Part of the Arena celebrations of Verdi´s 200 birthday was a special Gala with a selection of 3 acts out of Verdis popular trilogy La Traviata, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore. Verdi's Opus constitutes most of the Arenas programme and the Arena could not be imagined without Aida mass scenes bringing elefants and camels on stage or Nabucco´s prisoner choir sounding in the historical mystical Roman setting. So it was a must to have a special tribute to the...

Verdi´s  bicentennial celebrations continue at the Teatro alla Scala with a new production of un Ballo in Maschera. Once again the young Italian director Damiano Michieletto and his team have created a modern interpretation of this story of love and political intrigues. We are at the headquaters of the political leader Riccardo in an American style  election campaign. We meet colourful panels and t shirts to motivate his team splendidly represented by the Scala choir....

Venice, the Teatro la Fenice and Richard Wagner have close ties. Wagner loved the city and spent his last months here. So it is natural that the Fenice celebrates his 200th birthday with a special concert, a grand gala together with Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden - both famous for there exceptionel closeness to the composer and their outstanding quality of interpretation. So this evening has sensed a specific aura and the gathered audience witnessed an...

This years slogan of the Salzburg Pfingstfestival was "sacrifice". Managed by the charming italian starsinger Cecilia Bartoli this festival offered a colourful mix of opera, ballet, concert and chorusworks linked to it. The selected opera was Norma, by Vincenzo Bellini, with the managing star in the title role. Cecilia Bartoli' s voice may not be perfectly equipped for this belcanto and expressive arias but she knows with her experience how to give her interpretation...

It is already a spectacle to approach and enter the newly built Royal Opera House in Muscat,Sultanate of Oman. Thanks to Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, the current emperor, opera enthusiasts have another destination not to miss. Built in the classical theatre style with a luxurous and spacious foyer and a semicircle auditorium with platea, stalls and circles it is a noteworthy example of a fair synthesis of traditional and arabic architecture. The result offers space for 1100 listeners and...

Big interest for the first opera production of Mr.Koepplinger, the new head of Munich´s second opera house the beloved Gaertnerplatztheater, under the direction of Brigitte Fassbaender, famous singer and highly regarded manager of the Strauss festival in Garmisch this Don Pasquale is a very fine elaboration of an old and traditional story. Mrs Fassbaender´s subtile characterization of each character and the cleverly transformation into the 20thcentury is very entertaining and...