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At the Enescu Festival n Bucharest Vladimir Jurowski celebrates the centennial of Die Frau one Schatten’s premiere.

Staging the story of the Italian political figure Rienzi as that of a dictator in 20th-century Germany was an inspired idea. This revival was a rare occasion to experience Wagner's early opera. 

Catherine Foster returns, in the Ruhr, to the role of Isolde with Torsten Kerl in a new production of Tristan und Isolde .

A musically strong revival of an austere production still leaves one feeling short-changed.

At the basic level Tristan und Isolde is an opera of hormones, not happenings; fathoms deeper it explores human experience at a point where sense is dumb and flesh retires – as close to heaven and hell as it’s possible to go without first having to die.

A great love story as well as a cultural and musical shock as it has been from the beginning, this performance of Tristan und Isolde in Naples was led by an inspired Zubin Metha.

Though Jordan and the Wiener Symphoniker have been happy bedfellows many times before, this concert marked the beginning of a new stage in their relationship. 

Art installation of a biogas factory is the setting for a mostly undistinguished musical performance.

The unnecessary celebrations of Richard Strauss’ 150th birthday seem to have begun early at the Metropolitan Opera. Two weeks after this Die Frau ohne Schatten comes Der Rosenkavalier, and a few months after that Arabella. By the standards of Strauss at the Met, Herbert Wernicke’s Frau is still new at only a dozen years old.

For those who view Wagner’s Ring Cycle in symphonic terms, Siegfried is often described as the third movement Scherzo: an episode of comedy in between the existential musings of Die Walküre and the action-packed, apocalyptic Götterdämerung. Last night’s performance at the Opéra Bastille in Paris gave us plenty of high comedy and much more besides.

Au Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, la ténébreuse Ville morte de Korngold est allégée par la mise en scène de Philipp Himmelmann. Direction musicale souple et plateau vocal équilibré complètent la production.

Die Zeichen standen gut für einen großen Mahler-Moment im Wiener Konzerthaus, doch es war Ernst Kreneks Erstes Violinkonzert, das den Abend rettete.

Pour ce Tristan und Isolde proposé au Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Daniele Gatti dirige un Orchestre National de France très inspiré et un duo vocal en or, Torsten Kerl et Rachel Nicholls, étoiles d'une distribution équilibrée. Une production vraiment satisfaisante, dans une mise en scène soignée de Pierre Audi.

Catherine Naglestad und Elena Zhidkova brillieren in den weiblichen Hauptrollen von Hector Berlioz' *Les Troyens* neben dem bestens aufgelegten Philharmonischen Staatsorchester Hamburg und seinem Generalmusikdirektor Kent Nagano.

El Holandés errante sirve a la OCNE para desplegar todo su poderío sonoro en una noche en la que la Senta de Ricarda Merbeth robó el protagonismo a un desigual Terfel.

Die Brünner Philharmonie unter Aleksandar Markovic spannte einen Bogen von den Anfägen Wagners zu seiner Glanzzeit. Ein Abend, an dem das Orchester und die Sänger begeisterten, aber dennoch Wünsche offen blieben.