On Fridays, Polina Lyapustina delivers a short essay on some of the most essential topics in the industry with the intent of establishing a dialogue about the opera world and its future. After another shocking performance at the Salzburg Festival in 2001, Gerard Mortier, the famous opera director himself, spoke about the Neuenfels’ production of “Fledermaus” as he summarized his 10 years {…}
(Credit: Oliver Mark) Famed opera director Hans Neuenfels passed away on Feb. 6, 2022. He was 80-years-old. Born on May 31, 1941 in Krefeld, Germany, he studied at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and quickly established himself as a major proponent of the German Regietheater movement. In the opera world, he led productions at the Salzburg Festival, Deutsche Oper {…}
It is hard to imagine Russian music without Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Russian literature without poet Alexander Pushkin. Tchaikovsky’s opera “The Queen of Spades,” based on the eponymous novella by Pushkin, is one of the most important of the existing operas. Its beautiful and dark music leaves hardly any hope at the end, revealing a very fatalistic, and very Slavic, way {…}