Director Sven-Eric Bechtolf pulls off a brilliant coup with the high aesthetics of his intrigue, a masterful parody of the “everything is possible” of our time - flanked by an ensemble of exquisite vocal talents: Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, testosterone…

Staged by Sven-Eric Bechtolf, this Così Fan Tutte is true to text, humorous and precise, its classically aesthetic interpretation is good for "a whole lot of laughs" (Münchner Merkur). This production assembles some of the greates operatic talents of…

Hammerstein and Kern’s Show Boat is a true classic of American musical theater - a tale of life on the Mississippi from the 1880s to the 1920s is both a poignant love story and a powerful reminder of the bitter legacy of racism. "A triumph—a stylish…

Experimentum Mundi is arguably the most important work in the field of contemporary music in recent decades. In one fell swoop, Giorgio Battistelli's pioneering work has fulfilled all the artistic aspirations and dreams of his century. In the wake of…

In the Gluck-Year 2014 the Teatro Real in Madrid celebrated the outstanding success of the esteemed director Krysztof Warlikowski’s newly produced staging of „Alceste“, under the musical baton of Ivor Bolton. (Premiers on the 7th of February 2014). A…

Antonín Dvorák’s next to last opera draws its substance from the underwater wonderland of little mermaids, Undines and Melusines: Rusalka, a water nymph, wishes to become human in order to be loved by the young prince. Despite being warned against it…

Libretto by Arrigo Boito after William Shakespeare’s comedy “The Merry Wives of Windsor” Damiano Michieletto is bursting with ideas when it comes to combining illusion and reality. (Tagesspiegel). Outside the Casa Verdi in Milan, the famous old…

A forlorn, aged philosopher sets out on a perilous course when he makes a deal with the Devil in this monumental treatment of the Faust tale—an enticingly impressive production from San Francisco Opera. Boito’s resplendent retelling of Goethe’s Faust…

In the historic Weimar Herder Church Sir John Eliot Gardiner finds the perfect setting for his recording of the Bach Christmas Oratorio. Against the backdrop of the dramatic altar and Lucas Granach paintings, the Monteverdi Choir and the English…

Tchaikowsky’s “Merchant of Venice” offers proof of David Pountney’s eye for buried gems of the opera literature. The tried and trusted team behind Keith Warner and an elite cast make the posthumous premiere at 2013’s Bregenz Festival “a restitution…