Opera Now

Opera Now captures the drama, colour and vitality of one of the most powerful of all the performing arts, showcasing the creative spirit of opera both on stage and behind the scenes. In addition, our 32-year magazine archive is now available to subscribers to our ‘digital’ and ‘print & digital’ packages, allowing you to explore more than 270 issues of opera history.

Opening doors

Fabio Rickenmann • Casting Associate and Dramaturg

Mid Wales Opera • Mid Wales Opera was founded in 1988 to bring opera to the heart of Wales. We meet Artistic Director Richard Studer to learn about the company’s work

WHAT'S HAPPENING AND COMING UP IN THE OPERA WORLD

Studio magic • Since opening the purpose-built Garsington Studios in 2024, how has the company used the resource to the local community’s advantage?

Prompter • Should an opera director have to explain their vision?

Letter from Bergen • Between the sea and mountains, early summer welcomes an array of operatic delights to the Bergen International Festival in Norway,

Flying free • As she prepares to debut two Strauss roles this season, Scottish mezzo Karen Cargill speaks about her career, its adversities and what she wants to pass on to the next generation

Creative force

Burning bright • Opera’s relationship with fire goes back centuries, from Wagner’s flaming Ring cycle to the darker side of opera’s history, when flames caused destruction beyond the onstage spectacle

From every perspective

Life at full volume • Elena Langer discusses the power of comedy, the freedom of writing for the stage and the life-changing urgency behind her new opera, To Die For

National Youth Opera Academy • A new Santa Fe residency gives young artists the chance to experience every part of opera-making by creating a production from the ground up

La bohème Zeffirelli vs Herheim • Is opera best served by period opulence or radical reinterpretation? In the first of a new series, we put hyperrealistic classics side-by-side with modern Regietheater to uncover what makes a staging truly work

Lessons in survival • Marking 50 years since his death in December 1976, we explore the extraordinary impact Benjamin Britten had on the world of opera

LIVE REVIEWS

New releases

Soutra Gilmour • In a series highlighting the work of opera designers and makers,

The Opera Now Quiz • Do you know your Verdi from your Wagner? Test your wits in this month’s set of fiendish questions for the dedicated opera buff (with a clue or two in the pictures)

Recomposing Gluck • As English Touring Opera brings Gluck’s Orpheus to life in a new production, composer Leo Grant explores the process of adding re-arrangements and re-compositions of Gluck’s original material