Published on 16/07/2026 – 6:30 GMT+2 Simonetta Vespucci, the face of the Italian Renaissance as Sandro Botticelli’s muse, may actually have died at just 23 from complications of a tumour rather than tuberculosis. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT This is the conclusion of a recent study (source in Italian), which challenges the widespread view that the young woman,…
Trying to unlock the secrets of Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande, based on Maeterlinck’s symbolist play, is a slippery task at the best of times. Doing so in a barely there staging, with the orchestra on the platform with the singers, is even trickier. For the opening performance of this summer’s Aldeburgh festival, that was…
Speight Jenkins, an opera journalist, critic and commentator who had never produced a performance of any kind when, in 1983, he was hired as the general director of Seattle Opera, which he turned into one of the most adventurous and respected companies in the United States during a 31-year tenure, died on May 30 in…
Published on 30/05/2026 – 12:15 GMT+2 Held at the Grand Academic Hall of the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, the concert featured works by Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini alongside compositions by Akhmet Zhubanov and Latif Khamidi. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The evening also marked the 120th anniversary of Akhmet Zhubanov’s birth – Kazakhstan’s first professional conductor, widely regarded…
The Metropolitan Opera may have its financial woes, but it’s far from alone: Many American opera companies have trimmed back the number of titles they produce or the number of performances each season. Singers are left with diminishing opportunities in an already overcrowded profession. Symphony orchestras are offsetting that decline, at least partially, by presenting…
After 14 years playing viola in the Berlin Philharmonic, Brett Dean craved uncertainty. He had been creating his own music since shortly after he joined the orchestra in 1985, first improvising in underground Berlin clubs, then writing for classical ensembles. By 1999, he was itching to compose full time. But his wife, the painter Heather…
Browser maker Opera launched its AI-centric browser Neon Tuesday, with the ability to create apps through AI prompts and create repeatable prompts through a feature it calls cards. With this Opera joins a growing number of companies like Perplexity and The Browser Company that are trying to make agentic browsers happen. The company first announced…
Opera is filing an antitrust complaint against Microsoft in Brazil, alleging it creates an unfair environment for alternate browsers to compete with Edge. The Norway-based company claims Microsoft’s deals to make Edge the exclusive pre-installed browser on Windows machines creates an unfair environment for alternate browsers to compete. Opera also argued that Microsoft uses design…
Shorouk Express BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 11. Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, participated in the presentation of the opera “Cinderella” performed by the world-famous 200-member cast Helikon-Opera Moscow Musical Theater at the Heydar Aliyev Palace on April 19, Trend reports. The performance of the Helikon-Opera theater play by Azerbaijani composer Leonid Weinstein is…
