Canadians Abroad

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In June, soprano Barbara Hannigan became the first Canadian to receive the “Prix de la personnalité musicale de l’année” (Musical Personality of the Year) by the Syndicat de la Critique, awarded by French music critics to an artist who has had a profound impact on French music over the past year. The award recognised several of Hannigan’s ground-breaking performances including Agnès in the world premiere of George Benjamin’s Written on Skin, which she will bring to the Paris Opéra Comique November 16-19, and her world-premiere recording of Henri Dutilleux’s Correspondances on Deutsche Grammophon, a work she will perform with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Jaap van Zweden on October 5. From November 2 to Nov. 5, Hannigan sings and conducts Rossini, Mozart, Fauré and Ligeti with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. SG

Tenor Joseph Kaiser returns to the Metropolitan Opera October 11-31 for Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. On December 6 and 7, he makes his Japan debut with Charles Dutoit and the NHK Symphony for Berlioz’s Te Deum. SG

Baritone Etienne Dupuis sings several major roles with Berlin’s Deutsche Oper this season: Germont in La Traviata on October 20 and 26, and Marcello in La Bohème December 12-31, alternating with Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, (October 11,17; December 21, 26) and Silvio in Pagliacci March 14-26. He takes on fisherman Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles with Opera Nantes-Angers February 2-4. SG

Mezzo-soprano Michèle Losier opens the new season by singing Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito at the Théâtre royal de la Monnaie in Brussels October 11-24, a role that she will sing again May 11-18 at the Vienna Staatsoper. Her Prince Charmant in Massenet’s Cendrillon bows at Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelon December 22-January 7, before she brings her Phoebe in a concert version of Rameau’s Castor et Pollux to France’s Opéra-Comique and Opéra de Bordeaux March 21 and 22, respectively. SG

Soprano Marianne Fiset takes on Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) for France’s Opéra de Tours October 11-15 and Opéra de Reims November 6-10 with staging by Canadian Oriol Tomas. Between January 14 and 30, Fiset covers Mimi in La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera, and on March 30 and April 3-5 she joins Jacques Lacombe for the Verdi Requiem in New Jersey. SG

Soprano Nathalie Paulin performs Beethoven’s Ninth with the Seattle Symphony December 28 to January 4. On February 21 and 23 she appears with Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society for music by Vivaldi and Handel. Opera appearances include Michaëla in Carmen for Opera Tampa (March 14-16) and, this summer, the title role in Cavalli’s La Calisto for Cincinnati Opera (July 17-27). SG

Composer and guitarist Tim Brady takes his Bradyworks ensemble – including clarinettist Lori Freedman and violist Pemi Paull – on tour in the US and Australia including dates in New York (March 20), Los Angeles (March 29), Perth (April 4), Sydney (April 16) and others. SG

Montreal-born violinist Alexandre Da Costa performs the Bruch Concerto with the BBC Concert Orchestra in London on October 2 before taking on the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Gran Canarias Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain on November 8. He performs the Tchaikovsky Concerto with Philharmonie Sudwestfalen in Germany on February 6, and with Spain’s Euskadi Symphony for a 5-city tour April 28-May 2. SG

I Musici de Montréal Artistic Director Jean-Marie Zeitouni conducts Chopin and Stravinsky for the Hong Kong Philarmonic on September 20 and 21, before leading an all-Russian program for the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra on November 24. On December 14 and 15, he conducts Handel’s Messiah for the Detroit Symphony. SG

Recorder and Baroque flute player Mattias Maute takes his Ensemble Caprice to Chicago for a Spanish program on November 15. He then joins the New York-based REBEL ensemble for Vivaldi and Telemann in Pasadena, California (November 24); Troy, New York (November 30); and Phoenix, Arizona (February 15). Back with Ensemble Caprice on March 21, Maute will travel to Germany for the Magdeburg Telemann-Festspiele and music by CPE Bach, Graun, and Telemann.

Following her successful role debut as Chrysothemis in the Patrice Chereau production of Elektra in Aix en Provence, soprano Adrianne Pieczonka will reprise this role for Covent Garden (Sept. - Oct.) and La Scala (May-June 2014). Other important engagements include the Kaiserin in a new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten (Nov. - Dec.) that marks the 50th anniversary of the re-opening of Bavarian State Opera’s National-theater. Pieczonka sings her first Amelia in Un ballo in maschera for the Canadian Opera Company (Feb. 2014). JS

Composer Ana Sokolović’s a capella opera Svadba-Wedding is presented by Opera Philadelphia November 2-7, and stars Canadians Shannon Mercer and Krisztina Szabó, among others. Her new orchestral work Uvertira, commissioned by theBelgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, will have its world premiere on November 15. SG

Baritone Phillip Addis returns to the Opera Comique to sing Pelleas in Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande (Feb. 2014), a role he sang to great success at that opera house in June 2010. This fall, the baritone makes his Canadian Opera Company debut as both Marcello and Schaunard in a new production of La bohème (Sept. - Oct.) JS

Ottawa soprano Joyce El-Khoury spends the fall in Toronto making her COC debut alternating as Musetta and Mimi (Sept. - Oct.). She gives a recital at the La chapelle historique du bon pasteur with pianist Laurent Philippe on November 21. Then it’s off to Texas for four concert performances of Rusalka with the San Antonio Symphony. Next summer, El-Khoury returns to the Santa Fe Opera as Micaela in Carmen (June-Aug. 2014). JS

Yannick Nézet-Séguin opens Carnegie Hall’s new season with his Philadelphia Orchestra, conducting a program of Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, and several new commissions on October 2. In the New Year he conducts Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Metropolitan Opera (January 23-February 16), followed by Mahler’s Symphony No.4 with the Berlin Philharmonic March 20-22, Bruckner’s 8th Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic on April 7, and a return to the US with a concert version of Strauss’ Salomé in Philadelphia, May 8-10. SG