This week, American tenors Paul Appleby and David Portillo make their debuts at the Dutch National Opera as Belmonte and Pedrillo, respectively, in Johan Simons’ production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Under the baton of Jérémie Rhorer, performances run from 13 to 26 January.

Paul Appleby was last in Europe for his welcome return to the Glyndebourne Festival in the summer as Bénédict in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict. He will next be this side of the Atlantic for concerts with the Bamberger Symphoniker singing Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius before making his debut at the 2017 Festival d’Aix as Tom Rakewell (The Rake’s Progress).

David Portillo has had a strong year of debuts including at The Metropolitan Opera as Conte Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), at Glyndebourne Festival Opera as David (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and most recently at Oper Frankfurt as Tamino (Die Zauberflöte). Next, David returns to The Met as Jacquino (Fidelio) before joining The English Concert on tour in Europe and the US as Lurcanio in Handel’s Ariodante.