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Showing 26 of 26 reviews

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Bats! Die Fledermaus is a fabulous flight of fantasy at Dutch National Opera

By Eleanor Knight, 05 December 2024

Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus, was never meant to challenge grand opera for profundity and Barrie Kosky pokes fun at Viennese high society in his riotous staging.

*****

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*****

Amsterdam

06 Dec 2024

Bats! Die Fledermaus is a fabulous flight of fantasy at DNO

By Eleanor Knight

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Amsterdam

A Puccini hat-trick: Barrie Kosky directs Il trittico at Dutch National Opera

By Eleanor Knight, 03 May 2024

Barrie Kosky brings his trio of Puccini productions to a close with another triptych: Il trittico in a triumphant staging.

*****

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*****

Amsterdam

04 May 2024

A Puccini hat-trick: Barrie Kosky directs Il trittico in Amsterdam

By Eleanor Knight

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Amsterdam

Barrie Kosky's Agrippina is finally crowned at Dutch National Opera

By Eleanor Knight, 13 January 2024

The Australian director's 2019 production of Handel's satirical comedy-thriller arrives in Amsterdam, with a cast led by the fabulous Stéphanie d'Oustrac.

****1

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****1

Amsterdam

15 Jan 2024

Barrie Kosky's Agrippina is finally crowned at DNO

By Eleanor Knight

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Munich

Waltzing masks and masquerades in Barrie Kosky’s new Fledermaus in Munich

By Zenaida des Aubris, 23 December 2023

Expect sequins and swinging chandeliers in the Australian director's new Fledermaus at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

****1

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****1

Munich

01 Jan 2024

Waltzing masks and masquerades in Kosky’s new Fledermaus

By Zenaida des Aubris

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Edinburgh

Barrie Kosky’s bold Threepenny Opera delights at the Edinburgh International Festival

By David Smythe, 18 August 2023

Adam Benzwi conducts a punchy band and a strong theatre cast in the Berliner Ensemble's bold fresh, enjoyable version of Weill and Brecht's classic.

****1

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****1

Edinburgh

19 Aug 2023

Kosky’s bold Threepenny Opera delights Edinburgh

By David Smythe

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Zurich

Tatyana in the meadow: Barrie Kosky’s Onegin returns to Zurich

By Laura Servidei, 10 February 2023

The Opernhaus Zürich revives a successful production by Barrie Kosky with a great cast under Gianandrea Noseda's baton.

****1

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****1

Zurich

12 Feb 2023

Tatyana in the meadow: Barrie Kosky’s Onegin returns to Zurich

By Laura Servidei

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Budapest

Peace and War: a Hungarian victory for Calixto Bieito’s bold production

By Elodie Olson-Coons, 28 January 2023

Calixto Bieito takes on Prokofiev's Tolstoy epic – and wins in the opera's Hungarian premiere.

*****

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*****

Budapest

29 Jan 2023

Peace and War: a Hungarian victory for Bieito’s bold production

By Elodie Olson-Coons

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Naples

A portrait of what might have been: Eugene Onegin at Teatro di San Carlo

By David Karlin, 15 June 2022

Barrie Kosky's well-travelled staging reaches Naples with fine performances from orchestra, chorus and singers mixed with some questionable musical and directorial decisions.

****1

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****1

Naples

16 Jun 2022

A portrait of what might have been: Eugene Onegin at San Carlo

By David Karlin

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Zurich

Back on the catwalk: Calixto Bieito's L’incoronazione di Poppea revived in Zürich

By Laura Servidei, 14 September 2021

Julie Fuchs and Delphine Galou shine in this revival and the Orchestra La Scintilla gives a great performance under Ottavio Dantone’s baton.

***11

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***11

Zurich

16 Sep 2021

Calixto Bieito's L’incoronazione di Poppea revived in Zürich

By Laura Servidei

Berlin

Regietheater reigns supreme in Calixto Bieito's Lohengrin at Staatsoper Berlin

By Lorenzo Fiorito, 13 December 2020

Dressed in white, with an origami swan in his hand, Robert Alagna's Lohengrin is less a Grail knight than an absent-minded daydreamer.

****1

****1

Berlin

15 Dec 2020

Regietheater reigns supreme in Calixto Bieito's Berlin Lohengrin

By Lorenzo Fiorito

London

Political power games in Kosky's Agrippina at Covent Garden

By Mark Pullinger, 23 September 2019

An over-directed, but vivid staging demonstrating political rise and fall in Ancient Rome transported to the present day.

***11

***11

London

24 Sep 2019

Political power games in Kosky's Agrippina at Covent Garden

By Mark Pullinger

Edinburgh

Asmik Grigorian wows as Tatyana in Komische Oper Eugene Onegin in Edinburgh

By David Smythe, 15 August 2019

Barrie Kosky’s visually stunning and very finely sung Eugene Onegin from Komische Oper reaches Edinburgh, a triumphant showcase for soprano Asmik Grigorian.

****1

****1

Edinburgh

16 Aug 2019

Asmik Grigorian wows as Tatyana in Komische Oper Eugene Onegin

By David Smythe

Bayreuth

Who is on trial anyway? Kosky’s Meistersinger conquers Bayreuth again

By Zoltán Szabó, 27 July 2019

Kosky’s production manages to maintain all hallmarks of a 16th-century fairy tale, while juxtaposing them with questions of deep human, political and artistic problems. Regietheater at its best.

*****

*****

Bayreuth

29 Jul 2019

Kosky’s Meistersinger conquers Bayreuth again

By Zoltán Szabó

Berlin

Voltaire à la Kosky: a magical Candide at Komische Oper

By David Karlin, 24 November 2018

Serious farce, warm-hearted sarcasm, operatic Broadway: Barrie Kosky and Komische Oper turn Bernstein's problem child into a show that thrills from start to finish.

*****

*****

Berlin

25 Nov 2018

Voltaire à la Kosky: a magical Candide at Komische Oper

By David Karlin

Berlin

Penetrating Schreker’s kaleidoscopic score: Die Gezeichneten in Berlin

By Katherine Syer, 11 July 2018

Franz Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten (The Branded One) is an unsettling work given the storyline’s background of abduction and clandestine sexual abuse. Calixto Bieito, as expected, eschews ambiguity regarding what goes on behind the scenes, and casts even the titular cripple Alviano Salvago in a damning light.

****1

****1

Berlin

15 Jul 2018

Penetrating Schreker’s kaleidoscopic score

By Katherine Syer

Zurich

Monteverdi’s Poppea in Zurich: metaphor for the modern world

By Sarah Batschelet, 24 June 2018

Calixto Bieito sets Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea in a hedonist, decadent society whose citizens are defined by their egotism, ambition and sexual exploits.

****1

****1

Zurich

25 Jun 2018

A metaphor for the modern world in Zurich

By Sarah Batschelet

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Berlin

A study in contrasts: Barrie Kosky's compelling Onegin returns to the Komische Oper

By Hugo Shirley, 29 March 2018

Tchaikovsky's opera packs a powerful emotional punch in the Komische Oper's concentrated and dreamlike production.

****1

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****1

Berlin

31 Mar 2018

Kosky's compelling Onegin returns to the Komische Ope

By Hugo Shirley

Berlin

Toy Story: Calixto Bieito stages Die Gezeichneten at the Komische Oper

By Hugo Shirley, 21 January 2018

The Spanish director offers a controversial angle but tones it down to focus on dark psychology rather than spectacle in his staging of Schrecker's hothouse opera.

***11

***11

Berlin

23 Jan 2018

Toy Story: Calixto Bieito stages Die Gezeichneten

By Hugo Shirley

Zurich

Wretched fates and quirky staging: Eugene Onegin in Zurich

By Sarah Batschelet, 24 September 2017

Barrie Kosky’s atypically conservative production of the Russian classic was marked by musical direction and vocal performances of the highest order.

****1

****1

Zurich

25 Sep 2017

Wretched fates and quirky staging: Eugene Onegin in Zurich

By Sarah Batschelet

Bayreuth

Musically sublime, packed with ideas: Kosky's Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Bayreuth

By David Karlin, 31 July 2017

The label “most opera directors” does *not* apply to Barrie Kosky, who makes his Bayreuth debut with a Meistersinger that pulls no punches.

*****

*****

Bayreuth

01 Aug 2017

Musically sublime, packed with ideas

By David Karlin

Zurich

Bieito's Fiery Angel burns bright in Zürich

By Elodie Olson-Coons, 11 May 2017

A powerful and emotional staging by Bieito with five-star performances from both leads.

*****

*****

Zurich

12 May 2017

Bieito's Fiery Angel burns bright in Zürich

By Elodie Olson-Coons

Berlin

A scarlet letter: Barrie Kosky's staging of Eugene Onegin at the Komische Oper Berlin

By Karen Hunter, 06 February 2016

Barrie Kosky's new production of Eugene Onegin at the Komische Oper Berlin is delicious for the eyes, ears and emotions.

****1

****1

Berlin

08 Feb 2016

A scarlet letter: Eugene Onegin at the Komische Oper Berlin

By Karen Hunter

London

Barbed wire and gruel: cold comfort in ENO’s Force of Destiny

By Mark Pullinger, 09 November 2015

Calixto Bieito’s new production of Verdi’s The Force of Destiny for English National Opera is – for him – a tame affair.

***11

***11

London

10 Nov 2015

Barbed wire and gruel in ENO’s Force of Destiny

By Mark Pullinger

Belfast

Subjugation of the silent majority: Calixto Bieito's Turandot in Belfast

By Philip Hammond, 30 October 2015

Can classic opera reflect the political status of the society in which it is performed? Calixto Bieito's production of Turandot for Northern Ireland Opera raises some uncomfortable questions.

***11

***11

Belfast

01 Nov 2015

Calixto Bieito's Turandot in Belfast

By Philip Hammond

Ghent

Madness and civilisation: Andreas Schager triumphs in Bieito's Tannhäuser

By David Pinedo, 27 September 2015

The lack of shock value in Calixto Bieito’s interpretation of Wagner's Tannhäuser premiering at the Vlaamse Opera in Ghent could almost be seen as a disappointment. All the more surprising then was the romantic intimacy created in this superlatively sung production.

****1

****1

Ghent

04 Nov 2015

Andreas Schager triumphs in Bieito's Tannhäuser

By David Pinedo

Oslo

Drunken ramblings: Calixto Bieito’s Tales of Hoffmann gets its first revival in Oslo

By Aksel Tollåli, 02 October 2014

Calixto Bieito's production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann is astoundingly sung, but suffers from excessive cuts and occasionally odd direction.

***11

***11

Oslo

03 Oct 2014

Drunken ramblings: Calixto Bieito’s Hoffmann revived

By Aksel Tollåli