Performer: Ann-Beth Solvang

Cologne reopens its opera house after a 14-year refurbishment, but their new Rosenkavalier sells the performers and the occasion short.

Hagen, the first chapter in the Theater an der Wien's reimagining of The Ring, features music from Das Rhinegold and Götterdämmerung woven seamlessly together, telling the story from the perspective of Hagen, son of Nibelung dwarf, Alberich.

Director Ole Anders Tandberg's production of Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse expertly balances the line between irreverent humour and human tragedy.

It is interesting that neither of the 200th anniversaries of Verdi and Wagner have received much attention in Oslo, especially when compared to the frenzy that has been dominating so many concert halls and opera houses all over the world. What is even more interesting is that it has only been the Oslo Philharmonic that has paid any kind of attention to the two composers.

Béatrice et Bénédict is Hector Berlioz’s last work; he wrote it between 1860 and 1862 for the theatre that patron Edouard Bénazet had built in Baden-Baden, then Germany’s most chic health resort.

Mit seiner Hauptrolle, der kämpferisch emanzipierten Thirza, sticht dieses Musikdrama aus dem Repertoire der Opern des 19. Jahrhunderts heraus. Das Badische Staatstheater hat das Werk nach langer Vergessenheit für das Publikum von heute als packende soziale Studie über gesellschaftliche Aggressivität wieder auf die Bühne gebracht.