Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Hans Schavernoch

The Don is dark and light, the production somewhere in between, with strong singing and musical direction but stodgy staging. 

Loyalty and misdeeds in the jungle of emotions in Handel's Poro, re dell'Indie.

Anna Netrebko shines opposite Plácido Domingo in Harry Kupfer's uncertain new production.

Jean-Louis Martinoty’s scenically seductive Don Giovanni comes as a welcome relief from recent Regietheater aberrations. 

Harry Kupfer's vivid and enlightening production came alive by soprano Anja Kampe's courageous performance and by conductor Oksana Lyniv's briliant direction.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin led an intriguing performance of Wagner's Flying Dutchman at the Met with a superb orchestra and an excellent ensemble of singers. 

Daniele Gatti is the winner of the night, managing to draw an astounding outcome from a far from ideal cast.

Not even the musical genius of Daniel Barenboim could turn Harry Kupfer’s irritating Sitzprobe production into a “Namenlose Freude”.

Mehta's refusal to treat these as episodic statements gave the playing its polish. The music unravelled in a spun-out yarn.

Within Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the darkest corners of the soul are exposed by music, stirred up by the lying, lecherous exploits of the aristocratic scoundrel, Don Giovanni.

Tristan und Isolde is notoriously difficult to bring off in the theatre, but under Daniel Barenboim's direction, Waltraud Meier, Peter Seiffert and an outstanding cast give a profoundly moving performance of Harry Kupfer's production at the Berlin Staatsoper.

Harry Kupfer updates the action of Der Rosenkavalier to the early 20th century in an evocative production for the Salzburg Festival.

On Harry Kupfer's dramatic set, strong performances by Simon O'Neill (Otello), Lianna Haroutounian (Desdemona) and especially Claudio Sgura (Iago) make Opera Australia's Otello a memorable revival.

Kirill Petrenko und Harry Kupfer haben mit Schostakowitschs Lady Macbeth von Mzensk neue Maßstäbe an der Bayerischen Staatsoper gesetzt.

Harry Kupfers Rosenkavalier bei den Salzburger Festspielen ist und bleibt ein mitreißendes Erlebnis: Stimmliche Höchstleistung treffen darstellerische Exzelenz und viel Liebe zum Detail.