On 12 September, Gianni Schicchi opened the LA Opera’s 2015/2016 season, which marks its 30th anniversary. The production by director Woody Allen first saw the light of day in LA in 2008, travelled to Teatro Real in Madrid and now returns home…

German composer Richard Wagner was notoriously anti-Semitic, and his writings on Jews were later embraced by Hitler and the Nazis. But there is another, lesser-known side to this story. For years, many of Wagner‘s closest associates were Jews - young…

Iolanta and Perséphone - A double bill consisting of two stage works that “represent an ideal of beauty, poetry and hope” forms this new production in Madrid from the Teatro Real. In both works the progression from darkness to light acts as an…

On 17 July 1986, Nathan Milstein played his last public recital in the Berwaldhallen in Stockholm. The recital included the Bach Chaconne, one of the towering masterpieces of Western music and one of the most difficult to do justice to. Milstein was…

The “Bolero”, originally composed as a ballet, is Maurice Ravel's most successful work at all. The world famous melody of the “Bolero” has been featured in popular music, motion pictures and even video games. Pianist and writer Paul Roberts vividly…

Based on the story by H. C. Andersen, “The Nightingale” was transposed for opera by Igor Stravinsky who both composed the music and wrote the lyrics. This new adaptation using computer animation transposes the opera into a world ruled by the power of…

The Latvian Radio Choir under Sigvards Klava performs Johann Sebastian Bach's Motet "Komm, Jesu, komm, mein Leib ist müde" in the beautiful atmosphere of the Riga Dome Cathedral.

"Livietta e Tracollo" is the intermezzo of Pergolesi's last opera for the city of Naples, Adriano in Syria. Like "La Serva Padrona", "Livietta el Tracollo" enjoyed a long run in the repertoire of the opera houses.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi became the leading representative of the development of the early Neapolitan Opera Buffa. "La Serva Padrona", his most popular opera until today, caused the "Buffonisten" controversy at its premiere in 1752.

In 1994, 54-year old José Van Dam undertook to play the role of Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca for the first time, a part that he had refused repeatedly in the past. In April 1995 in Liège, the singer met again with stage director Nicolas Joel for the…