This concert season at the Mascarade Opera Foundation is full of wonderful surprises for both opera and chamber music lovers.
Lined up for you we have two theatrical productions, both accompanied by piano and directed by internationally renowned directors: Marie Lambert-Le Bihan and Noa Naamat, who will direct performances on October 27 and November 17 respectively.
Find out more about the Concert Season at Mascarade.
French director Marie Lambert-Le Bihan staged The Bear: An extravaganza in one act with the artists of the Mascarade Opera Studio last season and enjoyed resounding success. This year, she is working with the artists enrolled on our new Mascarade Emerging Artists programme on some of the most beautiful arias by Rossini, Verdi and Strauss for the concert on October 27. I’m confident that this concert will be as incredible as the last. Marie has the extraordinary ability to leave an audience speechless and repeatedly succeeds in paying homage to each theatrical work by creating an atmosphere that bursts with emotion.
Donizetti, Puccini and Massenet are the subjects of Israeli director Noa Naamat’s production on November 17. We are particularly proud of this collaboration and are looking forward to seeing opera, in the true sense of the word, come to life with our artists. We are incredibly glad that the directors of both productions are women; at this point in time, especially with all that is happening in Iran and the consequences of those events, the need to make women’s voices heard and their visions powerful is greater than ever.
The two chamber concerts that we are offering this season feature performances from pianist Giuseppe Guarrera on November 10 and the Balanas sisters on December 1 in a concert for violin and cello.
I am thrilled to invite Giuseppe Guarrera to play in the foundation’s concert fall. Giuseppe is not only an artist that I admire profoundly but also a great friend. The memory of the 2019 edition of our New Generation Festival, in which I conducted the orchestra while he performed Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto, lives with me to this day and I’m certain that it will continue to do so for a long time.
Welcoming the Balanas sisters to perform is undoubtedly another great source of pride for us. Kristīne and Margarita are both extremely promising musicians on the international scene, as well as being recipients of the highly coveted Bicentenary Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, a prestigious partner of ours.
To close the season, the Foundation will open its doors on December 8 for a grand Christmas concert. Our Mascarade Emerging Artists will perform with a warm Yuletide spirit under the direction of Julia Lynch, the programme’s head of music, who is the artistic mind behind every Mascarade concert.
