A weekend at the Vienna Opera will convince you that this house, under the the masterful hand of Frenchman Dominique Meyer, is always in good health.  In mid-April this year, audiences were able to spend three days seeing three facets of what determines the quality of such an institution - while at the same time enjoying one of those moments that make opera legendary! On Friday, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale brought together an almost ideal quartet: tenorissimo Juan...

Munich and Jonas Kaufmann have been closely linked over the last years. He has been born here and the Munich State Opera is engaging him intensively. Many role debuts of the star tenor have taken place here. That is the case for the current production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida too. After a first appearence in Rome in concert after a recording of the opera, it is now his first Radames on stage in a production from 2009, directed by Christoph Nel and designed by Jens Killian. They have...

Lot of open questions, the audience remains clueless, some show their disappointment and incomprehension after a new interpretation of Ludwig van Beethoven's only and beloved opera Fidelio. It is this year's main new opera production of the acclaimed Salzburg Festival. This piece is for most music lovers the incarnation of a freedom drama and the triumph of love. The German director Claus Guth has put his hands on this drama of his compatriote to convert it to a revolutionary new...

Carmen in Orange is a classic!Here people have applauded some of the greatest, particularly Béatrice Uria Monzon who provided thrills for audiences on three occasions at the Théâtre Antique.But this time, Carmen was forgotten, and the 9,000 or so spectators had eyes (and ears!) only for Jonas Kaufmann’s Don José. Not that Kate Aldrich is a poor Carmen:she is beautiful and has a certain noblesse (almost too much, sometimes evoking...

The Salzburg Easter Festival has developed its international reputation for exceptional opera performances and exquisite concerts. Since the seperation from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra some years ago, the cooperation with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and its worldwide highly regarded conductor Christian Thielemann has been very fruitful. This year's festival presented the realisation of a new production of the famous Verismo twin package Cavalleria rusticana...

It is a highlight for the lyrical Roman society: Verdi' s masterpiece, Aida, in a concert version with an exquisite cast. Thanks to an album recording of the show, this cultural spectacle could happen in the Auditorio, Rome's new concert hall designed by the star architect Renzo Piano. Sir Antonio Pappano, musical director of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia heads the international reputable and leading Italian Philharmonic Orchestra. One can feel their symbiotic and...