Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Calixto Bieito

Bieito’s Idomeneo runs out of time in Prague

By Frank Kuznik, 28 September 2025

At the Prague State Opera, Calixto Brieito relocates Mozart's opera seria to modern times, with disastrous results.

***11

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***11

Prague

28 Sep 2025

Calixto Bieito’s Idomeneo runs out of time in Prague

By Frank Kuznik

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Pesaro

Calixto Bieito’s circus opens the Rossini Opera Festival: vocal triumphs in Zelmira

By Laura Servidei, 10 August 2025

A production where vocal brilliance battles directorial gimmicks in Pesaro, with a superb cast led by Anastasia Bartoli and Lawrence Brownlee.

***11

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***11

Pesaro

10 Aug 2025

Calixto Bieito’s Zelmira opens the Rossini Opera Festival

By Laura Servidei

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A bleak Jenůfa from Calixto Bieito

By Frank Kuznik, 22 May 2025

The director drains the life out of an impassioned opera with a staging devoid of authenticity and ideas.

**111

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**111

Prague

22 May 2025

A bleak Jenůfa from Calixto Bieito

By Frank Kuznik

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Rome

Calixto Bieito directs a moving Suor Angelica and Il prigioniero in Rome

By Pia Maltri, 23 April 2025

An unusual double bill pairing of Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Dallapiccola’s Il prigioniero opens at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

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Rome

23 Apr 2025

Bieito directs a moving Suor Angelica and Il prigioniero in Rome

By Pia Maltri

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Paris

Thomas Adès’ high-flying Exterminating Angel at the Opéra Bastille

By Erwan Gentric, 29 February 2024

The French premiere of the British composer's opera will be the undisputed high point of the Grande Boutique's season: a perfect confluence of music, staging and cast.

*****

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*****

Paris

29 Feb 2024

Thomas Adès’ high-flying Exterminating Angel in Paris

By Erwan Gentric

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On a knife-edge: Calixto Bieito's Carmen returns to English National Opera

By Dominic Lowe, 01 February 2023

Bieito’s vivid production of Bizet's most famous work is a classic; his attack on toxic masculinity is visceral, made more potent by an excellent leading pair of singers.

****1

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****1

London

01 Feb 2023

On a knife-edge: Carmen returns to English National Opera

By Dominic Lowe

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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

28 Jan 2023

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

By Elodie Olson-Coons

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Brno

Bieito's parched aesthetic strips the emotion from Kátya Kabanová at Brno's Janáček Festival

By Gianmarco Segato, 09 November 2022

The Spanish director's emotionally-sapped staging for the Prague National Theatre travels to Brno for the Janáček Festival.

***11

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***11

Brno

09 Nov 2022

Bieito's parched aesthetic strips the emotion from Kátya Kabanová

By Gianmarco Segato

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A brutal descent into the dark abyss: Calixto Bieito delivers a hollow Kátya Kabanová

By Frank Kuznik, 22 June 2022

Powerful visuals can't compensate for an otherwise empty production of Janáček’s gripping tragedy.

***11

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***11

Prague

22 Jun 2022

In Prague, Calixto Bieito delivers a hollow Kátya Kabanová

By Frank Kuznik

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Depravity and unbridled lust: Schulhoff's Flammen revived in Prague

By Frank Kuznik, 12 June 2022

Calixto Bieito's surreal production of Erwin Schulhoff's forgotten opera takes the audience to the heart of darkness.

****1

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****1

Prague

12 Jun 2022

Depravity and unbridled lust: Schulhoff's Flammen revived in Prague

By Frank Kuznik

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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Zurich

14 Sep 2021

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

By Laura Servidei

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

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Berlin

13 Dec 2020

Regietheater reigns supreme in Calixto Bieito's Berlin Lohengrin

By Lorenzo Fiorito

Empty hunger: Bieito’s Carmen returns to ENO

By Dominic Lowe, 29 January 2020

Bieito’s Carmen is now a mainstay of ENO's repertoire, but with an excellent central cast led by Sean Panikkar and Justina Gringytė, the production feels entirely fresh.

****1

****1

London

29 Jan 2020

Empty hunger: Bieito’s Carmen returns to ENO

By Dominic Lowe

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

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Berlin

11 Jul 2018

Penetrating Schreker’s kaleidoscopic score

By Katherine Syer

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

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Zurich

24 Jun 2018

A metaphor for the modern world in Zurich

By Sarah Batschelet

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

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Berlin

21 Jan 2018

Toy Story: Calixto Bieito stages Die Gezeichneten

By Hugo Shirley

Nuremberg

Horse and Carthage: The Trojans in Nuremberg

By Matthew Rye, 08 October 2017

A typically thought-provoking production of The Trojans from Calixto Bieito combines with a thrilling musical performance to compensate for a heavily fileted version of Berlioz's magnum opus.

****1

****1

Nuremberg

08 Oct 2017

Horse and Carthage: The Trojans in Nuremberg

By Matthew Rye

A web of white packing tape: Calixto Bieito’s Tosca in Oslo

By Aksel Tollåli, 11 June 2017

Calixto Bieito's Tosca, despite an intriguingly modern setting, fails to make sparks fly.

***11

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Oslo

11 Jun 2017

Bieito's Tosca: A web of white packing tape

By Aksel Tollåli

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

11 May 2017

Bieito's Fiery Angel burns bright in Zürich

By Elodie Olson-Coons

Basel

An elemental ancient ritual: Xenakis’ Oresteia in Basel

By Sarah Batschelet, 24 March 2017

Based on the ancient tragedies by Aeschylus, Oresteia makes a great case for composer Iannis Xenakis’s concept of “total theatre”.

****1

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Basel

24 Mar 2017

An elemental ancient ritual

By Sarah Batschelet

A man’s world: Bieito’s Carmen revived in Oslo

By Aksel Tollåli, 28 January 2017

The revival of Calixto Bieito's Carmen in Oslo proves a bumpy ride, with uneven singing and orchestral playing, saved by Katarina Bradić's captivating portrayal of the title heroine.

***11

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Oslo

28 Jan 2017

A man’s world: Bieito’s Carmen revived in Oslo

By Aksel Tollåli

Boston

Love and Death in the Afternoon: Calixto Bieito's Carmen in Boston

By Kevin Wells, 23 September 2016

If you think you know Carmen, think you know Calixto Bieto, then you definitely should head to the Opera House and have your eyes opened on both counts.

****1

****1

Boston

23 Sep 2016

Love and Death in the Afternoon

By Kevin Wells

Frighteningly intense: Calixto Bieito directs a devastating War Requiem in Oslo

By Aksel Tollåli, 10 September 2016

Calixto Bieito's staging of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem is violent, shocking and uniquely powerful.

*****

*****

Oslo

10 Sep 2016

A devastating War Requiem in Oslo

By Aksel Tollåli

San Francisco

A Carmen for Our Time from Bieito in San Francisco

By Maria Nockin, 27 May 2016

Calixto Bieito’s production of Georges Bizet’s Carmen isn't without controversy. San Francisco Opera gave us raw sexuality unvarnished by any degree of social refinement.

****1

****1

San Francisco

27 May 2016

A Carmen for Our Time from Bieito in San Francisco

By Maria Nockin

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

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London

09 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

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Belfast

30 Oct 2015

Calixto Bieito's Turandot in Belfast

By Philip Hammond

I like a boy in uniform: a frustrating Carmen in Oslo

By Aksel Tollåli, 06 October 2015

Calixto Bieito's production of Carmen attempts to humanise the title character, but in doing so leaves the rest as caricatures.

**111

**111

Oslo

06 Oct 2015

I like a boy in uniform: a frustrating Carmen in Oslo

By Aksel Tollåli

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

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Ghent

27 Sep 2015

Andreas Schager triumphs in Bieito's Tannhäuser

By David Pinedo

An atmosphere filled with dust and testosterone: Bieito’s Carmen returns to ENO

By Mark Pullinger, 20 May 2015

Calixto Bieito updates the Carmen to the final years of Franco’s dictatorship and in Joan Anton Rechi’s revival, the results are often gritty and fierce, if unlikely to do anything for the Spanish tourist trade.

***11

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London

20 May 2015

Carmen: An atmosphere filled with dust and testosterone

By Mark Pullinger

Stuttgart

Une folle journée: Calixto Bieito's Platée in Stuttgart

By David Karlin, 08 May 2015

Bieito and Oper Stuttgart's Platée is a true riot, with outstanding vocal performances from Thomas Walker in the cross-dressing title role, and Lenneke Ruiten as a rock star, guitar-toting La Folie.

****1

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Stuttgart

08 May 2015

Une folle journée: Bieito's Platée

By David Karlin

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

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Oslo

02 Oct 2014

Drunken ramblings: Calixto Bieito’s Hoffmann revived

By Aksel Tollåli

The night of the two Hoffmänner: The Tales of Hoffmann at the Norwegian National Opera

By Aksel Tollåli, 04 December 2013

Calixto Bieito's The Tales of Hoffmann at the Norwegian National Opera contains some very effective and at times striking moments, but the production turned out something of a disappointment overall.

**111

**111

Oslo

04 Dec 2013

Norwegian National Opera: The Tales of Hoffmann

By Aksel Tollåli

ENO's new season opens with Bieito's contradictory Fidelio

By Sam Wigglesworth, 25 September 2013

In his production of Fidelio for English National Opera, director Calixto Bieito sets out to completely contradict the work’s central tenet.

*1111

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London

25 Sep 2013

ENO's new season opens with Bieito's contradictory Fidelio

By Sam Wigglesworth

Danger, sleaze, passion: Carmen re-imagined at ENO

By David Karlin, 21 November 2012

Carmen has always been in my head as a “pretty” opera: lovely tunes, colourful setting, exotically alluring gypsy brushing up against hunky bullfighter and handsome soldier - not exactly French Grand Opera, perhaps, but a far cry from gritty verismo.

***11

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London

21 Nov 2012

Danger, sleaze, passion: Carmen re-imagined at ENO

By David Karlin

Munich

More Bieito than Beethoven: Fidelio at the Bayerische Staatsoper

By Max Woods, 27 November 2011

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.

**111

**111

Munich

27 Nov 2011

More Bieito than Beethoven: Fidelio at the Bayerische Staatsoper

By Max Woods

Mozart light opera, Tarantino-style

By David Karlin, 08 April 2011

Germany is the land of Regie-Theater, opera in which the director’s vision is paramount, and where that vision frequently contains an alternative tale in a modern setting based on thoughts that the opera has inspired in the director.

**111

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Berlin

08 Apr 2011

Mozart light opera, Tarantino-style

By David Karlin

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La Coruña

Bizet según Bieito: impactante Carmen en la Temporada Lírica coruñesa

By Pablo Sánchez Quinteiro, 05 September 2025

La mítica producción de Carmen de Calixto Bieito abre la Temporada Lírica de A Coruña con un reparto muy solvente y el impacto, tanto visual como simbólico, habituales en el director español.

****1

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****1

La Coruña

05 Sep 2025

Impactante Carmen en la Temporada Lírica coruñesa

By Pablo Sánchez Quinteiro

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Saber gobernar el escenario: William Christie salva la producción de Giulio Cesare en el Liceu

By Maria Sánchez, 25 May 2025

El planteamiento escenográfico de Bieito se queda entre dos aguas –con regalo nostálgico para el público liceista incluido– logrando un vacío lumínico y exuberante sin condición.

***11

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Barcelona

25 May 2025

William Christie salva la producción de Giulio Cesare en el Liceu

By Maria Sánchez

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Geneva

Machtvakuum im Kreml: Mussorgskys Chowanschtschina am Grand Théâtre de Genève

By Thomas Schacher, 25 March 2025

Calixto Bieito inszeniert Mussorgskys unvollendete Oper als tödliches Machtgerangel verschiedener Gruppen. Bei der Gestaltung des Schlusses leistet er sich Freiheiten, die grenzwertig sind.

***11

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Geneva

25 Mar 2025

Machtvakuum im Kreml: Mussorgskys Chowanschtschina in Genf

By Thomas Schacher

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Paris

Le cours de L’Or du Rhin dévisse à l’Opéra de Paris

By Erwan Gentric, 29 January 2025

Très attendue depuis son annulation pour cause de Covid-19, la Tétralogie selon Calixto Bieito déçoit grandement pour son premier épisode, et ni la fosse ni la distribution vocale ne compensent cet échec.

**111

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**111

Paris

29 Jan 2025

Le cours de L’Or du Rhin dévisse à l’Opéra de Paris

By Erwan Gentric

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Vienna

Packende Brutalität: Calixto Bieitos Carmen an der Wiener Staatsoper

By Isabella Steppan, 07 September 2024

Exzellent besetzt und als mitreißender Thriller inszeniert wird bereits in der ersten Woche der neuen Saison im Haus am Ring ein Highlight geboten.

****1

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Vienna

07 Sep 2024

Packende Brutalität: Calixto Bieitos Carmen an der Wiener Staatsoper

By Isabella Steppan

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Am Stück vorbei inszeniert: Verdis I vespri siciliani durch die Brille von Calixto Bieito

By Thomas Schacher, 09 June 2024

In Zürich wagt man sich an Verdis selten gespielte Oper I vespri siciliani. Calixto Bieito verkehrt deren nationalistischen Hintergrund ins Gegenteil, und Ivan Repušić nimmt dem Stück seinen musikalischen Biss.

**111

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Zurich

09 Jun 2024

Am Stück vorbei inszeniert: Calixto Bieitos I vespri siciliani

By Thomas Schacher

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Vienna

Es bleibt spannend... Carmen an der Wiener Staatsoper

By Snapdragon, 21 April 2024

Das Staatsopernorchester unter Asher Fisch und eine großartige Besetzungen zündeten Bizets Rhythmusfeuerwerk.

****1

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Vienna

21 Apr 2024

Es bleibt spannend... Carmen an der Wiener Staatsoper

By Snapdragon

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Ménage à trois con Pasolini, Bieito y Parra: Orgia en el Liceu

By Maria Sánchez, 11 April 2024

Una tragedia del espíritu del siglo XX con música del XXI; Hèctor Parra y Calixto Bieito releen a Pasolini en una producción acertada, aún con un resultado a medias.

***11

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Barcelona

11 Apr 2024

Ménage à trois con Pasolini, Bieito y Parra: Orgia en el Liceu

By Maria Sánchez

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Madrid

Una historia de violencia: Bieito lleva con éxito Lear al Teatro Real

By Juan José Freijo, 29 January 2024

Este Lear de Calixto Bieito constituye la mejor propuesta hasta el momento de la temporada de Teatro Real.

*****

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*****

Madrid

29 Jan 2024

Una historia de violencia: Bieito lleva con éxito Lear al Real

By Juan José Freijo

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Paris

Feu nourri à la Philharmonie : Die Soldaten par François-Xavier Roth et Calixto Bieito

By Pierre Liscia-Beaurenaut, 28 January 2024

Événement à la Philharmonie avec la représentation du rare opéra de Bernd Alois Zimmermann, dans une mise en espace limitée de Calixto Bieito mais avec un plateau exceptionnel.

****1

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Paris

28 Jan 2024

Feu nourri à la Philharmonie : Die Soldaten par Roth et Bieito

By Pierre Liscia-Beaurenaut

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La Carmen de Bieito que nunca se agota. El Gran Teatre del Liceu lleno hasta la bandera en el 25º aniversario de reapertura

By Maria Sánchez, 04 January 2024

El Liceu sigue llenando el teatro con esta producción que no cesa en ser una de las más icónicas desde su estreno en 1999 en el marco del Festival de Peralada.

*****

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*****

Barcelona

04 Jan 2024

La Carmen de Bieito que nunca se agota vuelve al Liceu

By Maria Sánchez

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Liebe und das Leid der Welt: Aida-Premiere an der Staatsoper Berlin

By Svenja Koch, 03 October 2023

Calixto Bieito will in seiner Neuadaption von Verdis wohl bekanntester Oper viel und erreicht damit so ziemlich nichts. Zum Glück gibt es Elīna Garanča.

***11

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***11

Berlin

03 Oct 2023

Liebe und das Leid der Welt: Aida-Premiere an der Staatsoper Berlin

By Svenja Koch

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