All Reviews

La Traviata, Giuseppe Verdi Royal Opera House, London 8.1.2026 The Royal Opera House begins the year with a revival of its long-running Traviata in Richard Eyre's production. A colorful and vibrant production that has been seen countless times at the London opera house. This time, under the direction of Antonello Manacorda, a stellar cast was presented. The year starts well in London because the orchestra sounded impeccable and brought Verdi's score to life in an incredible w

I Puritani, Vincenzo Bellini The Metropolitan Opera House, NY 31.12.2025 The Metropolitan Opera in New York ended the year with a grand premiere, Bellini's I Puritani, in a beautiful new production by Charles Edwards. The set design was extraordinary and surprised with its freshness and power, thanks to Tim Mitchell's majestic and daring lighting and Gabrielle Dalton's splendid costume design. On the podium, leading the always tight and vibrant Met Orchestra, Marco Armiliato

Marina Viotti Recital Eglise San Nicholas de Rougemont, Gstaad 1.1.2026 En 2005, la princesa Caroline Murat fundó el festival Gstaad New Year Music Festival en la pintoresca localidad de Gstaad, en el cantón suizo de Berna. Durante años, colaboró estrechamente con Martin Engstroem en el Festival de Verbier, cofundó la Academia de Verbier y, en 2001, los Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad. Hoy, el festival goza del alto patrocinio de S.A.S. el príncipe Alberto II de Mónaco y, a lo lar

Der fliegende Holländer, Richard Wagner Musiktheater im Revier, Gelsenkirchen 28.12.2025 Mit Richard Wagners Der fliegende Holländer zeigte das Musiktheater im Revier am 28. Dezember eine interessante, kurzweilige und insgesamt werkgetreue Inszenierung. Die Regie von Igor Pison erzählt das Werk klar und nachvollziehbar, ohne es zu überfrachten. Die Platzierung der Pause zwischen dem zweiten und dritten Akt wirkt dramaturgisch etwas unglücklich und wäre nach dem ersten Akt sc

Norma, Vincenzo Bellini LA MONNAIE / DE MUNT, Brussels 28.12.2025 La Monnaie in Brussels, one of Europe's most cutting-edge opera houses, presented an extraordinary futuristic production of Bellini's Norma this month, conducted by Christophe Coppens. The visual power of this production is enormous, both in the lighting and the set design. Its visual effects are breathtaking, as is the car on stage—somewhat reminiscent of Bieito but even more futuristic—and its visual evolutio

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