Wishing the soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn ⁦Elizabeth Llewellyn⁩⁩ a very happy birthday!

Buon compleanno, ⁦⁦carmengiannattasio⁩ Carmen Giannattasio!

Wishing the soprano Norma Burrowes a very happy 80th birthday!

The Italian lyric tenor Luigi Infantino was born #OTD in 1921.

Far from distant, snow-capped mountains … Zoltán Kodály’s Székelyfonó (The Spinning Room) was premiered in Budapest ⁦HungarianStateOpera⁩
⁩ #OTD in 1932.

Recently rediscovered: Hans Gál’s Das Lied der Nacht was premiered at the Stadttheater Breslau ⁦Opera Wrocławska⁩ #OTD in 1926.
HansGalSociety Theater Osnabrück ⁦Naxos UK⁩

Franz Schreker’s first opera, Flammen, was premiered in Vienna in 1902.

Tchaikovsky’s early opera The Oprichnik was premiered in St Petersburg 150 years ago today.

One of Offenbach’s earliest surviving works, the opéra-comique L'Alcôve was premiered in Paris #OTD in 1847.

The ⁦Pegasus Opera Company⁩ Company has announced a Windrush Concert and Exhibition touring London, Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool in June. pegasusoperacompany.org/windrush-conce…

Wishing Gianandrea Noseda ⁦Gianandrea Noseda⁩ – Generalmusikdirektor of ⁦Opernhaus Zürich⁩ –
a very happy 60th birthday!

Mr Beetle: Leoš Janáček’s The Excursions of Mr Brouček was premiered in Prague #OTD in 1920.

“They plunder and burn us,/they plunder and burn./Our Ukraine is lost,/all is lost! Oh, make a stand! Make a stand!” From the finale of Semyon Kotko by Sergei Prokofiev, born in Sontsovka (Donetsk Oblast) #OTD in 1891.

Aino Ackté, the pioneering Finnish diva who was Covent Garden’s first Salome (hailed by Strauss as “the one and only Salome”), was born in Helsinki #OTD in 1876.

Buon compleanno, Ruggero! Leoncavallo was born in Naples #OTD in 1857.

L'amerò, sarò costante … Mozat’s Il re pastore was premiered in Salzburg #OTD in 1775.

The first German opera? Heinrich Schütz’s Dafne was premiered at Torgau #OTD in 1627.

Haunted house: ovations for Poznań’s Teatr Wielki ⁦Teatr Wielki im. Stanisława Moniuszki w Poznaniu⁩ after Moniuszko’s Straszny Dwór at the Berlin Philharmonie.

Back to Das Gespensterschloss … Not tonight the ghost of Karajan but happily haunted instead by Moniuszko – after all, he studied in Berlin and had his first works published in the city. This evening Poznań Opera Teatr Wielki im. Stanisława Moniuszki w Poznaniu performs Straszny Dwór (The Haunted Manor) here.

Blessed spirit: the great contralto Kathleen Ferrier (seen here as Gluck’s Orfeo) was born #OTD in 1912.