Emperor Titus was quite an impressive historical figure. During the reign of his father Emperor Vespasian, he occupied several position in the Roman administration and army. He won the Jewish war, conquered and destroyed Jerusalem and the big Temple. With the proceeds of this crusade, he built the Coliseum in Rome and acquired a frightening reputation within roman society : people were insecured with the total change, once he followed his father as Emperor at the age of forty. He...

"What a wonderful music" was the reaction of most of the audience after this concert performance of Tchaikovsky´s last opera Iolanta. This seldom performed opera returned recently successful to concert halls thanks to Anna Netrebko in the title role of the blind princess. The story is touching, based on a tale by Hans Christian Andersen. The composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky created the libretto and Piotr IllitchTchaikovsky a wonderful sensible and...

Everything is dark, light is dimmed, the Wanderer creeps around checking Notung in the trunk, Siegmund settles down exhausted and Sieglinde roams lost around. Suddenly a metal noise disrupts the mystical music of the prelude, Notung fell off the trunk and lies well placed on stage,  just in front of the shocked eyes of the audience. But this misfortune does not really harm the intense evening to come. Christopher Ventris conquers with his powerful warm tenor the love of his...

Eighteen years ago, the first complete direction of Richard Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen in the Netherlands took place. It was then a highly regarded and rewarded project by the Libanese director Pierre Audi - and his stage designer George Tsypin - for the Netherlands Opera House (Nederlanse Opera) in Amsterdam. The direction relies on the concept of bringing the story close to the audience. It is the last time that the cycle is performed, and more than 165 000 people have seen...

Mozart's famous Singspiel, a new gender at his time of composing, returns to the charming and historic Cuvillés' Theater, a perfect setting on his own with its originals baroque stalls of the 18th century. Munich's second opera house, the Gärtnerplatztheater is currently under renovation, so the ensemble uses different locations in the city. This new production of Mozart's Entführung aus dem Serail is fresh colourful and fast moving. It is the first opera...

When Sergej Prokofjew’s opera „Fiery Angel“ was first performed in 1955 Russian or better Soviet music was still governed by the strict rules of socialist realism. Subsequently Prokofjew’s piece exposes  both strong anticlerical and antibourgeois sentiments : A woman, Renate, has fallen in love with an angel when she was  a girl and since then she is trying to find this angel again. In her quest she is accompanied by Rupprecht, a young man who is as...