Live, Video: Find reviews | Concerts, Opera, Dance | Chanda VanderHart

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. 

Marlene Monteiro Freitas directs her first opera, in which Lulu, if not buried alive, is certainly left completely unrecognizable. 

Vasily Barkhatov directs a new production of Mieczysław Weinberg's rarely staged, massive and unwieldy opera at the MuseumsQuartier. 

Brad Mehldau’s song cycle is a disappointment, the texts selected under the rubric of “desire” proving a major concern.

Despite an incapacitated Ying Fang miming the role of Susanna, the brilliant cast makes Barrie Kosky's new production worth the night out in Vienna. 

“Lima darf nicht Österreich werden!” Offenbach's operetta is set in Lima, but really it’s Vienna in director Nikolaus Habjan uproarious production. 

The French pianist steps in to join the American diva in the Musikverein for a program of French and German art song. 

There is magic aplenty in director Stefan Herheim’s bold recontextualization of Gian Carlo Menotti's holiday opera. 

They may seem like an odd pairing, but Wang and Kavakos defy the naysayers yet again, warming into a fascinating recital in Vienna.

Founded in 1988 by Claudio Abbado, Wien Modern is perfect for the contemporary-music curious, such as this complete traversal of George Crumb's masterpiece, housed in an art nouveau theater on Steinhof. 

In the Brahms Saal, Marc-André Hamelin juxtaposes three Russian composers with Schubert’s long misunderstood final piano sonata.

Herheim’s maiden voyage in his new capacity as Intendant confirms his ability to deftly negotiate a less-than-straightforward work with care and ambition and add his own voice enthusiastically to the mix.

An energized cast delivers in a visually eye-popping production as Monteverdi's opera appears at the Haus am Ring for the very first time. 

A more thoughtful and intentional artist is hard to come by today, and one who graces the Musikverein donning fabulous silver shoes on top of her pianistic gifts must be heaven-sent. 

The tenor and pianist pair Britten and Schubert in their Lieder recital on the stage of the Großer Saal. 

If in heaven there are indeed harps, then it would be hard to imagine a better angel to recruit than Anneleen Lenaerts, who performed Glière's concerto with her Philharmonic brothers and sisters in arms in the Musikverein. 

Pageantry abounds as the popular mezzo-soprano turns the Konzerthaus Wien into a sort of classical music, multisensory varieté.

Director Lotte De Beer's thoroughly realized, aesthetically rich and beautifully executed production of Janáček's masterpiece is anchored by strong performances from Nina Stemme and Svetlana Aksenova.

In much anticipated role (Kaufmann) and stage (Davidsen) debuts, this revival of Peter Grimes at the Staatsoper was much anticipated, despite a production that should be put out to sea without a paddle.

Kavakos’ restless approach was haunting, and during the cadenza he pared back his sound till it was nearly transparent, stopping breaths as we all leaned in. 

Kurt Weill's musical, with its focus on psychoanalysis, makes its Austrian premiere in the city of Sigmund Freud. 

Amartuvshin Enkhbat and María José Siri spar as father and daughter in Günter Krämer's tired production of Verdi's biblical epic. 

Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck’s Notturno is the rarity in an imaginative chamber recital dedicated to nocturnal music and transfiguration.   

Kate Lindsey’s voice is luminous, effortlessly regulated in every register, and intertwined magically with the gleaming soprano of Slávka Zámečníková, a very special new jewel in the Staatsoper ensemble who is every inch a star.

Faust and Méphistophélès pal around like buddies in Castorf's multi-media staging, the devil here less diabolical and more anarchistic party-boy. 

A five-hour operatic marathon as the full, five-act French version of Verdi's epic Don Carlos returns to the Staatsoper after a seven-year hiatus. 

Leoncavallo's opera is a rare example of a tragic, verismo opera where not a soul dies... neither by natural causes nor foul play.  

Argerich sprinted through technical runs with her characteristic articulation and breathtaking technique, and made Prokofiev's Third seem like child’s play.

All the light, tuneful melodies and tuttis of the Ninth Symphony are still somehow Shostakovich, but a Shostakovich during a rare period where he seems to be taking antidepressants.

Keith Warner directs a new opera which packs in betrayal, murder, oppression, freedom, love and the Spanish Inquisition into a mere 90 minutes.

Movement was so effectively utilised in this production, with elements of ballet, modern and Scottish folk melded in true Agnes de Mille fashion.

Sam Brown's sparse production leaves nothing to focus on but the individual protagonists on stage. 

Countertenor Lawrence Zazzo is more than at home in the role of Oberon, and possesses a vocal quality ideal for the scheming king of the fairies, simultaneously eerie and seductive.

Christiane Karg is the resplendent soprano in a wonderful performance of Mahler's Fourth at the Konzerthaus.

During the “Salce” and “Ave Maria” in Act Four Bezsmertna turned this to magical effect, thinning out and floating her shimmering soprano into gossamer threads.

Director Nikolaus Habjan took Oberon’s inherent miscellany and ran with it, straight into a retro-futurism aesthetic.

It is all very easy on the eyes, although pondering what it is all supposed to mean is a recipe for a migraine.

Excellent chamber orchestras are a true pleasure to behold. The Wiener Virtuosen were in their element in an evening of Mozart, Mahler and Dvořák. 

Whether one prefers more raw emotion and large-scale architecture or is thrilled by perfectly sculpted individual masterpieces, this was undeniably chamber music of the highest order.

The soul of the composer seems very much alive in her touch, particularly in his most retrospective moments.

Osborn absolutely lives the part; he negotiated formidable heights, intricate passage work and the sheer volume of notes with style and clarity as well as colour and nuance. 

Marlis Petersen's Alcina bloomed for a knockout “Ah! mio cor!” just in time for intermission.

...the perpetuum mobile character building to a raucously joyous finale that elicited genuine, generous applause.

A gorgeous programme of Wagner, Strauss and Schoenberg and fragments in sextet arrangements

Vienna State Opera offered a solid production in which precious little gleamed.

If Beethoven referred to his own compositional approach as “redend” (speaking), then Levit speaks him clearly, beautifully and fluently.

An unusual programme at the Musikverein, drawing together works by Mendelssohn, Brahms and a piano concerto by Britten. 

Despite some fascinating, impressive and often beautiful moments, the consistent refusal to give the audience time to applaud, pause and digest what they had just heard turned the evening into a wash of death songs.

Grimaud married incredible precision and rigour with moving sensitivity and ease. She led the listener clearly through the score without dropping a detail, but never gave the feeling that she was micro-managing.

Hagen, the first chapter in the Theater an der Wien's reimagining of The Ring, features music from Das Rhinegold and Götterdämmerung woven seamlessly together, telling the story from the perspective of Hagen, son of Nibelung dwarf, Alberich.