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Birgit Kajtna-Wönig’s new semi-staging of Wagner's Bühnenweihfestspiel pays homage to Ádám Fischer's committed musical forces.

The Staatsoper Unter den Linden celebrates the 100th birthday of Alban Berg's masterpiece with a stellar cast in Andrea Breth’s revived production. 

Wotan's predicaments provide Sydney's victory: Chief Conductor Simone Young has her musicians on some of their best form in recent years, with only a few question marks over an excellent concert performance.

The first premiere of the new Staatsoper season is a qualified success, led by Eleanora Buratto's superb Suor Angelica and Ambrogio Maestri's masterly Gianni Schicchi in Puccini's triptych of one-act operas. 

A potent rendering of Alban Berg's tale of the traumatised and impoverished war veteran.

A long stellar night of supremely assured singing and playing in Wagner's Siegfried, with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle on top form.

The Bayerische Staatsoper's revival of a controversial production containing Georg Baselitz’s artwork succeeds with strong musical performances led by veterans of Wagnerian operas.

A superb musical foundation under Antonio Pappano forms the basis for a satisfying new Fanciulla del West at the Staatoper in Berlin. 

François Girard’s production presents the moody, stormy atmosphere of Norwegian seascapes with stunning visuals, but offers few fresh ideas on the doomed love between the Dutchman and Senta.

Two rarely performed works and an evergreen show off the prowess of this first class orchestra.

The Staatsoper Berlin celebrate the arrival of Michael Volle, a splendid Wotan, aided by a strong ensemble of singers and Daniel Barenboim's leadership.

In a fin de siècle programme, Salonen and the Philharmonia demonstrated visceral excitement, and found ways to reinvent. 

A passionless staging of Wagner's masterpiece throws cold water on Barenboim's fiery conducting at the Staatsoper.

Harry Kupfer's vivid and enlightening production came alive by soprano Anja Kampe's courageous performance and by conductor Oksana Lyniv's briliant direction.

Christian Thielemann, the Staatskapelle Dresden and a star-studded cast compress Wagner's Ring cycle into a tale of Siegmund, Sieglinde, Hunding and Brünnhilde.

Despite a condescending commentary, a strong performance from Anja Kampe as Leonore made this concert staging of Fidelio at the Royal Festival Hall thoroughly enjoyable.

Donald Runnicles ends the 2016 Edinburgh Festival with Gurrelieder. 

The second evening of Staatsoper Berlin's Ring featured an exceptionally strong musical performance, both from the orchestra and the singers. 

Klaus Florian Vogt’s Florestan redeems an otherwise disappointing Fidelio in Otto Schenk's timeless production.

Staatsoper Berlin revives its new production of Tosca with an excellent cast including a last minute substitution of the tenor.

Frank Castorf's Soviet-era farm-setting does not obtrude on the emotional core of Wagner's Die Walküre, with excellent performances from Johan Botha, Anja Kampe and Claudia Mahnke, with superlative playing from the Festival Orchestra.

A perfect cast and great conducting make the Bayerische Staatsoper's Die Walküre thrilling and memorable.

Fidelio waves goodbye to Barenboim at La Scala, and a fine production marks the occasion with a firework display. 

Alvis Hermanis' new Tosca for the Berliner Staatsoper mixes innovation with tradition in an interesting, but ultimately ineffective, way. 

Kirill Petrenko starts Die Walküre with a flourish as Frank Castorf’s staging takes us back to the Baku oilfields in late tsarist Russia.

An impressive Die Walküre with a trio of first act singers that would be hard to better. Throughout, clarity of diction is allied to clarity of the orchestral reading. 

Dipping my toes into the murky waters of the Wagner-fest at the Proms this year for the first time, I found myself confronted with the monumental second installment of the Ring cycle, Die Walküre.

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.

'First impressions are often the truest', wrote Hazlitt. I was immediately struck by the amount of space on the Usher Hall stage, recently filled by so many large symphony orchestras. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra had plenty of space, a feature which was soon to be borne out in the music.

Beethoven took over nine years to write and edit Fidelio, his only opera. It tells the story of Leonore, whose husband Florestan is being illegally held in prison. She disguises herself as a man, Fidelio, and gets a job in the prison in an attempt to save him.

As The Flying Dutchman nears its close, the crew of Daland's ship are celebrating their safe homecoming and yelling at the Dutchman's unseen crew to join them. To their horror, they realise that they have indeed woken the dead: the Dutchman's crew are ghosts who have wandered the oceans for centuries: the storms cannot burst their sails for they are protected by Satan.

Philippe Jordan und das Staatsopernorchester liefern den perfekten Klangteppich für die Schagerparade.

Christian Thielamnn und Klaus Florian Vogt als Lohengrin sind einmal mehr eine Klasse für sich.

Ein überragender Christian Thielemann sorgt am Pult für einen musikalisch außergewöhnlichen Lohengrin. Auf der Bühne wird eine Paralellwelt gezeichnet, die Traditionalisten nur bedingt gefallen wird.

Kornél Mundruczós Inszenierung lenkt von Wagners Meisterwerk ab, doch eine gewaltige musikalische Leistung tröstet darüber hinweg.

Otto Schenks Regieklassiker aus 1970 lässt die Herzen der Opern-Nostalgiker höherschlagen.

Wagner-Gesang vom Feinsten und das BR-Symphonieorchester auf Opernkurs: am dritten Abend des Rings strahlten goldener Klang der Musiker und die Mienen überwältigter Zuhörer um die Wette.

Statt in romantisierenden Längen prägt der Dirigent François-Xavier Roth mit einem schnörkellosen, völlig transparenten musikalischen Zugang die Neuproduktion von Wagners Lohengrin.

Buhs für Dmitri Tcherniakovs Ring-Inszenierung und Standing Ovations für Thielemanns packendes Dirigat.

Der Ring an der Staatsoper Berlin geht in die dritte Runde mit einem stimmgewaltigen Siegfried aber einer schwächelnden Regie.

Michael Volle und Anja Kampe fesseln das Publikum mit einer unvergleichlich berührenden Darstellung im zweiten Zeil des neuen Berliner Ring des Nibelungen.

Christian Gerhaher überzeugt als Antiheld in Simon Stones temporeicher Neuinszenierung.

Konwitschnys Kult-Holländer wird im Rahmen der Münchener Opernfestspiele für eine einzige Vorstellung wiederaufgenommen.

Anja Kampe brilliert als Katerina Ismailova in Schostakowitschs letzter Oper.

Una ópera escrita rodeado de “tristeza y la mayor infelicidad”, como el propio autor refirió, es difícil que obtenga el prolongado rédito que su factor espera.

Andreas Dresen und James Gaffigan gelingt eine durchweg stimmige Neuinszenierung von Puccinis Oper  an der Bayerischen Staatsoper.

Forte d’une tenue et d’une distribution remarquables, portée par un souci conjugué du texte et du symbole, cette nouvelle mouture de Parsifal signée Richard Jones s’empare habilement des fulgurances et ambiguïtés de l'œuvre. 

Die Bayerische Staatsoper hat den zweiten Teil des Ring-Zyklus mit exzellenter Besetzung unter der Leitung von Kirill Petrenko wahrlich meisterlich zurück auf die Münchner Bühne gebracht.

Kirill Petrenko und Harry Kupfer haben mit Schostakowitschs Lady Macbeth von Mzensk neue Maßstäbe an der Bayerischen Staatsoper gesetzt.