On April 6, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden hosted the final performance of this season’s premiere of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Un Ballo in Maschera. The production brought together renowned performers, such as Anna Netrebko, Boris Pinkhasovich, and Charles Castronovo.

Born in 1894 in Florence to a family of railworkers devoted to operatic music, Bianca straight from the early childhood showed her gifts for singing and very soon started taking vocal lessons. Her teacher was Ernesta Bruschini, the sister of the Italian soprano Matilde Bruschini and the author of the book "The technique of belcanto". Bianca's progress in singing was obviously rapid, and already in 1917 she made her professional debut at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence in

It is remarkable that one of Italy’s lesser-known opera houses, though bearing the name of the great composer – Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi – presented such a profound production of Il Trovatore. The audience was largely conservative (around 80 percent of the spectators seemed to be of retirement age), and one can hardly imagine that they would welcome an excessively radical directorial concept. Anyway, the production was notable not for extravagant or complicated staging, b

Some tips for young singers from the greatest Wagnerian soprano of the 20th century.