First Rate Revival of Andrei Serban’s Turandot at the Royal Ballet and Opera, Covent Garden

Hot on the heels of the triumphant new production of Andrea Chenier with the A team of Pappano / Kaufmann, comes this revival of Tim Albery's 2009 Fliegende Holländer with a similar top level pairing of Nelsons / Terfel. After some less than iconic first nights in the house, it was not just a delight but a relief to be able to say with confidence, twice within a couple of weeks, that this is what one of the world's great lyric theatres is all about. From the opening...

Charles Gounod definitely plays an important role in the development of classical French music. His voluminous musical heritage includes all genre whereas lyrics and the 'song', in particular under the French form of 'melodie,' are central. He has created 12 operas of which only Faust and Romeo and Juliette remained in the calendars of the Opera houses. So it is most honorable that Palazzetto Bru Zane, the centre of romantique French music has chosen Gounods opera Cinq...

            The perfect opera nights are what we are all craving for. How much does it take for your opera experience to feel perfect? Dozens of singers, musicians and technicians have to be perfectly in sync for several hours, which is already something: the basics we all agree on. Then, it gets more personal. Who is singing? Do you need this big name on the program for your night to be perfect? Your seat? Close enough? Does someone...

            Willy Decker’s Traviata premiered in Salzburg in 2005 with Rolando Villazón and Anna Netrebko. It had already generated huge DVD sales and had become one of the most iconic contemporary productions across the opera world when Peter Gelb picked it up in 2010 for the Metropolitan Opera, consequently getting rid of the cherished but aging 1996 Franco Zeffirelli’s production. Needless to say, even though New...

The idea of this project was born in 2010 at the Ruhr Festival. The famous Catalan artistic team "La Fura dels Baus" was invited and brought an old icebreaker from Norway to be used as their performing stage. Linked to the German Mythology and the oeuvre of Richard Wagner, their program was called Global Rheingold. Once Carlus Padrissa (a main member of the team) announced his dream to create a musical theater piece of sirene songs, Birgit Meyer, Head of the Cologne Opera, as...

The Tyrolean Festival in Erl has gained an international reputation and since its new Festspielhaus is finaly built, it offers a venue in winter too. This year is presented a new interpretation of Fidelio under the direction of the German sculptor Aleaxander Polzin. It is his first appearance as opera director. One can feel his artistic background : once a big white linen cloth covering all the stage and its decoration has been emoved, a big sculpted skull in soft brown is dominating ,...