Götterdämmerung is the fourth and final opera in Richard Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen, and premiered at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 17 August 1876 as part of the first performance of the entire work. The first three operas tell the story of the overthrow of the old world order of the gods, who rule through order, contract and treaty, by the mortals whose power derives from morality, reason and, above all, love. The moment that encapsulates the...

Claus Guth created this production of Strauss/Hofmannsthal’s The Woman without Shadow (Die Frau ohne Schatten) 2013 for La Scala. After later shown at Covent Garden, London it is now being staged at the Berlin State Opera as part of the Easter Festival 2017, scenic rehearsal by Julia Burbach. Contrary to other concepts with directors elevating the over-mystified, ferry-tale like plot into full abstraction (Loy for Salzburg or Ponnelle for Cologne many years ago), Guth and...