In Zürich zeigen die Regisseurin Jetske Mijnssen und die Barockspezialistin Emmanuelle Haïm welche Dramatik in Jean-Philippe Rameaus OperHippolyte et Aricie steckt.
Unter Mitwirkung hervorragender Gesangssolisten bieten die Philharmonia Zürich und der Opernchor unter Fabio Luisi Mendelssohns Oratorium Elias auf sehr hohem Niveau.
Barrie Koskys neuer Macbeth ist frei von Schnickschnack, grellen Kostümen und Trivialem. Er ist ein Fest der Vorstellungskraft, moderne Oper in Bestform.
Die Handlung dreht sich um das tägliche Leben in einer einfachen deutschen Stadt. Doch bei dieser Produktion wird man sich freuen, dass die Geschichte nicht die eigene ist.
This year’s revival of Andreas Homoki's production features excellent principals, choruses, and sublime orchestration under Fabio Luisi’s seasoned baton. The staging takes far fewer accolades.
Andreas Homoki’s new Zurich production capitalises on some quirky staging, but features superb voices in its principal roles and shows the best of the house’s joint choirs.
Le chef-d'œuvre de Rameau est donné au Théâtre des Champs-Élysées en version de concert, sous la direction inégale d'Emmanuelle Haïm, avec une distribution excellente emmenée par Stéphanie d'Oustrac.
In Georges Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles, two men’s vow of eternal friendship is threatened by their love for the same woman. Only one man lives to tell the tale.
Barrie Kosky’s production of Franz Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten (The Branded) is in keeping with what was long considered one of the early 20th century’s most scandalous works.
Gaetano Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda is perhaps most famous for a single and highly emotional scene in which two monarchs engage in a venomous confrontation. One is doomed to die.
Claus Guth’s grandiose production of Parsifal made major headlines in Zurich in 2011. With its new cast of principals, this revival is no less a sensation.
Apparently, the composer himself was a notorious cheater, we can assume that some of the unsavoury themes of his 1904 opera “Madame Butterfly” were close to the bone.
Celebrating a courageous woman who is able to secure the release of her husband from prison, Beethoven’s sole opera Fidelio has music that is more compelling that its plot.
The backstory doesn’t bode well: three fugitive criminals decide to found a city that will pander to society’s most vital needs: food, sex, warfare, and alcohol.
In a new production of Franz Lehár’s The Land of Smiles, the stoic Sou-Chong sets the melancholy tone of the operetta by singing “Smile despite your sorrows and a thousand.. aches and pains”.
That both the lead and a second key role were ill and couldn’t sing did not bode well, yet this performance of Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera shook up the house nonetheless.
From devoted wife and mother to murdering avenger, Médée is is a challenging role. A new Zurich production firmly secures her place in the collective memory, perhaps for the wrong reasons.
Christian Spuck’s new ballet Messa da Requiem in Zurich, is a breathtakingly powerful achievement. But its profound impact is spurred by more than dance alone.
Andreas Homoki’s new production of Vincenzo Bellini’s I puritani wows with a quartet of stellar vocalists, but its awkward staging and set design are a distinct disappointment.
Anyone expecting a wishing well, castle and healthy portion of pomp in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s new production of Pélleas et Mélisande is in for a big surprise.
Theatre director Christoph Marthaler is renowned – if notorious – for his “off the wall” productions and adherence to bad boy antics. This Viaggio was no exception.
Zurich’s revival of Georges Bizet’s three-act opera Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) pulls out all the stops, but it was not to everyone’s liking.
Opera being a strongly visual art form as well as a musical one, the idea of a pure concert performance seems a little strange to those unfamiliar with the form.
Richard Strauss’ outstanding catalogue of operas is part of the staple diet of opera houses around the world. From the musically and dramatically intense scores of Salome and Elektra to the romantically lush, emotional sweepings of Der Rosenkavalier, there is something in his canon for all manner of opera enthusiasts.
We spent last night in Zurich, where we had the chance to see the Zurich Opernhaus production of Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann. It’s the first time I’ve been to the opera house here and the first time I’ve seen Offenbach on stage, so interesting on both counts.
The opera house is “small but perfectly formed”, as the cliché goes.
