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Reviews, Stage Reviews

Dutch National Opera 2025-26 Review: Simon Boccanegra

https://operawire.com/dutch-national-opera-2025-26-review-simon-boccanegra/

(Photo: Ben van Duin) For its final presentation of the season, the Dutch National Opera brought together a stellar cast under the musical direction of Fabio Luisi, conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra, with stage direction by Jetske Mijnssen for a new production of Verdi’s emotionally and politically complex opera “Simon Boccanegra” in the revised 1881 version with its text by Arrigo Boito. And it did {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Staatsoper Berlin 2025-26 Review: Samson et Dalila

https://operawire.com/staatsoper-berlin-2025-26-review-samson-et-dalila/

(Photo: Matthias Baus) There are operas that survive on the strength of their plot, and then there are those that survive because the music transforms the improbable into the inevitable. “Samson et Dalila” belongs decidedly to the latter camp. Saint-Saëns fashioned a score of extraordinary sensuality around a drama whose biblical certainties had long ceased to compel. Production Details Argentine {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Opernhaus Zürich 2025-26 Review: Scylla et Glaucus

https://operawire.com/opernhaus-zurich-2025-26-review-scylla-et-glaucus/

(Photo: Monika Rittershaus) The “Zürich Barock” Festival at the Zurich Opera House presents a rarity: “Scylla et Glaucus” by Jean-Marie Leclair, a composer best known for instrumental music, especially for the violin, which he himself played with great virtuosity. The opera premiered in 1746 and enjoyed moderate success, but soon disappeared from the repertoire. Its first modern performance took place {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Gran Teatre del Liceu 2025-26 Review: La Gioconda (Cast A)

https://operawire.com/gran-teatre-del-liceu-2025-26-review-la-gioconda-cast-a/

Ponchielli’s masterpiece, “La Gioconda,” was presented at the Gran Teatre del Liceu with a double cast of stellar singers and a beautiful production. Production Details The sets by Étienne Pluss were beautiful and meaningful. The stage was surrounded by walls of stone and wooden beams. There were realistic elements for each scene, including a big marble staircase in the first {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Opéra National de Paris 2024-25 Review: Il Trittico

https://operawire.com/opera-national-de-paris-2024-25-review-il-trittico/

(Photo: Monika Ritterschaus) Opéra Bastille is in the midst of presenting a new production of Puccini’s “Il Trittico” (The Triptych) from April 29 to May 28, directed by Christof Loy and conducted by Carlo Rizzi. The triptych features three operas of different natures, all juxtaposed to demonstrate the breadth of the Italian composer’s genius. Contrary to Puccini’s own instructions, the {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg 2024-25 Review: Ariodante

https://operawire.com/opera-national-du-rhin-in-strasbourg-2024-25-review-ariodante/

(Photo Credit : Klara Beck) The Strasbourg Opera in collaboration with the Royal Opera House of Covent Garden and the Lausanne Opera is offering Handel’s “Ariodante” from November 6th-13th. The production will then go to Mulhouse on November 22nd and 24th. On closer inspection, this drama per musica announces many of the operas to come to amateurs. Thus, its three-act {…}

News

Elsa Dreisig, Benjamin Bernheim, Aleksandra Kurzak, Jonathan Tetelman, Ludovic Tézier Among Major Nominees for 2024 International Opera Awards

https://operawire.com/elsa-dreisig-benjamin-bernheim-aleksandra-kurzak-jonathan-tetelman-ludovic-tezier-among-major-nominees-for-2024-international-opera-awards/

The International Opera Awards has revealed its 2024 awards. The awards ceremony is set to place at the Bayerische Staatsoper on Oct. 2, 2024.BBC Radio 3’s Petroc Trelawny will again host the awards ceremony. There will also be performances featuring opera stars and singers from the Bayerische Staatsoper Young Artists programme. Here is a rundown of all the categories: CONDUCTOR – Thomas {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2024 Review: Samson

https://operawire.com/festival-daix-en-provence-2024-review-samson/

(Photo credit: Monika Rittershaus) “So, who is signing the work?” an operagoer asks Raphaël Pichon and Claus Guth at a lunchtime panel about their opera-project “Samson.” The music is Rameau’s, but it is not that simple. According to Guth (and his Wikipedia search), Rameau did indeed compose a “Samson” with a libretto by Voltaire; however, it is all lost. Pichon {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Latvian National Opera 2023-24 Review: Don Carlo

https://operawire.com/latvian-national-opera-2023-24-review-don-carlo/

(Photo: Kristaps Kains, Latvian National Opera) Latvia National Opera’s production of Verdi’s “Don Carlo” was musically and visually excellent, but the director Claus Guth’s underlying concept was not, at least initially, easy to grasp, despite his clearly written program notes. His underlying idea is that it is Carlo’s energy, values and behavior set against a despotic society, in which faceless {…}