Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Georg Zeppenfeld

The plot thickens as "episode two" of Bayreuth's new Ring muddies the waters of Siegfried’s paternity and Wotan comes to regret his actions.

Katharina Thalbach offers a traditional staging at the Semperoper, with fine vocal performances led by Krassimira Stoyanova, Francesco Meli and Oksana Volkova. 

A cast comprised of the world’s leading Wagnerians, under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano, deserve better than Otto Schenk’s outdated and cartoonish production. 

After a six month gap, the Nationaltheater welcomes a limited audience to an opera-in-concert of extraordinary beauty of singing.

 Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov relives his own arrest in 2017 in his new production of Wagner's Bühnenweihfestspiel at the Wiener Staatsoper.

An outstanding role debut from Davidsen, a star-studded vocal cast and a revelatory orchestral performance make a Beethoven anniversary performance to savour.

Christian Spuck revisits Verdi’s sublime Messa da Requiem with a host of gifted dancers and singers at the Zurich Opernhaus.

Yuval Sharon's production returns to Bayreuth in a musically compelling performance. 

Andreas Homoki’s new Zurich production capitalises on some quirky staging, but features superb voices in its principal roles and shows the best of the house’s joint choirs.

Michael Volle and Klaus Florian Vogt demonstrate that they are indeed master singers in Munich, despite adversity, in a revival of David Bösch's contemporary production.

David Alden’s new production for The Royal Opera, referencing fascist Germany, is drab, but there are musical compensations. 

Jonas Kaufmann and Camilla Nylund tackle the roles of Tristan und Isolde for the first time in Andris Nelsons' all-Wagner concert. 

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.

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

Christian Spuck’s new ballet Messa da Requiem in Zurich, is a breathtakingly powerful achievement. But its profound impact is spurred by more than dance alone.

Deutsche Oper Berlin's concert performance of Act 1 of Die Walküre was an occasion to savor with Anja Harteros making her role debut as Sieglinde. 

Uwe Eric Laufenberg sets his new staging of Wagner's final opera among the persecuted Christians of the contemporary Middle East – but avoids preaching.

Despite a miscast Isolde, Wagner's operatic monument to love makes its mark in the production by the composer's great-grandaughter.

Singing, orchestral playing and scenic portrayal all combine to make a highly memorable second instalment of Wagner's Ring.

Anna Netreboko chose to perform her first Elsa in Dresden with Christian Thielemann conducting.  It was a remarkable performance never to be forgotten.

A conceptually diffuse production of Tristan from Katharina Wagner is partially redeemed by stirring orchestral playing under the direction of Christian Thielemann and some fine singing at the opening of the Wagner Festival at Bayreuth.

It’s probably best not to think too hard about the philosophical messages behind Parsifal, but Nelsons and the CBSO provide an emphatic reminder of how transcendent Wagner's music can be.

With its latest incarnation of Die Zauberflöte, the Royal Opera ticks all the boxes in a strongly cast revival. 

The Bavarian State Opera's new production is harmonious and its musical performances are greeted with a wave of excitement.

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.

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

Peter Stein stages Schubert's problem opera Fierrabras in a world of cardboard knights. This last opera of the Salzburg Festival is well sung, but you have to ask: is the last always the best?

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 new Zauberflöte at this summer’s Salzburg Festival is a visually brilliant production with sets tailored to the atmospheric venue of the Felsenreitschule (for people not familiar with Salzburg, this is where the singing contest was held in the film The Sound of Music).

The Dresden Semperoper premiered a new production of Fidelio scarcely a month before the fall of East Germany. Much has changed in the intervening decade and a bit, but the Semperoper is still playing the same Fidelio. It doesn't take much knowledge of recent German history to understand why it was a sensation at the time.

Konzert mit besonderen Vorzeichen: Klangschönheit mit dem Gewandhausorchester unter Andris Nelsons. 

Michael Volle und Wolfgang Koch führen eine triumphale Neuinszenierung von Keith Warner an.

Tcherniakovs Holländer feiert die erste Wiederaufnahme – mit gestandenen Festspielgrößen und einer eindrucksvollen Debütantin.

In Yuval Sharons deutungsüberladener Inszenierung setzten Christian Thielemann am Pult sowie Klaus Florian Vogt als Lohengrin leuchtende Glanzpunkte.

Georg Zeppenfeld und Gerold Huber gastieren mit einer einnehmenden Interpretation von Schuberts Winterreise am Opernhaus Zürich.

Der konzertante Parsifal ist 2021 die einzige Vorstellung unter Leitung Christian Thielemanns. Er schaffte es, den Abend zu etwas ganz besonderen zu machen.

Vor allem die Bayreuth-Debütantinnen Lyniv und Grigorian machen aus Wagners frühem Werk ein orchestrales wie vokales Fest.

Ungewöhnliche Bilder und außergewöhnliche Rollengestaltung durch Michael Volle finden auch in diesem Jahr frenetische Zustimmung.

Christian Thielemann bildet mit der Staatskapelle das ideale Fundament für eine musikalische Meisterleistung.

Castelluci y Petrenko unen fuerzas en esta nueva producción de Tannhäuser. Una dirección al servicio de la escena en todo momento y una orquesta magistralmente subordinada al drama concpetual junto al mejor elenco vocal que pueda encontrarse en la actualidad, resuelven un Tannhauser mayúsculo

Trotz Topbesetzung kann die gewagten Inszenierung von Romeo Castellucci zur Premiere das Publikum nicht überzeugen.

Precedida por una gran atención mediática, el templo wagneriano estrena producción de su obra más propia. Un propuesta en la que destacan las voces y que resulta superficial a pesar de sus ambiciones.

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

On comprend, dès les premières notes – un fa dièse disséminé sans affèteries de part et d’autres des pupitres, gonflant au fil de chromatismes descendants – que Tomáš Netopil partage avec Dvořák ce doux mélange de colère saine et de pudeur, que l’on ne saurait imputer à leur seule parenté tchèque. 

Minimalistisch im Bühnenbild aber groß im Klang: Die Salzburger Osterfestspiele wurden mit einem gemischt aufgenommem Otello begonnen, wobei Röschmann als Desdemona durchweg überzeugte. 

Das Theater an der Wien feiert sein 10-jähriges Bestehen mit einer von Nikloaus Harnoncourt eingerichteten Fassung der Leonore von 1806.