi Kutlu]
• Sat 28 at Theater Freiburg: Orphée aux Enfers [dir- Tom Ryser, cnd- Jimmy Chiang, cast: Christian Voigt et al.]
  
• Sun 29 at Theater an der Wien (Festwochen!):  Rigoletto [dir- Luc Bondy, cnd- Omer Meir Wellber, cast: Chen Reiss, George Gagnidze, Francesco Demuro...]
• Tue 31 at Teatr Wielki in Warsaw: Matsukaze [dir- Sacha Waltz, dir- Pablo Heras-Casado]