All Reviews

Mit der Weihnachtsinszenierung von Puccinis Tosca am 27. Dezember zeigte das Niedersächsische Staatstheater Hannover einen vielschichtigen Opernabend. Die Regie zeichnet Scarpia als Kardinal und macht ihn zum intriganten Machthaber eines totalitären Kirchenstaates, was eine große und beklemmende Wirkung entfaltet. Mario Cavaradossi erscheint als Fotograf, als eine Figur, die zwischen Blick und Begehren gefangen ist, zwischen dem Versuch, Realität festzuhalten, und der Unmögli

La Bohème, Giacomo Puccini Wiener Staatsoper, Wien 25.12.2025 On Christmas Day 2025, the Vienna State Opera chose to present its exquisite La Bohème by Puccini in Franco Zeffirelli's now-legendary staging. A classic La Bohème, full of poetic and inspiring imagery. That captivating and bustling Paris, seemingly lifted from Hugo's Les Misérables , or the visual power of the snow-covered Barrière d'Enfer behind a tulle curtain like the one Zeffirelli himself used in the final s

Weihnachtsoratorium , J.S.Ba ch Palau del Música Catalana, Barcelona 19.12.2025 Alison Lau, soprano | Martina Baroni, alto | David Fischer, tenor | Micha Matthäus, bass-baritone | Il Gardellino Orchestra | Cor de Cambra de l'Orfeó Català | Christoph Prégardien, conductor This past Friday, we experienced an evening of exceptional musical quality at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. Il Gardellino, with the Cor de Cambra del Orfeó Català and Christoph Prégardien at t

Wozzeck, Alban Berg Staatsoper unter den Linden, Berlin 21.12.2025 Mit der dritten Aufführung der Jubiläumsserie zum 100-jährigen Bestehen von Alban Bergs Wozzeck zeigte die Staatsoper Unter den Linden erneut die Inszenierung von Andrea Breth. Die Oper ist in 15 szenische Fragmente unterteilt, und Breth gelingt es eindrucksvoll, die dunklen Seiten des Menschseins offenzulegen. Die düstere Atmosphäre schafft eine unmittelbare Verbindung zu den Abgründen der menschlichen Psyche

14.12.2025 Palau de la Música Catalana Franz Schubert Filharmonia Rune Bergmann, conductor Anna Fedorova, piano Last Sunday, the Palau de la Música was overcome with emotion by Anna Fedorova's performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. Every chord, every note, every orchestral flourish... sent a shiver through our bodies, bringing tears to our eyes. Fedorova's touch is exquisitely delicate; her ivory hands seem to barely touch the keys, yet with immense gentleness sh

La traviata | G.Verdi Almería, 6/12/2025 Violetta: Sandra Hamaoui. Alfredo: Juan de Dios Mateos. Giorgio Germont: Àngel Òdena. Flora: Anaïs Mejias. Gastone: Aurelio Puente. Dr. Grenvil: Ángel Rodríguez. Barone Douphol: Enrique Monteoliva. Marchese D’Obigny: Gonzalo Ruiz. Aninna: María Jesús García. Coro y la Orquesta Fima. Dirección musical: Lara Diloy. Dirección de escena: Curro Carreres. Escenografía: Antonio Romero. Vestuario: Jesús Ruiz. Iluminación: Santiago Mañasco. Vid

La Bohème, Giacomo Puccini Bayerische Staatsoper, München 17.12.2025 Yesterday, the Bavarian State Opera staged Puccini's legendary La Bohème in a marvelous production by Otto Schenk. A colorful, detailed, and thrilling production, especially in the second act, where the Café Momus is a true spectacle. Not only are the costumes, sets, and props incredible, but the cast chosen yesterday was also wonderful. Benjamin Bernheim came to Munich to temporarily set aside the French Ro

La Rondine, Giacomo Puccini Barbican Hall, London 9.12.2025 Something extraordinary happened at the Barbican Hall when the BBC Symphony Orchestra, led by Carlo Rizzi, performed a concert version of the final variant that Giacomo Puccini's made of La Rondine with a spectacular cast. La Rondine is a masterpiece where we see Puccini experimenting and growing, as the chromatic schemes and orchestral structures that would later appear in his great final works develop within him.

Lady Macbeth of Mtsenk, Dimitri Shostakovich Teatro alla Sclaa, Milano 13th. December 2025 Teatro alla Scala opens its season with a russian tour de force , the arrival of a monumental work, Dmitri Shostakovich's Леди Макбет Мценского уезда (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk). It is a colossal piece of music, a sonic assault, an extraordinary storm, a manifest of modernity, and an orchestral and vocal revolution. It is so magnificent that Stalin was not at all pleased with it. La Scala

Turandot, Giacomo Puccini Royal Opera House, London 15.12.2025 The Royal Opera House's Turandot, where the forbidden city of the sadistic Chinese princess is transformed into an orientalist Globe Theater, created by Daniel Serban, is already legendary, and its visual poetry is yet part of our operatic imagination. But this time, the ROH is announcing Christmas in grand style, not only with the Royal Opera Ballet's marvelous Nutcracker, but this time with a true gem: a stellar

Madama Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini Vienna State Opera, Vienna December 5, 2025 The now-legendary Japanese-inspired staging created by the late Hollywood film director Anthony Minghella in 2008 has been revived at the Vienna State Opera since 2020 under the direction of Carolyn Choa, Minghella's widow. These days, we can see it with a new, stellar cast at the Viennese opera house. Giampaolo Bisanti makes the Vienna State Opera's extraordinary orchestra shine like never before.

Lohengrin, Richard Wagner Malmö Opera, Sweden We went to Sweden to see a new production of Lohengrin and instead found ourselves watching a production of Die Zauberflöte It seems that Charlotte Engelkes didn't like the dramatic intensity of Lohengrin and decided to transform it into a marvelous staging, but not for Lohengrin , rather for Die Zauberflöte . The King of Brabant was a very convincing Papageno -like figure (Anna Ardelius's work with the costumes was sublime) and

Lohengrin, Richard Wagner Badisches Staatstheater, Karlsruhe Manuel Schmitt has created a new, epic Lohengrin where the history of Germany unfolds in a timeless manner, without direct references, creating an oppressive atmosphere that everyone understands perfectly. In this endeavor, the extraordinary work of Julius Theodor Semmelmann as set designer, Carola Volles in costumes, and Stefan Woinke in lighting design results in something monumental. Not pleasant, because seeing

Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Jacques Offenbach Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin The Unter den Linden opera house this week staged Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann with extraordinary set design by Lydia Steier. The set design is one of the best ever created for Offenbach's work—colorful, detailed, vibrant, and mysterious. The Staatskapelle, under the direction of the extraordinary Bertrand de Billy, was clear, cohesive, and brilliant. The voices were the highlight of the evening

Wagner arrives in Seoul, South Korea, under the direction of Swiss stage director Stephan Märki, who previously conceived a celebrated production of Tristan und Isolde that was staged several times in Germany. But this time, he has transformed it into a far more spectacular and impressive staging. The Cottbus production already placed Tristan und Isolde in a somewhat celestial, galactic setting, but in South Korea, he has magnified it with a grand metaphor of space and the

On November 27th, the Deutsche Oper Berlin held the premiere of Umberto Giordano's opera Fedora . But it wasn't just a premiere; it was the first time the work had been performed at the German capital. Giordano's piece is a marvel inspired by the work of the celebrated French playwright Victorien Sardou, also the author of La Tosca , both works premiered by Sarah Bernhardt, and in fact, Fedora was dedicated to her. This already indicates the great dramatic depth required fo

2.12.2025, Gran Teatre del Liceu Still recovering from a vocal ailment, the mexican tenor Javier Camarena took to the stage of the Gran Teatre del Liceu on 02.12 to sing the role of Nemorino. Camarena has sung this role countless times, and we could see it; he moves with ease in Mario Gas's production, because he is his unique and his Nemorino is also unique. His theatrical gifts in this role are extraordinary, and where others fail to achieve stage presence, he delivers the

In 2016, Barrie Kosky premiered a new production of Verdi's Macbeth that caused a scandal for some, while for others it was the triumph of a human and contemporary Shakespeare on the operatic stage. The Zurich Opera House is currently staging that now-historic production again, with Klaus Grünberg as the reprising maestro. Kosky's Macbeth remains a somber, dark piece that delves into the darkest aspects of humanity, eschewing details and exploring the abyssal and tragic depth

Pierre Audi's now-famous Tosca has returned to the Opéra Bastille in Paris with its enormous cross flying above the stage—there's no doubt that this cross owes much to Dalí and his Corpus Hypercubus at the Met Museum. It's not a production that I find particularly brilliant, although, for example, its Te Deum is visually extraordinary. However, Tosca's ending, without her leaping from Castel Sant'Angelo—something that it's more practical for the soprano in Audi's production—

The Bavarian Staatsoper had its 2025/26 season first premiere yesterday with Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Night Before Christmas, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski and staged by Barrie Kosky. Expectations were understandably high: a beloved title, an exceptional predominantly Russian cast, and a director known for theatrical imagination. Instead of entering a world of winter magic, however, the audience found itself in what felt more like a circus arena than a Christmas tale. Throughou