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Anna Netrebkos und Piotr Beczalas Lohengrin-Debüt unter Christian Thielemann an der Semperoper bringt das Haus zum Beben.

Anna Netrebko gab ihre erste Elsa in Dresden unter der Leitung von Christian Thielemann. Es war eine bemerkenswerte Vorstellung, die man nicht vergisst.

Mit spannendem Bühnenbild und gerissener Personenführung schafft die neue Dresdener Produktion der deutschesten aller Opern, Webers Freischütz, den Spagat zwischen Tradition und Kitsch.

Es gab zwar widersprüchliche visuelle Aspekte in dieser Inszenierung von Bizets Carmen in der Dresdner Semperoper, aber es war eine erfreuliche Vorstellung, und wenn schon keine Augen-, dann sicherlich eine Ohrenweide.

John Osborn leads a very successful premiere of Peter Konwitschny's new production of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots in Dresden

Saioa Hernández leads a solid cast in Dresden in a somewhat disappointing new production by David Bösch.

What brought real distinction and authenticity to the evening, as so often in this house, was the outstanding playing of the Staatskapelle conducted by Tomaš Netopil. From the start of the overture with its rapidly scurrying fugato for strings and pointed phrasing from the woodwind one felt the true sense of Smetana’s Czech inflected rhythms and harmonies

Christian Thielemann led a memorable performance of Strauss's chamber opera Ariadne auf Naxos with a strong cast in a new straightforward production by David Hermann.

With a plethora of theatre seats, stools and benches it was as if Willy Decker and Wolfgang Gussman had been elected ‘Chair-men of the bored”.

The third installment of Semperoper Dresden’s Ring des Nibelungen cycle ups the ante with an outstanding ensemble performance.

Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden orchestra are let down by sub-optimal singers in Willy Deckers chair-laden production of  Die Walküre. 

Wagner demands vocal resilience from the large cast of singers in Das Rheingold, but Willy Decker wants strong thigh muscles as well.

In a score that can be a Technicolor wallow, Jurowski’s sure sense of dramatic pulse and balance, encompassed the brash dance rhythms, religious grandeur, vivid tone painting and the extremes of dissonance.

An exceptional musical performance was enhanced by a streamlined but ultimately moving staging in an evening of near perfection in Dresden.

Torsten Fischer's Nazified production of Strauss' Daphne in the Semperoper Dresden may leave you confused, but it receives a solid performance. 

A modern, simple production of Simon Boccanegra at Dresden's Semperoper, doesn’t interfere with the action.  

Erika Sunnegårdh’s Salome impresses in a revival of Peter Mussbach's striking production at the Dresden Semperoper. 

Peter Konwitschny’s Tannhäuser at Dresden’s Semperoper dates back to 1997, making it relatively old for an opera production, and though I sense this may be its last revival, it is still modern and engaging.

Verdi’s opera Macbeth is often considered less successful than his later operas, and considerably less so than his other two Shakespeare operas, Falstaff and Otello.

The genre of semi-opera is a peculiarly British one. Emerging from the courtly Masques during the restoration, the semi-opera served as an English operatic utterance, at a time where opera was emerging as one of the pre-eminent theatrical forms in Europe.

Dating from 2008, the Semperoper’s current production of Rigoletto is quite intriguing. It’s set in what appears to be a swanky 21st-century Berlin apartment – industrial, sparse and effortlessly cool – and in many ways this is an interesting choice.

Puccini is one of opera’s best loved composers. With so many popular titles to his name, it is somewhat surprising how infrequently his first great success, Manon Lescaut, is performed today. What makes this even more unusual is the opera’s universal appeal.

In the early years of the 20th century Puccini was a very happy man. His most recent opera, Tosca, was proving as successful as La Bohème, and the lucky composer was being summoned to opera houses throughout Europe for its premières. In the summer of 1900 Puccini attended the première performance of Tosca in London, and soaked in the atmosphere of Europe’s largest city.

Mozart wrote 20 operas during his relatively short life, the first being performed in Salzburg in 1767, when the composer was just eleven years old. However, it is Idomeneo, written and premièred when Mozart was the ripe old age of 25, which is usually considered to be his first mature opera.The opera takes place on the island of Crete immediately after the Trojan War.

Even in the world of opera, Ernst Krenek is far from a household name, but this Austrian composer was one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century, with an output encompassing symphonies, chamber works, ballets and, perhaps most significantly, operas.

In his whole career as an opera composer Puccini only wrote one pure comedy, Gianni Schicchi, and even that forms part of his trilogy Il Trittico, of which the other parts could hardly be more tragic. However, La bohème is also a comedy in its own way, a comedy cut short by tragedy.

Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783) was a renowned opera composer of the eighteenth century. As the Kapellmeister at the Dresden court from 1731 to 1763, he composed a large number of Italian operas and his fame spread all over Europe. His wife, the equally famous mezzo-soprano Faustina Bordoni (who also sang in Handel’s operas in London), starred in many of his operas.

It is customary in German-speaking countries to perform Wagner’s Parsifal on Good Friday, so it was quite a bold move for the Semperoper in Dresden to put on Tannhäuser instead, especially in Peter Konwitschny’s strongly anti-Christian production.