Contents

FRONT OF HOUSE EDITORIAL A real or virtual future?

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LETTERS Your views and suggestions

NEWS & NOTES G&S on tour, new appointment in Madrid

REVIEWS - FESTIVAL REVIEWS USA Cincinatti Opera (34); Glimmerlass Festival (38); Bard Summerscape (40) Wolf Trap (41) UK Opera Holland Park (42); EUROPE Peralada Festival (46) Lerici Music Festival (48) Valle D’Itria (50) Aix-en-Provence Festival (54) Young Artists Review Scottish Opera Rubble (58)

- RECORDINGS New releases on CD & DVD including: Wagner from the Staatskapelle Dresden, Bulgarian Götterdämmerung, Norwegian Opera’s La bohème, La fille du régiment from the Donizetti Festival, Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Operettas by Gustave Kerker, and our Opera Now Choice, Olga Neuwirth’s gender-bending Orlando from Vienna State Opera

- SPOTLIGHT World Wide Opera Guide and answers to this issue’s Quiz (p71)

COVER PHOTO: EDOUARD BRANE

UFANYNKA

BERGER

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STEPHAN

BRANE

EDOUARD

Benjamin Bernheim: ‘Had I really devoted eight years of my life to something which

I now wanted to abandon?’ Or did I just needed a a different

perspective to make it work?’

CONTENTS

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SALLY

Cover feature French tenor Benjamin Bernheim is taking the opera world by storm, bringing new psychological insights to some of opera’s most well-known romantic leads. He talks to Helena Matheopoulos about a stellar career that very nearly didn’t happen... Janáček in Brno Mirka Zemanová presents some of the highlights of this year’s Janáček Festival Brno, with a focus on the composer’s highly distinctive operas and works by his lesser-known contemporaries. Celestial Aida Russian Soprano Elena Stikhina discusses her preparations for her latest Verdi role, which she is currently singing at the Royal Opera House in London

Northern lights Susan Nickalls reports from the inaugural Early Music singing competition at the Aria Borealis Festival in the far north of Norway…

An Eye for Style The award-winning designer takis discusses his unconventional approach to traditional design

My Favourite Things Annelise Miskimmon heads to the Sulking Room with a large vodka and tonic Quiz Test your opera knowledge

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