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. {…}
(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 {…}
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 {…}
Opernwelt has announced the 2025 awards of the year. The Magazine announced the Opera Company of the year was Opernhaus Zürich, while the singers of the year went to Eleonora Buratto and Bogdan Volkov. Meanwhile, Kirill Petrenko won the Conductor of the Year. Meanwhile the the Director of the Year was awarded to Tobias Kratzer, while the Premiere of the {…}
(Photo: Gaetan Bally) On Sept. 19, the Zürich Opera opened its 2025-26 Liederabend series featuring Latvian mezzo Elīna Garanča and new General Director Matthias Schulz at the piano. The evening promised to be an enchanting one filled with rich musical journeys in lieder, song, and arias. The result was exactly that. A program of captivating qualities that showed why Garanča {…}
On Sept. 21, 2025, the Opernhaus Zürich opened the 2025-26 season with a new production of “Der Rosenkavalier.” The season opening was the start of General Director Mattias Schulz’s tenure, and based on this premiere, it is a great start. Fantasy World The production by Lydia Steier is a confection of colorful sets that mix time periods and wild fantastical {…}
(Foto: T+T Fotografie / Toni Suter + Tanja Dorendorf) Opernhaus Zürich is set to present oper für alle on July 12 at the Sechseläutenplatz. The company will present “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” live at the open-air stage starting at 17.00 with the opera performance at 19.00. Admission will be free. Additionally, the company will broadcast on the OperaVision platform. “Les Contes {…}
(Photos: Paul Leclaire) Opernhaus Zürich revives its 2021 production of Richard Strauss’s “Salome,” directed by Andreas Homoki. The striking set design by Hartmut Meyer features two massive, crescent-shaped rotating structures—an evident nod to the libretto’s many references to the moon. One of these structures serves as a raked stage representing the terrace of Herod’s palace, while the other hovers above {…}
The Opernhaus Zürich has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the productions and concerts. Premieres Simon Steen-Andersen and Liliana Nikiteanu lead “Wie du warst! Wie du bist!” Performance Dates: Sept. 20, 2025-July 11, 2026 Diana Damrau, Günther Groissböck, Angela Brower, Bo Skovhus, and Emily Pogorelc star in a new production Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier.” Joana Mallwitz conducts the {…}
The year is at an end. But a new year brings new opera experiences and here at OperaWire, we are pumped for the potential of numerous performances. Here are the 10 productions we are most excited for in the first half of the 2025, in alphabetical order (and each company is limited to a single production on the list). Die {…}
(Photo © Zurich Opera House. All rights reserved.) “She let herself go to the rocking of the melodies and felt herself vibrating with all her being as if the bows of the violins had been walking on her nerves.” -“Madame Bovary,” part II, Chapter XV As Emma Bovary is overwhelmed by “Lucia di Lammermoor,” so too was the audience at {…}