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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

Opernhaus Zürich 2025-26 Review: Aci, Galatea e Polifemo

https://operawire.com/opernhaus-zurich-2025-26-review-aci-galatea-e-polifemo/

(Photo: Toni Suter) Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” written in the first century A.D., profoundly influenced Baroque art in all its forms: literature, the visual arts, and music. It is an epic-style compilation of over 250 Greek and Roman myths centered on transformation, spanning from the creation of the world to the deification of Julius Caesar, all linked by the overarching theme of {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Opernhaus Zürich 2025-26 Review: Cardillac

https://operawire.com/opernhaus-zurich-2025-26-review-cardillac/

(Photo: Monika Rittershaus) Paul Hindemith’s “Cardillac” remains one of the most insightful operatic examinations of artistic obsession ever written. Premiered in 1926 amidst the cultural turbulence of the Weimar Republic, this psychological thriller follows a Parisian goldsmith so consumed by his creations that he murders to reclaim them, unable to tolerate his masterpieces in anyone else’s possession. Beyond its surface {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Opernhaus Zürich 2025-26 Review: Carmen

https://operawire.com/opernhaus-zurich-2025-26-review-carmen/

(Credit: Toni Suter) Few operas are as iconic or as enduringly popular as Georges Bizet’s “Carmen.” Since its 1875 premiere at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, the work has captivated audiences with its indelible melodies and its unsentimental, ground-level portrayal of passion, obsession, and freedom. Set in 19th-century Spain, “Carmen” charts the collision between a woman’s fierce independence and a man’s {…}

Business, News

Opéra National de Paris Appoints New Music Director

https://operawire.com/opera-national-de-paris-appoints-new-music-director/

(Credit: © James Bort / OnP) The Opéra National de Paris has appointed Semyon Bychkov its new Music Director. The company and Alexander Neef, Director General of the Paris National Opera, announced the news and noted that Bychov will start his tenure on August 1, 2028. His first contract will be for four seasons. Bychov will be responsible for overseeing {…}

Special Features

Best of 2025: OperaWire’s Staff Selects Their Favorite Performances of the Year

https://operawire.com/best-of-2025-operawires-staff-selects-their-favorite-performances-of-the-year/

The New Year is upon us, which means it’s time to look back and reflect at what was and what will remain in our memories. As per usual, OperaWire has compiled the favorite performances of the year from many of our contributors. We won’t keep you waiting, here’s a look at the Staff Picks for the best performances of 2025. {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Opernhaus Zürich 2025-26 Review: La Forza Del Destino

https://operawire.com/opernhaus-zurich-2025-26-review-la-forza-del-destino/

(Credit: Monika Rittershaus) “La Forza del Destino” has always been considered a transitional work in Giuseppe Verdi’s output, bridging the purely romantic operas of his early period and the mature works where his musical language became more dramatic, direct, and personal. It was composed on a commission from the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg, where it premiered in 1862. The {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Opernhaus Zürich 2025-26 Review: Manon

https://operawire.com/opernhaus-zurich-2025-26-review-manon/

(Photo: Antoine François Prévost’s novel, “The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut,” was published in France in 1731 to great success. Its scandalous subject matter—featuring protagonists who live together out of wedlock, a Manon obsessed with greed to the point of prostitution, and a des Grieux who cheats at cards for money, with both ultimately landing in {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Opernhaus Zürich 2025-26 Review: La Scala di Seta

https://operawire.com/opernhaus-zurich-2025-26-review-la-scala-di-seta/

At the beginning of the 19th century, a small Venetian theatre called San Moisè was dedicated to the genre of the “farsa”—short, semi-serious one-act operas performed by a small company of six or seven singers, without a chorus, and accompanied by a modest orchestra. The barely twenty-year-old Gioachino Rossini found this environment ideal for honing his compositional skills and establishing {…}