Harry Kupfer's vivid and enlightening production came alive by soprano Anja Kampe's courageous performance and by conductor Oksana Lyniv's briliant direction.
Munich revived a thoughtful modern production of Janáček's Jenůfa, with fine orchestral direction and strong singing doing full justice to the rich score.
Martin Kušej's production of La forza del destino is hard hitting and intelligent: an imperfect orchestral performance is more than compensated for by an outstanding cast of singers.
Warlokowski's staging of Eugene Onegin for the Bayerische Staatsoper works from a bold premise: Onegin is gay. Strong musical and dramatic performances keep the concept coherent and interesting, but it ultimately doesn't convince.
In this minimalist period production of Figaro, the singing and acting are the centre of attention. A very talented cast carries the show, delivering beautiful singing and engaging comedy.
The Bayerische Staatsoper presents an ugly, brutal staging of Zimmermann's Die Soldaten – which is exactly as it should be. Barbara Hannigan's Marie steals the show, but the entire cast manage seemingly impossible musical and dramatic feats.
What man wants most is that which he cannot have. With a great deal of humour and attention to detail, Dieter Dorn leads Figaro and the household of his baronial palace through its “day of madness” to give us an evening of wonder.
La Traviata is such a warhorse that we often forget how many issues it raises for presenting a staging that can convince us of what is in the first analysis a quite ludicrous story, despite Verdi's veristic intentions.
The plight of the introvert, stigmatised by society despite the many benefits of their contemplative natures and inner strength, is an important part of the contemporary Zeitgeist, but it is in fact nothing new.
Although written many years before Rossini's The Barber of Seville, the story of The Marriage of Figaro is in fact the sequel to that of the later opera. This farcical masterpiece of the opera buffa style was the first of three operas Mozart worked on with the Italian librettist Lorenzo da Ponte and was a risky undertaking.
Le Théâtre des Champs-Elysées propose une version concert d'Arabella, de Richard Strauss. Une soirée portée par une distribution de rêve dans laquelle se distingue Anja Harteros.
Unter der Leitung von Kiril Petrenko überzeugt die Bayerische Staatsoper in der gelungenen Neuinszenierung von Puccinis Il trittico mit meisterlichen Klängen und exzellenter Besetzung.
Ermonela Jaho bot an der Bayerischen Staatsoper in "La Traviata" einen fulminanten Ersatz für Sonya Yoncheva. Während das Ensemble mit starkem Auftritt überzeugte, hat die Inszenierung wenig zu erzählen.
Dass alte Produktionen nicht unbedingt verstaubt und langweilig sein müssen, zeigt die Bayerische Staatsoper mit einer denkwürdigen Rosenkavalier-Vorstellung.
Mit der Sache Makropulos setzt die bayerische Staatsoper gleich zum Beginn der Münchner Opernfestspiele einen überwältigenden Akzent – dank Nadja Michael.
Trotz ihres Alters überwältigt Herbert Wernickes Inszenierung bis heute mit gewaltiger Bildsprache, doch gerade reduziertes Bühnenbild bedarf umso feinerer Personenregie.
