In this week’s edition of our top five operas to see, we travel all around Europe and to Oman for five operas that are worth seeing with stellar casts. Let’s take a look.

“Il Prigioniero” & “Das Gehege” – La Monnaie, Belgium 

Two rare masterpieces by Luigi Dallapiccola and Rihm will be showcased at the famous Belgium theater starring a Ángeles Blancas Gulin both operas.  Frank Ollu conducts the production by Andrea Breth, which is a co-production with the Stuttgart Opera.

“Die Walküre” – Hamburg State Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Germany 

Wagner’s masterpiece takes center stage at two German theaters this weekend. First, the Bayerische Staatsoper performs its production by Andreas Kriegenburg starring Nina Stemme and Anja Kampe alongside Wolfgang Koch, Simon O’Neill, and Ekaterina Gubanova. In Hamburg, Lise Lindstrom takes on the role of Brunnhilde with Jennifer Holloway as Sieglinde and Robert Dean Smith as Siegmund.

“I Masnadieri” – Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Italy

On Sunday, the Rome opera opens a new production of Verdi’s early work with Massimo Popolizio directing. Roberto Abbado conducts a stellar cast that includes Stefano Secco, Artur Ruciński, Roberta Mantegna, and Riccardo Zanellato. 

“La Sonnambula” –  Royal Opera Muscat, Oman 

Rosa Feola brings vocal fireworks to Bellini’s musical masterpiece alongside Antonino Siragusa and Nicola Ulivieri.  Antonello Allemandi conducts the production by Paolo Mazzon. The work is being performed by the Fondazione Arena di Verona.

“Manon” – Bilbao Opera, Spain 

On Saturday Irina Lungu makes her highly anticipated role debut as Manon and is joined alongside Michael Fabiano, who received acclaim at the San Francisco Opera for his interpretation as Des Greiux this past fall. The two will be joined by conductor Alain Guingal in a production by Arnaud Bernard.