Wozzeck, Alban Berg’s masterpiece, turns 100. The first performance took place on December 14, 1925, at the Berlin Staatsoper, under the baton of the legendary Erich Kleiber. It was Kleiber’s…
GSTAAD NEW YEAR MUSIC FESTIVAL
Quel plaisir… Hope, Eternity, Talent, and Sublime. These are the four words that define the four evenings I spent in the Swiss mountains for the Gstaad New Year Music Festival….
DIE FLEDERMAUS | Deutsche Oper Berlin
A vibrant sense of ensemble spirit radiated from the stage of the Deutsche Oper Berlin on this 31 December. As for the Vienna of Emperor Franz Joseph’s era, Rolando Villazón’s…
ELEKTRA | Wiener Staatsoper
It was not the rising of the curtains but their sudden fall, like the proclamation of an Old Testament prophecy, that summoned tragedy onto the stage. Centred upon Agamemnon’s tomb…
STIFFELIO | Teatro di Piacenza
For me, coming to Piacenza every year to see my very last opera of the season is always more than a joy — it is a deeply personal and emotional…
LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK | Teatro Alla Scala
La Scala’s brave decision to open the new season with Shostakovich’s masterpiece is a courageous choice: the audiences who fill the theater on St. Ambrose’s Day in evening gowns and…
LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN | Opéra National de Lyon
After Venice, Sydney and London, the production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann as seen through the eyes of Damiano Michieletto has arrived in Lyon for the end-of-year holiday season. We will…
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA | Teatro Comunale di Bologna
After missing a performance of La Bohème due to a car accident between Parma and Bologna, I absolutely had to make it up to myself and return to this city…
ERNANI | Teatro Filarmonico di Verona
I have to say it straight away: I was genuinely happy that evening. Not only because I was about to hear Ernani — an opera that is sadly not staged…
HÄNSEL & GRETEL | Bayerische Staatsoper
Some performances remind us that opera is, above all, an art of sharing — and this matinée was a perfect example. The auditorium was quite literally filled with children: tiny…