Camilla Nylund’s rich, ample voice bloomed in the glorious setting of the sonnet, cosseted by burnished horn playing, in Strauss' unsurpassed operatic farewell to the soprano voice.
Director Peter Konwitschny's staging of Cherubini's Medea critiques rejection and mistreatment of refugees. A strong new German translation and a talented cast make this a must-see.
Konwitschny's bold approach to Rihm's musical dialectic surprises, challenges, and bewilders. The glorious soundscape created in the Felsenreitschule makes this Eroberung von Mexico a unique, unmissable operatic experience.
The bright colours and childishness of Konwitschny’s production for the Bayerische Staatsoper shock but succeed. The cast and orchestra shine, especially in the final act.
Two years ago, when this controversial production by Peter Konwitschny was first seen at English National Opera, I was completely knocked sideways by it. Could it deliver the same emotional blow to the solar plexus this time around?
First class performances from Stephen Gould and Nina Stemme are backed by a magnificent orchestral performance in the Royal Opera's revival of Christof Loy's spartan production.
After his final opera, Falstaff (1893), Verdi founded a home for retired musicians. Director Christof Loy related these two achievements by setting the opera in the nursing home...
Christof Loy’s new production of Falstaff for the Deutsche Oper Berlin is a conundrum. While the opera itself tells a story of comeuppance, Loy’s production seemed to be about the positive physical effects of playing pranks on your neighbors.
Giuseppe Verdi’s Attila is not an opera that one hears often. Composed during his self-styled “galley period” – before he found his mature musical voice with Rigoletto – Attila has inherent musical and dramaturgical weaknesses. With one foot still firmly rooted in bel canto tradition, the numerous cabalettas can be exhausting, even ridiculous, considering the dramatic nature of the text.
In each case, you know the murder is coming. In each case the music is explosive and closes the opera: there is nothing left to say except Canio's simple words: "La commedia è finita.
Before writing a note of Gogol, composer Lera Auerbach immersed herself in the writer’s complete works and over twenty books written about him. It would take similar efforts to begin to understand this opera: taking us inside the fevered mind of its title character, Gogol is less a biographical narrative set to music than a phantasmagorical, psychological investigation.
Mit einer grandiosen Vorstellung von Händels Ariodante melden sich die Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele in diesem Jahr einmal mehr zurück und feiern einen beispiellosen Erfolg. Sowohl musikalisch als auch szenisch verspricht die Neuproduktion im Haus für Mozart einen überaus überzeugenden Abend.
Brigitte Fassbaender inszeniert im Bockenheimer Depot Brittens erste, lange vergessene Oper als klug unterhaltende Satire mit zielsicheren Pointen, hochmotiviertem Ensemble und einem Orchester unter erschwerten Bedingungen.
Renaissance trifft Moderne, trifft Industriezeitalter. Der Münchner Holländer hat schrille Kontraste zu bieten, bevor er schließlich mit krachender Pyrotechnik endet.
Mit Augenmerk auf die politische Dimension kann die Inszenierung von Halévys La Juive am Nationaltheater Mannheim aufgrund komischer Brechungen und einer gemischten Gesangsleistung nicht überzeugen.
Peter Konwitschnys zeitlose Inszenierung von Puccinis Klassiker wartet mit ausdrucksstarken Bildern auf und setzt dabei auf klassische Personenführung.
