Harry Fehr’s New Production of The Elixir of Love at the London Coliseum

Staatsoper unter den Linden: A Siegfried without passion Tcherniakov's direction presents a Siegfried without any romanticism or association to the libretto. But the music speaks a completely different language As in Rheingold and Walküre, in the third part of the Ring we still find ourselves in the E.S.C.H.E. Research Centre. That stands for Experimental Scientific Center for Human Evolution, so it has nothing to do with the eponymous ash tree in the opera. And...

Staatsoper unter den Linden: A Walküre without any allusions Gods are also just ordinary people in this lavish but stark production at the Staatsoper Berlin Consistently, director Dmitri Tcherniakov refuses to use any conventional props on the second evening of the new Ring der Nibelungen at the Staatsoper unter den Linden. As in Rheingold, we find ourselves in the E.S.C.H.E Research Centre - the Scientific Centre for Human Development. During the overture, a short news video...

RIchard Wagner Das Rheingold Staatsoper unter den Linden Berlin A Rheingold without any gold The creation of this Ring der Nibelungen production has a prologue: the planning and staging of this entire Ring with its four works lasting a total of approx. 16 hours in one season, was supposed to be a birthday present from the Staatsoper Unter den Linden to its General Music Director, Daniel Barenboim. Unfortunately, Daniel Barenboim had to step down from conducting the three Ring...

Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème of 1896, with a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, is one of the most frequently performed operas in the world today. Originally set in 1830s Paris, it focuses on six young adults and the love that four of them find with each other amidst the most impoverished of circumstances. One couple (Marcello and Musetta) have a stormy relationship but their frequent battles prove that their love actually has staying power. Rodolfo and Mimì,...

Intolleranza 1960 at the Komische Oper Berlin The icy wind of history The first production of the 2022/23 season at the Komische Oper Berlin, and at the same time the start of the new general management by Philip Bröking and Susanne Moser, could not have been more visually spectacular: The entire auditorium was covered with endless metres of white, semi-transparent tulle.  You still remember the packaging artists Christo and Jeanne Claude? The wrapped Reichstag in Berlin...

Based on Victorien Sardou’s 1887 French-language play, Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca of 1900, with a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, occurs on a precise date that can be linked to an historical event. All of the action takes place during the afternoon, evening and early morning of 17 and 18 June 1800, following the Battle of Marengo between Napoleon’s army and Austrian forces. The Austrians were initially triumphant and sent news of victory back to...