Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Death in Venice

Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in an outstanding new production by Graham Vick and Donald Runnicles.

Britten’s final opera given an impressively atmospheric staging, ideally conceived for the small venue

Death in Venice makes its première in Madrid with a rational and symbolic production by Willy Decker. 

Opera North's Death in Venice is another winner for the company in Britten's centenary year, originally directed by Yoshi Oida. Alan Oke is a successful, anguished Aschenbach.

Premièred in 1973, Death in Venice was Britten’s last opera and therefore his last chance to create a big starring role for his lifelong partner Peter Pears.

Britten’s Death in Venice suite, arranged by Steuart Bedford, is a continuous piece of music taken from the opera. As such, it is an extremely scenic work and even though it has its moments, I could not help but long for the actual opera rather than these excerpts (thankfully it will be performed by ENO later this year).

Rotterdam’s annual Gergiev Festival is a very popular classical festival in The Netherlands and with good reason, their programs are always excellent and the appearance of former chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Valery Gergiev usually attracts big crowds.

A split-level stage featuring an ornate stairwell and scaffolding was the setting for this the tenth Jette Parker Young Artists’ Summer Performance. Entitled ‘Veneziana’, the specially compiled programme embodied the visions of Venice dreamt by Rossini, Donizetti, Britten and Offenbach in six sets of Opera Scenes.