Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Vienna State Opera

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

The current stage-setting of Arabella at the Wiener Staatsoper proves that “all that’s Glittenberg” is not gold.

Vienna staged the first three-act performance of Lulu with Willy Decker adding to his 2000 production, with excellent singing contributing to its success.

German theatre director Uwe Eric Laufenberg freely incorporates some of Stanley Kubrik’s horror story concepts into his Elektra, but in ignoring both Sophocles and Strauss, is a long way from shining.  

The Wiener Staatsoper revives a beautiful production of Daphne that juxtaposes myth, dream and reality, with brilliant vocal performances by the two leads.

High intensity girl power for a complex task: Simone Young shines in the pit, Karoline Gruber’s staging convinces with expertise and attention to detail.

Gun-Brit Barkmin’s Salome was neither sexy, salacious, psycho-erotic nor particularly well sung.

Stefan Vinke was a convincing, petulant, pouty Siegfried in the third episode in Wagner's Ring cycle in Vienna.

Sven-Eric Bechtolf’s minimalist staging brought the protagonists’ complicated psychological interaction into focus but to the detriment of Wagner’s myth and magic.

A festive air was palpable – the house was technically sold out – as the first of a set of three Ring cycles launched at the Wiener Staatsoper. 

In 2010, the première of Reimann's Medea was welcomed with enthusiasm, leading the Staatsoper to relaunch it this season for a second run.

Sir David McVicar's production of Tristan und Isolde premiered at the Wiener Staatsoper in 2013, and was then recognized as a friendly platform for singers. Here it is freshly revived with a new cast.

Vienna stages an all-star new production of Verdi's classic, with sublime singing in Daniele Abbado's Spanish Civil War setting.

Die tote Stadt at the Vienna State Opera features strong playing and singing but little drama.

The Staatsoper's new Falstaff is a production that is attractive not only visually, but also in terms of the varied musical color.

Baroque purists might prefer a more surefire line-up of brilliantly executed arias, but the theatrical framework of Adrian Noble's Alcina production offers a great deal.

Excellent playing from Les Musiciens du Louvre and a mixed vocal performance are matched by a staging by Ivan Alexandre likely to be controversial.

Kristine Opolais may not pass so easily for an oriental 15 year old, but her Cio-Cio San deftly avoids Titipu stereotypes.

Vienna State Opera's traditional production of Carmen managed to create an evening of both sumptious music and exciting drama on stage.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s impressive conducting, Tomasz Konieczny’s tortured Telramund and the Chor der Wiener Staatsoper save this performance of  Lohengrin from becoming an ignominious swan song.

Too many paparazzi and not enough Puccini in Robert Carsen’s Manon Lescaut in Vienna.

Daniele’s Abbado’s black-box production of Don Carlo augurs a crash landing with no survivors.

The Vienna State Opera’s revival if their 2014 production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen with conductor Tomáš Netopil vividly realises the glowing colours of the composer's great affirmation of the eternal vigour of nature.

Jürgen Flimm takes so many liberties with Mozart’s La clemenza it should be re-titled “Tito’s Lament”.

Despite Angel Blue and Ryan Speedo Green, this revival of Franco Zeffirelli’s classic production lacked vocal colour.

The applause and screams at the premiere were raucously frenetic – and while the hysteria seemed a bit exaggerated, an energetically positive reception was completely justified.

Revival of a 2014 production of Rusalka in Vienna was a great success musically with a splendid cast headed by last minute replacement Camillal Nylund.

Lavish sets and costumes, plus high musical quality, make Tosca at the Vienna State Opera a fine example of grand opera. 

Young Russian coloratura soprano Maria Nazarova gets the Oscar. 

Klaus Florian Vogt’s Florestan redeems an otherwise disappointing Fidelio in Otto Schenk's timeless production.

It took Vienna State Opera almost 90 years to present Leos Janacek's Věc Makropulos, but in Peter Stein's production, it was worth the wait.

Otto Schenk's Vienna production of Der Rosenkavalier has been mounted 366 times since its 1968 inauguration and there is definitely no demand for a new one.

Carole Wilson’s Herodias almost upstages Lise Lindstrom’s sexy Salome in a fine revival of Boleslaw Barlog's 1972 production in Vienna.

Tchaikovsky’s passionate drama is put into the deep-freeze by chilly stage designs.

Bravo to the Haus am Ring for a bloody good night of music, drama and beauty – an excellent first première of the season.

An unsympathetic production of La traviata fails to impress at the Staatsoper. 

Cardillac has a spooky, sinister fascination that both intrigues and horrifies and which is quite successfully expressed in this striking production by Sven-Eric Bechtolf.

In Vienna State Opera's new production of Rigoletto, director Pierre Audi brings us close to a Rigoletto less freakish, more identifiably everyday. 

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.

Nina Stemme leads a successful revival of the Schenk production with a brilliant orchestra led by a passionate Ádám Fischer.

Sir Simon Rattle concludes the Ring Cycle in Vienna with a detailed and intricate reading of the opera with an excellent cast.

The evening clearly belonged to Stephen Gould’s Siegfried and Sir Simon Rattle and Vienna Orchestra.

The second opera of the Ring Cycle in Vienna brought the best out of the orchestra and singers with a sweeping and breath taking reading of the score by Sir Simon Rattle.

Vienna Staatsoper revived Wagner's Ring Cycle with a splendid orchestral performance of Das Rheingold led by Sir Simon Rattle.

Nina Stemme makes a memorable role debut as Elektra in Vienna in a new production set in a coal-filled basement of a 1910 Viennese town house.

Those who are able would be wise to scare up a ticket for Shicoff’s swansong – it would be a shame to miss an historic performance. 

Last night’s performance, the second after a serious casting face-lift held to that tradition, and was very well received despite its inherent flaws, thanks to some very fine singing.

Khovanshchina offers ample opportunity for massive, haunting and grandiose vocal display,  beautifully realized by a remarkable cast led by Ain Anger, Elena Maximova and Ferruccio Furlanetto.

Patricia Petibon manages to portray an absolutely charming Manon. She spans the space between innocence and worldliness and remains consistently energetic and delightful. 

Janáček turned, after a life of much unrest and complexity, to a theme of apparent simplicity shrouding much more complex issues: a fairy tale.