This exciting open-air staging of Nabucco was one of the classical highlights in summer 2007. The vast production of the Verdi masterpiece at St. Margarethen took place amidst the intoxicating scenery of a rustically romantic Roman quarry, which…

A classic production from the Bayreuth Festival is made available here for the first time on DVD! Staged and directed by Richard Wagner’s grandson Wolfgang Wagner at the Bayreuther Festspiele in 1999, this production of Wagner’s only comic opera…

When Korean composer Unsuk Chin’s opera was first performed by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, it caused a sensation among music critics worldwide. Based on Lewis Carroll’s famous and fascinatingly enigmatic novel Alice in Wonderland, it is a…

The Merry Widow (Die Lustige Witwe) had its premiere at Vienna's Theater an der Wien in 1905. The operetta, which tells the story of a wealthy widow in search of a new husband was a major success for its composer Franz Lehár (1870-1948) and quickly…

Riccardo Muti’s conducting of one of Mozart’s most beloved operas was hailed in the press for its “freshness, rapidity and wit” and for “its wonderfully balanced rollercoaster of emotions”. Muti’s authoritative approach to Mozart’s music and the…

A fascinating production of La Traviata formed this year’s opera highlight at one of Europe’s most important open-air festivals: the Opera Festival St. Margarethen. The dazzling production, set in a rustically romantic Roman quarry, already boasts…

Regarded as one of the world’s greatest living composers, Hans Werner Henze (born 1926) is ’particularly well known for his works for the stage. He composed one of his great successes, the comic opera Der junge Lord (The Young Lord) to a libretto by…

As a very young man, Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) wrote several humorous one-act operas. These so-called “farse giocose“ are full of saucy elegance, sizzling wittiness, cheeky orchestration and touching lyricism. Four of these gems, filmed at the…

Richard Strauss (1864–1949) has, of course, always been a very special favourite at the Dresden Opera because many of his works were premiered there, most famously his Rosenkavalier in 1911. As if the world knew that this was to be the last important…

With this wonderful production, Mozart’s “Munich” opera returns to the place where it was first performed in 1781, the lovingly restored Cuvilliés Theatre, a veritable jewel of Rococo architecture. In Dieter Dorn’s production, the characters are real…