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Reviews, Stage Reviews

Vienna State Opera 2017-18 Review: Parsifal: Alvis Hermanis’ Madhouse Production Will Drive You Crazy (Not In a Good Way)

https://operawire.com/vienna-state-opera-2017-18-review-parsifal-alvis-hermanis-madhouse-production-will-drive-you-crazy-not-in-a-good-way/

Richard Wagner was a 19th century micro-manager in music long before the pejorative appellation appeared in MBA curricula. As his own librettist, casting director, set designer, costume conceptualist, lighting Loge and Dirigent, there was rarely any aspect of his music dramas which Wagner was prepared to relinquish to lesser talents. No composition was more tightly controlled than his ultimate opus “Parsifal,” which {…}

News

Famed Director Alvis Hermanis Quits ‘Lohengrin’ At Bayreuth

https://operawire.com/famed-director-alvis-hermanis-quits-lohengrin-at-bayreuth/

Latvian director Alvis Hermanis has backed out of a production of Lohengrin in Bayreuth. According to MV Online, the director’s political views were not necessarily at the core of his decision to renounce the production. Last year he quit a production in Hamburg, citing a disdain for Germany’s open border policies toward refugees. He published a statement in three languages {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Latvian National Opera 2025-26 Review: Salome

https://operawire.com/latvian-national-opera-2026-review-salome/

(Photo: A Zeltina) “Salome” undoubtedly stands as one of the most significant works in the history of German opera. The elements Wagner outlined in his works reached Strauss as a direct torrent of influence, and it is precisely in “Salome” where Strauss finally finds—after “Guntram” and “Feuersnot”—a personal, absolute, and unmistakably original musical language. I have always perceived in “Salome” {…}

Special Features

Strauss in the Shadows: Germany Spearheads a Revival of the Composer’s Lesser-Known Operas

https://operawire.com/strauss-in-the-shadows-germany-spearheads-a-revival-of-the-composers-lesser-known-operas/

I. In a city as operatically overdetermined as Berlin, even a new production of Richard Strauss’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten” might be expected to pass with respectable indifference. But when Tobias Kratzer mounted the late-Romantic behemoth this January at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, capping a Strauss trilogy that had begun with “Arabella” and “Intermezzo,” the result was not just another {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Latvian National Opera 2025 Review: Salome

https://operawire.com/latvian-national-opera-2025-review-salome/

(Photo: Agnese Zeltiņa | Files.fm.) I’m not generally given to elaborating on opera plots; preferring for the audience to discover them for themselves, even where the outline of the tale is fairly well known. Alas, I feel somewhat compelled to at least superficially proffer some brief abridgement of “Salome,” if only to illustrate and accentuate the bizarre, outlandish and frequently {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Staatsoper Unter den Linden 2024-25 Review: Tosca

https://operawire.com/staatsoper-unter-den-linden-2024-25-review-tosca/

(Credits: Hermann und Clärchen Baus) Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca,” adapted from a play by Victorien Sardou, was famously criticized by American musicologist Joseph Kerman, who dismissed it as a “shabby little shocker” and predicted its swift decline from the operatic canon. Despite this, “Tosca” endures as a favorite among audiences, thanks to Puccini’s brilliant music and masterful orchestration that elevate it {…}

News

Francesco Meli, Irina Lungu, Salome Jicia & Angela Meade Lead Teatro Carlo Felice’s 2023-24 Season

https://operawire.com/francesco-meli-irina-lungu-salome-jicia-angela-meade-lead-teatro-carlo-felices-2023-24-season/

The Teatro Caro Felice has announced its 2023-24 season. Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” opens the season with a cast that includes Christopher Ainslie, Sydney Mancasola, Matteo Anselmi, Scott Wilde, Kamelia Kader, Peter Kirk, John Chest, Hagar Sharvit, Keri Fuge, David Shipley, David Ireland, Seumas Begg, Sion Goronwy, Robert Burt, and Benjamin Bevan. Donato Renzetti conducts the production by Laurence Dale. Performance Dates: Oct. 13-19, 2023 Dante Ferretti directs Massenet’s “Werther” with Jean-François Borras, Jérôme {…}

News

‘Viva Verdi’ to Feature Teatro alla Scala, Arena di Verona & Teatro dell’Opera di Roma

https://operawire.com/viva-verdi-to-feature-teatro-alla-scala-arena-di-verona-teatro-dellopera-di-roma/

The Ministero della Cultura has presented a series entitled “VIVA Verdi,” for the acquisition and valuation of the composer’s house/museum Sant’Agata di Villanova sull’Arda. The Foundation Arena di Verona will begin the series with Verdi’s “Aida.” Massimiliano Stefanelli conducts the Franco Zeffirelli production which is set to star Monica Conesa, Ivan Magrì, Ketevan Kemoklidze, Youngjun Park, Antonio Di Matteo, and {…}

News

Marina Rebeka, Carmela Remigio, Francesco Meli & Maria Josè Siri Lead Teatro Carlo Felice’s 2022-23 Season

https://operawire.com/marina-rebeka-carmela-remigio-francesco-meli-maria-jose-siri-lead-teatro-carlo-felices-2022-23-season/

The Teatro Carlo Felice has announced its 2022-23 Season. Opera Berlioz’s “Béatrice et Bénedict” is set to star Julien Behr, Giorgio Misseri, Benedetta Torre, Francesca Benitez, Cecilia Molinari, and Sofia Koberidze. Donato Renzetti conducts the production by Damiano Michieletto. Performance Dates: Oct. 28-Nov. 6, 2022 Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” is set to star Filippo Maria Romano, Giovanni Romeo, Hongni Wu, Laura Verrecchia, {…}