Performer: Valentin Anikin

The 1957 production of Parsifal, with its traditional staging and dreamy imageries, was a perfect backdrop to showcase Wagner's celebration of stage play with music on Good Friday.

Under Mariss Jansons, the Vienna Philharmonic are on top form in Shostakovich's opera; together with a top class cast of singers, they create sonic and emotional intoxication.

The première of Bernhard Langs *Der Golem* leads through a frenzied night of occult stories.

Of the “ABCs” of opera (Aida, Bohème, and Carmen), Bizet’s masterpiece is the one that has made the transition to pop culture ubiquity. Surely even the most oblivious of listeners are able to whistle along to the “Habanera” and “Toreador Song”. Furthermore, the melodramatic story of exoticism, lust and rejection is one of the most popular of operatic tales.

Vor allem die großartige Musik rettet Mozarts und Da Pontes Meisterwerk; die Neuinszenierung aber hinterlässt einen zwiespältigen Eindruck.

Yona Kim begräbt am Nationaltheater Mannheim Verdis Frühwerk Ernani unter einer revolutionären Bildlast.