Live, Video: Kritiken zu klassischen Konzerten, Opern, Ballett und Tanz finden | Alex Otterburn

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Glyndebourne

02 Jul 2026

Billy Budd makes a welcome return to Glyndebourne

Von Nick Boston

Simon O'Neill (Jimmy MacIntyre) © Tristram Kenton

English National Opera’s Mahagonny: biting, bleak, brilliantly executed satire

Von David Karlin, 16 Februar 2026

Never has Brecht and Weill’s satire on the inhumanity of man to man been render with such utter darkness; Simon O’Neill heads up a superb cast.

*****

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London

16 Feb 2026

ENO’s Mahagonny: biting, bleak, brilliantly executed satire

Von David Karlin

Not out of the woods yet: Glyndebourne’s iconic Dream approaches its century

Von Eleanor Knight, 12 Oktober 2025

Sir Peter Hall's classic staging of Britten's Shakespearean comedy nears a landmark moment in Glyndebourne’s autumn season.

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Glyndebourne

12 Okt 2025

Glyndebourne’s iconic Dream approaches its century

Von Eleanor Knight

Decadence and decay: Asmik Grigorian and Antonio Pappano lead a sensational Salome

Von Mark Pullinger, 11 Juli 2025

Even locked behind a music stand, like a caged panther in a sleek black gown, Grigorian’s Salome bristles with dramatic energy in Barbican concert performance of Strauss’ “scherzo with a fatal conclusion”.

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London

11 Jul 2025

Decadence and decay: Asmik Grigorian leads a sensational Salome

Von Mark Pullinger

Alex Otterburn (Danilo) © Mihaela Bodlovic

A mafioso Merry Widow at Opera Holland Park

Von Dominic Lowe, 19 Juni 2025

Despite some excellent music-making, John Savournin's production is hindered by a laboured New York relocation.

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London

19 Jun 2025

A mafioso Merry Widow at Opera Holland Park

Von Dominic Lowe

Paula Sides (Hanna Glawari) © Mihaela Bodlovic

Scottish Opera’s Merry Widow tangles with the New York Mafia

Von David Smythe, 30 April 2025

With misplaced horse heads, violin case guns and as many mafia gags as you could hope for, Scottish Opera’s Merry Widow may not be subtle but it looks and sounds gorgeous.

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Glasgow

30 Apr 2025

Scottish Opera’s Merry Widow tangles with the New York Mafia

Von David Smythe

ENO gives Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots a worthy performance

Von Nick Boston, 15 Februar 2025

Musgrave's powerful depiction of a powerful woman at the mercy of male manipulation receives a strong staging from at ENO.

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London

15 Feb 2025

ENO gives Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots a worthy performance

Von Nick Boston

Lausanne

Laurent Pelly signe un Songe de l’étoffe d’un rêve à Lausanne

Von Romain Daroles, 23 Dezember 2024

La mise en scène par Laurent Pelly vient réparer un manque : le chef-d’œuvre onirique et féérique de Britten n'avait encore jamais été donné dans l’opéra de la capitale vaudoise.

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Lausanne

23 Dez 2024

Pelly signe un Songe de l’étoffe d’un rêve à Lausanne

Von Romain Daroles

Saffron Walden

Theatrically poverty-stricken: Blond Eckbert from English Touring Opera

Von Mark Valencia, 18 Oktober 2024

Judith Weir's cryptic folk opera lacks the narrative propulsion necessary to enthral an audience, and without resolution there is no catharsis.

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Saffron Walden

18 Okt 2024

Theatrically poverty-stricken: ETO's Blond Eckbert

Von Mark Valencia

Merriment aplenty in Cal McCrystal's Merry Widow at Glyndebourne

Von Dominic Lowe, 09 Juni 2024

Glyndebourne's new production of Lehár's greatest work is interpreted with his customary flair and fun by Cal McCrystal.

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Glyndebourne

09 Jun 2024

Merriment aplenty in Cal McCrystal's Merry Widow at Glyndebourne

Von Dominic Lowe

Carmen at Glyndebourne: a timeless tragedy brought vividly to today

Von David Karlin, 16 Mai 2024

Diane Paulus' staging is remarkably true to the original while making it feel like the work was written yesterday.

*****

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Glyndebourne

16 Mai 2024

Carmen at Glyndebourne: a timeless tragedy

Von David Karlin

Gwyn Hughes Jones (Peter Grimes) © Tom Bowles

Peter Grimes a raging, powerful, defiant start to the new ENO season

Von Stephen Pritchard, 21 September 2023

English National Opera opens its new season with a revival of David Alden's masterly production.

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London

21 Sep 2023

Peter Grimes a raging, powerful, defiant start to the new ENO season

Von Stephen Pritchard

Britten at Glyndebourne: A Dream staging that works its sinister magic once again

Von Mark Pullinger, 01 Juli 2023

A strong revival cast, conducted by Dalia Stasevska, demonstrate why Sir Peter Hall's 1981 vintage staging of Britten’s A Midsummer Night's Dream is such a classic.

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Glyndebourne

01 Jul 2023

A Glyndebourne Dream that works its sinister magic

Von Mark Pullinger

Paula Murrihy (Frances) and Christine Rice (Elizabeth I) © Nirah Sanghani

The second Elizabethan age receives a noble tribute from the first in ENO's Gloriana

Von Roy Westbrook, 08 Dezember 2022

When done as well as this, a "concert staging" is not oxymoronic, but a precise term for a valuable mode of presentation.

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London

08 Dez 2022

Second Elizabethan age receives a noble tribute in ENO's Gloriana

Von Roy Westbrook

Venedig

Full fathom five: Peter Grimes receives its first ever staging at La Fenice

Von Elena Luporini, 24 Juni 2022

Finally reaching the stage of the Venetian theatre, Benjamin Britten's first major opera meets with success thanks to Juraj Valčuha's conducting, Paul Curran's staging and an excellent cast.

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Venedig

24 Jun 2022

Full fathom five: Peter Grimes at La Fenice

Von Elena Luporini

Alresford

Live and recorded enchantments: Grange Festival opens with Britten's Dream

Von Roy Westbrook, 27 Juni 2021

Britten's four lovers were costumed in quasi-contemporary, even glamorous manner, stripping to their underwear for the end of Act 2... so more Love Island than Ancient Athens.

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Alresford

27 Jun 2021

The Grange Festival opens with Britten's Dream

Von Roy Westbrook

Empty hunger: Bieito’s Carmen returns to ENO

Von Dominic Lowe, 29 Januar 2020

Bieito’s Carmen is now a mainstay of ENO's repertoire, but with an excellent central cast led by Sean Panikkar and Justina Gringytė, the production feels entirely fresh.

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London

29 Jan 2020

Empty hunger: Bieito’s Carmen returns to ENO

Von Dominic Lowe

Singing animals, heroic lumberjacks, pure melody and riotous entertainment in ENO's Paul Bunyan

Von David Karlin, 09 Mai 2019

The American Dream hits Ally Pally in a vivacious performance of Britten's eclectic operetta, headlined by an ENO chorus who knock it out of the park.

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London

09 Mai 2019

Pure melody and riotous entertainment: ENO's Paul Bunyan

Von David Karlin

Iain Bell's new opera for ENO, Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel

Von Mark Valencia, 30 März 2019

Daniel Kramer’s direction is a model of restraint compared to some of his earlier work for the company.

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London

30 Mär 2019

Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel

Von Mark Valencia

Leeds

Opera North's energetic Merry Widow is more than a mere period piece

Von Richard Wilcocks, 29 September 2018

Giles Havergal directs and Martin André conducts an energetic production of Franz Léhar's The Merry Widow at the Grand Theatre, Leeds.

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Leeds

29 Sep 2018

Opera North's energetic Merry Widow

Von Richard Wilcocks

Edinburgh

Edinburgh Festival's Queen's Hall cycle closes with a Bernstein flourish

Von Simon Thompson, 25 August 2018

The EIF begins its Bernstein day with music from the outer edges of his career.

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Edinburgh

25 Aug 2018

EIF's Queen's Hall cycle closes with a Bernstein flourish

Von Simon Thompson

Ariadne aus Glasgow: Strauss’ opera gets a few twists at Opera Holland Park

Von Matthew Rye, 17 Juli 2018

A spirited and seamless production of Strauss’s Ariadne is aided by some excellent singing and playing at London’s premier summer opera festival.

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London

17 Jul 2018

Ariadne aus Glasgow: a few twists at Opera Holland Park

Von Matthew Rye

Anna Bonitatibus (Agrippina) © Robert Workman

Alresford

Agrippina triumphs at The Grange Festival

Von David Truslove, 08 Juni 2018

A resounding success at its 1709 première, Handel’s Agrippina gripped the ear and dazzled the eye at the Grange Festival in a hugely entertaining and powerful performance.

*****

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Alresford

08 Jun 2018

Agrippina triumphs at The Grange Festival

Von David Truslove

Scottish Opera’s Ariadne auf Naxos is witty and passionate

Von David Smythe, 24 März 2018

Antony McDonald’s take on Ariadne auf Naxos, a co-production from Scottish Opera and Opera Holland Park, sparkles with wit.

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Glasgow

24 Mär 2018

Scottish Opera’s Ariadne auf Naxos is witty and passionate

Von David Smythe

Scottish Opera’s Greek: a lively update on Oedipus

Von David Smythe, 03 Februar 2018

Alex Otterburn as East End Eddy gives a towering performance in Scottish Opera’s revival of its Edinburgh Festival production of Mark Anthony Turnage’s Greek.

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Glasgow

03 Feb 2018

Scottish Opera’s Greek: a lively update on Oedipus

Von David Smythe

Safe and simple pleasures from Scottish Opera's La traviata

Von Gregor Forbes, 19 Oktober 2017

There are no answers, nor indeed many probing questions, in this Scottish Opera revival of Sir David McVicar’s production from 2008, but it is sumptuous and enjoyable.

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Glasgow

19 Okt 2017

Safe and simple pleasures from Scottish Opera's La traviata

Von Gregor Forbes

Riotous journey to the Underworld: Royal Academy's Orphée in Hackney

Von Mark Pullinger, 03 Februar 2017

“Folies Bergère does Greek gods” is how director Martin Duncan describes Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers, and his production for Royal Academy Opera is enormous fun.

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London

03 Feb 2017

Riotous journey to the Underworld

Von Mark Pullinger

Flinty graves: a chilling L'incoronazione di Poppea from the Royal Academy of Music

Von Dominic Lowe, 20 Mai 2016

In Shoreditch, the Royal Academy of Music showed off some superb singing in a chilling exploration of tyranny and unrestrained power.

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London

20 Mai 2016

Flinty graves: a chilling Poppea

Von Dominic Lowe

A marriage of youth and experience: Mozart's Figaro in Hackney

Von Matthew Rye, 30 Oktober 2015

A polished production of The Marriage of Figaro from some of the potential opera stars of the future.

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London

30 Okt 2015

A marriage of youth and experience

Von Matthew Rye

Star of the future: Haobin Wang entertains as Gianni Schicchi at Royal Academy

Von David Karlin, 17 November 2014

Royal Academy Opera's thoroughly competent Suor Angelica precedes a fabulously entertaining Gianni Schicchi, with a top drawer performance from Haobin Wang in the title role.

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