Otello’s ship has to overcome the storm to get into port – in order to get to Liceu, the opera Otello had to overcome several storms. Firstly, the replacement of the announced conductor, Riccardo Frizza, by Gustavo Dudamel. With this piece, the Venezuelan conductor – who had already opened the season at Liceu with a concert version of Il Trovatore – directed his first staged opera in Spain. Secondly, the announced production from the Royal Opera House directed by...

The Love of Danae is one of Richard Strauss masterpieces of the later period. He himself could not participate to the world premier in 1952 at the Salzburg Festival, after the original date in 1944 was cancelled at the same place due to the failed attack of Hitler. The opera in three acts is defined by the composer as a comedy of Greek mythology and consists of fine romantic music, in one big flow, missing arias or characteristic passages. So far, this opera did not achieve similar...

Quite remarkably, as demanding as this opera is, and outside a German-speaking country, Der Rosenkavalier has recently become fixture of La Scala seasons, now appearing in its third production within the last 13 years. This time, the deep and yet lighthearted, bittersweet comedy turned out again a favorite of the Milanese audience, which had been graced with a very early staging back in March 1911, barely six weeks after the Dresden world premiere. Harry Kupfer, former director of the...

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...

Plácido Domingo’s long reign as operatic royalty shows no sign of ending. In a concert celebrating forty years at the Salzburg Festival, he and his friends wowed an appreciative crowd with a well-chosen and expressively delivered program. Especially for a concert performance, the drama received an unusual amount of attention. The show opened with an atmospheric, icy prologue from the second act of Giordano’s Siberia, played by the fabulous Munich Radio Orchestra. The...