Important Debuts

A few months ago, I reviewed a joint production of Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier by La Scala Milan, Madrid's Teatro Real and Paris Opéra ('Time is a Strange Thing', Music & Vision, 8 October 2011). The most important Komödie für Musik of the twentieth century is back as the inaugural opera of the 75th Florence 'May Music Festival'. The Festival program is very ambitious: ninety performances of operas, ballets, concerts, chamber music and plays during a five week span (thirty-eight days), six world premieres, a focus on contemporary music and young talents, two hundred guest artists and twenty-three different venues (theatres, cloisters, gardens and palatial halls). Thus, a really grand schedule...