Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo

Jean-Paul Scarpitta’s San Carlo staging was almost as minimal as a biblical oratorio.

A trusty and convincing version of the masterpiece, with a cast of well-matched singers.

After a number of eccentric stagings, Mario Pontiggia's traditional production is a hit in Naples. 

A fresh, gleaming production of director Elena Barbalich, with as much vaudeville as possible

Many scenes could risk to be particularly disturbing,  but their overt brutality appeared functional, to the structure of the drama. A dark, gloomy story as unambiguously told as it should be.

David Pountney’s 2014 staging was revived in Naples with good singing and empathetic conducting.

A suggestive staging barely supported by the musical side

Only soprano Eleonora Buratto’s Mimì added real warmth and pathos to Mario Pontiggi's staging. 

A movie-like staging for Puccini's most original opera at the Teatro San Carlo.

Giorgio Strehler’s production of Mozart’s Abduction, revived by Mattia Testi in Naples, is smooth and sophisticated.

A production which did not make a strong impression in Naples, despite a first rate cast. 

The staging highlighted Carmen’s rebellious traits more than her sensual exoticism.

A reading full of emotion from conductor Juraj Valčuha sets up one of the best San Carlo Orchestra’s performances of this season.

This production at the San Carlo was an excellent, emotional Lucia di Lammermoor, welcomed with empathy by the audience, like an old companion. 

A welcome opportunity to hear one of Tchaikovsky's less known operas in Naples.

In this staging of Verdi’s  masterpiece, the director reminds us that the ominous epilogue springs from its short prelude.

Suggesting that Otello was a migrant, like modern refugees, was not a great staging idea for a production which could count on an high-rate vocal cast.

A terrific double bill of two one-act operas: Der Zwerg (The Dwarf) by Alexander von Zemlinsky and Il tabarro by Giacomo Puccini.

A piece of Italian verismo well worth being in the repertoire, beautifully staged and sung.

Teatro di San Carlo closed its Opera Festival summer season with Le nozze di Figaro, which director Chiara Muti staged as a timeless classic

Juxtaposing Granados’ sensuality with the miserable story of Suor Angelica functioned by contrast, as they do not have anything in common.

This was the first performance in modern times of Giovanni Paisiello’s Zenobia in Palmira and was enjoyed at the Teatro di Corte (Court Theatre) in the Royal Palace. 

A revival of a traditional staging,  with great singers and full of dramatic energy

Good overall singing, but the Steinberg's conducting was completely subordinate to the stage directions.

This production of Norma was definitely the best staging seen at the San Carlo in recent years.

It took a whole act to warm up the audience, but at the end, San Carlo's production of Lehár’s frothy operetta proved convincing

The story still remained moving and the performance was musically pleasant, but the staging did not convince overall

This revival of a 2012 staging by Ferzan Ozpetek tells the story efficiently, while conductor Nello Santi only at times made us experience all the emotional depths this opera contains.

A nimble, cheerful performance of Donizetti's dramma buffo in Naples, both by individuals and ensemble. 

The gaily poor artists are called to adulthood and responsibility.

Opera at its best. Lot of emotion in this fully melodramatic staging of Tosca in Naples, every performer was completely in their role.

A glittering production of Rossini's retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale at the Teatro San Carlo. 

A superb revival of Karole Armitage's staging of Gluck's masterpiece at Teatro di San Carlo.

A musically convincing production of Niccolò Jommelli's L'isola disabitata, but with too many pretentious stage ideas.

A very good production of Luisa Miller by the Teatro San Carlo, set in Naples itself.

In San Carlo's Luisa Miller, top notch performances from Luciano Ganci and Elena Moşuc lead a concert performance which show what a great and underperformed work this is.

Roberto De Simone's staging evokes a fabulous out-of-time China, and perfectly accompanies the majesty of Puccini’s last and unfinished opera. De Simone chooses to stop the opera at the point of Puccini's death, without Franco Alfano's finale.

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.

In this production of Andrea Chénier, love, liberty, revolution and death are all ingredients to create strong emotions: with a final ovation for the conductor.

Director Michal Znaniecki sets the action of Verdi's popular Il trovatore in an indeterminate 20th century wartime, undecidedly trying to mix up visual suggestions and primeval anguish

A successful production for a scandalous opera which exercised a broad influence on the musical theatre of the 20th century.

A joyful atnmophere in this production, thanks to the colourful staging and godible singing cast.

A Neapolitan farce which was successful in all Italian theatres, fun and frantic.

A correct rendition of an improvised program, featuring symphonies by Beethoven and Mendelssohn, following the sudden absence of the cellist Alban Gerhardt.

This production of Puccini’s masterpiece was delivered on a monochromatic set, with  a director-centred staging of the story of love and despair of Cio-Cio San.

“Sorry for my meddling. I am the director of this opera.” Before the curtain opens, in a prologue to the prologue, Delbono shows up and addresses the audience. 

Naples greets Mariella Devia with more than warm applause, despite some downsides in the orchestral accompaniment. 

A great singing cast and an excellent conducting for the unveiling of Otello's ghosts in Naples.

After the great success of Eugene Onegin and the concert for Claudio Abbado, the Texan conductor John Axelrod was again on the podium of the San Carlo Orchestra, with a warm reception for a programme of Prokofiev, Mozart and Brahms. 

It is not by chance that David Garrett plays the lead role in The Devil's Violinist, a 2013 film based on the life of Niccolò Paganini. With all the flamboyant looks of a rock star, he tackled Brahms' Violin Concerto in Naples.