Rimsky-Korsakov: The Tsar's Bride

Götterdämmerung, the final instalment of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung, is a story of human passions. Two essentially benevolent creatures, involved with and possibly doomed by their traffic with the gods, find treachery and evil in the world of the humans, and are ruined by the dark side of humanity. Iréne Theorin, acclaimed worldwide for her portrayal of Wagner’s heroines, stars as Brünnhilde opposite Lance Ryan, who continues his radiant portrayal of the tragic hero Siegfried. The strong cast also includes Mikhail Petrenko as the dark antagonist Hagen and Johannes Martin Kränzle, who once again shines as his father Alberich. Waltraud Meier has a memorable appearance as Brünnhilde’s sister Waltraute. With this 2013 recording of Götterdämmerung, the musically and visually compelling Scala Ring Cycle by Daniel Barenboim and Guy Cassiers was completed and proved to be one of the highlights of the Richard Wagner bicentenary.

James Levine leads a stirring performance of Wagner’s epic comedy, seen in Otto Schenk’s classic production. Baritone Michael Volle stars as Hans Sachs, the cobbler-poet at the heart of this story of love, art, and youth vs. age. Leading Wagnerian tenor Johan Botha is Walther von Stolzing, the young knight whose new ideas upset the traditional ways of the mastersingers, and Annette Dasch sings Eva, the girl he loves, whose hand has been promised to the winner of a singing contest. Johannes Martin Kränzle as the pedantic town clerk Beckmesser, Hans-Peter König as Pogner, Eva’s father, and Paul Appleby as David, Sachs’s apprentice complete the stellar cast.

The last and arguably finest opera of Modest Mussorgsky is captured in one of its most powerful interpretations in this 1989 recording from the Vienna State Opera, conducted by Claudio Abbado. A moody opera that is thematically broad at times and intimately personal in others, "Khovanshchina" tells the story of the 17th-century clash between Russian conservatives and Peter the Great's reformists. Among the singers is renowned basso Nicolai Ghiaurov and Paata Burchuladze, as well as Anatoly Kocherga, Ludmila Semtchuk, and Heinz Zednik.

As Christof Loy put it: Così fan tutte invites us to embrace the complexity of life and face the future with heads held high. In his staging of the version he abridged with Joana Mallwitz for the Salzburg Festival 2020 the focus is wholly on the figures and the subtle choreography of their emotional states — in a space that like a magnifying glass exposes the intricate mechanisms between the characters. In this way the production leads the protagonists and the audience to experience the ‘serene calm’ that can perhaps indeed cure our own ‘distempers’.

George Frederic Handel's oratorio Theodora, in its first-ever staged version at the Salzburg Festival, was among the highlights of Handel Year 2009. Acclaimed director Christof Loy presented Theodora as the profoundly moving tale of a woman who prefers death to denying her faith, an interpretation captivated with bravura by world-renowned video director Hannes Rossacher. A luminous Christine Schaefer and countertenor Bejun Mehta formed a perfect leading couple altogether suited to conductor Ivor Bolton's vigorus reading.

Royal Opera favourite Bryn Terfel heads the cast for this new production of Donizetti’s comedy of domestic drama across two generations. The witty story of a middle-aged man whose supposed young wife runs rings around him – with her own ulterior romantic purpose in mind – has long delighted and surprised audiences, not least as presented with the sparkle of its music and the virtuoso skill of its performers. Damiano Michieletto’s exhilarating production shows how contemporary the characters still are and how immediate and touching the story remains.

Rediscover a monumental moment in Verdi's oeuvre: the immortal Rigoletto! In this eye-catching production staged by Claus Guth at Paris's Opéra Bastille, soloists Quinn Kelsey (Rigoletto), Olga Peretyatko (Gilda), Michael Fabiano (the Duke of Mantua), and Rafal Siwek (Sparafucile) put their incredible talents to captivating use. To revisit this well-known opera, Guth recounts the story from the point of view of an aged Rigoletto, a clown past his prime, who watches his memories pass before his eyes as he looks back on his life. The set design by Christian Schmidt and Olaf Winter's careful lighting create an imposing, chilly, and implacable ambiance, perfect for the melodrama unfolding onstage. The Choir and Orchestra of the Paris Opera, under the baton of Nicola Luisotti, offer up a powerful interpretation of this timeless work.

The high-point of the 2017 Bayreuth Festival, Barrie Kosky’s astonishingly entertaining and convincing new Meistersinger is a triumph: a production of enormous insight and great quality... that plumbs the depths of both the opera and its composer.

Ageing misfit Sir Morosus lives alone in an old-style apartment in Charlottenburg in Berlin. He is wealthy, but also lonely and a bit grumpy. Then his nephew Henry moves in with him and his life takes a turn for the better. Director Jan Philipp Gloger homes in on two of the most pressing problems of the day: loneliness and the housing shortage. The Staatskapelle Berlin is conducted by Christian Thielemann.

This colourful and exuberant production was staged by Daminano Michieletto, “one of the truly new voices in stage direction today” (L’Unita). Damiano Michieletto made his international debut at the Wexford Opera Festival in 2003 with a highly-acclaimed production of Weinberger’s Svanda Dudák, named Opera Production of the Year by the Irish Times. Claudio Scimone, a key figure in the international Rossini Renaissance, conducts the Orchestra di Bolzano e Trento and leads a cast of Rossini specialists including Daniele Zanfardino, Olga Peretyatko and Anna Malavasi.

The Pygmalion Ensemble, led by conductor and countertenor Raphaël Pichon, is renowned for its refined sound on period instruments. Together with vocal stars Sabine Devieilhe, Lea Desandre, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Julian Prégardien, and Daniel Behle, the ensemble delves into rarely performed works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov is interwoven with the Great Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon's invading army.

The libretto is by Mussorgsky himself and takes the eponymous “romantic tragedy” by the celebrated Russian poet Alexander Pushkin as its starting point. Boris Godunov is Mussorgsky’s masterpiece and his only complete opera. It’s a vast sprawling tapestry of Russian life, which centres on the Russian people – represented in the opera by a large and powerful chorus – rather than on the title figure. The staging was produced at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and is based on the original version of the score.

A nunnery or love? Love or money? Money or death? – On her way to the monastery, the young Manon is wooed by men. When Chevalier Des Grieux turns up, they fall in love and decide to escape. They live in Paris, money is scarce, family honour injured. And so Manon agrees to have Des Grieux abducted at his father's command, and begins a new life with a rich man. While she lives in the lap of luxury, in his pain Des Grieux decides to take holy orders. Manon learns of this and is able to change his mind. Again they live together: their love is enormous, money is scarce, and luxury and the casino beckon. Accused of cheating at cards, they are arrested; Des Grieux is released, but Manon is sentenced to a women's prison. Money is supposed to save her, but already she is too weak ... Recording of the premiere on January 24, 2021 from the State Opera Hamburg.

A brand new production of ‘’Tannhäuser’’ at the Staatsoper Berlin conducted by Daniel Barenboim, staged and choreographed by Sasha Waltz, who has already staged Purcell and Berlioz, Dusapin, Rihm and Hosokawa. Now Sasha Waltz brings to the stage a grand romantic Wagner’s opera with a star cast of some of today best Wagnerian singers: Peter Seiffert in the title role, Réne Pape as Landgraf and Peter Mattei as Wolfram, Ann Petersen sings Elisabeth and Marina Prudenskaya is Venus.

The prestigious Gran Teatre del Liceu from Barcelona presents Mozart's beloved opera in an elegant, dramatic twist with a sparkling cast of world-class stars, led by coloratura soprano Diana Damrau as Constance and rising star Olga Peretyatko as Blonda. Director Christophe Loy has created a thought-provoking and surprisingly original script in which both Constance and Blonda feel respect, admiration and even deep love for their captors. As a result of this tantalizing, torturous approach, traditional norms and concepts of good and evil were turned upside down.

Kent Nagano superbly masters the challenges presented by this score, shapes the dynamics with subtle intensity, and casts the score in a mellow glow. As Marfa, the spurned lover of Ivan Khovansky‘s son Andrei, Doris Soffel unfolds such a rich palette of sonorities, from the pathos of the lower ranges to shaded discant heights, that “one is tempted to speak of a Russian mezzo”. The final chorus, which Mussorgsky did not compose, is played in the orchestrally transparent version of Igor Stravinsky – the third great Russian composer who contributed to making “Khovanshchina“ a timeless, gripping stage work. With his stripped-down sets and historicising costumes, director Dmitri Tcherniakov, one of the new voices of contemporary Russian theatre, builds a bridge to the political present. A lesson in history and music!

A stage performance of the Shostakovich opera, filmed at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

Juan Diego Flórez takes on the lead role in this performance of Rossini's opera at the 2012 Pesaro Festival. Corradino (Flórez), a paranoid, misogynistic lord, is in the care of Aliprando (Nicola Alaimo), a doctor who is concerned that the poor spirits of his employer will damage his health. He duly attempts to make Corradino fall in love with the beautiful and self-willed Matilde (Olga Peretyatko). Will the plan succeed?

A study of a man's physical and mental limitations. In the 24 quite harsh and grueling fragments of the unfinished drama, a body and a mind are tested as far as they can be pushed before their owner goes over the edge. Is there just one thing that proves to be too much for Franz Woyzeck, or is it an accumulation of miseries and torments of a wretched existence? Woyzeck is perhaps not so much a bleak account of how miserable life can be as how much strength is required to deal with the daily vicissitudes of life and how delicate and fragile a balance the human psyche rests on.

A striking interpretation of Mozart's opera that became a sensation at the 2008 Salzburg Festival. This is not only a rethinking of the place and time of the opera, but also a deep disclosure of the characters' characters, their ambiguous inner world. A simple, at first glance, plot is turned by the creators of the play into a dynamic psychological thriller.

Separated and fragmented, the scenes combine in a series of tableaux to tell the story of Wozzeck, an ordinary soldier whose only solace is the love of his companion Marie. However, the latter’s fidelity is not unfailing and Wozzeck is haunted by torment. His officers and comrades in arms do little to improve the situation. The omnipresent tension in this profoundly romantic work unifies the fifteen scenes with their complex tonalities alternating between Verist notes and the force of ritualised actions. Christoph Marthaler’s production provides an atmosphere of contemporaneity strongly accentuated by the choice of a single set, where the men’s despair is submerged in Berg’s dearly sought-after sobriety.

2012 production

Amandus completes the construction of a magic organ just before a pagan attack on the monastery. The instrument’s heavenly sound pacifies the attackers, who lay down their weapons and kneel. But it won’t be long before the tones of this ‘singing devil’ resound again, this time from behind the burning walls of the monastery… In the beginning of the 20th century, Austrian composer Franz Schreker was one of the only opera composers in the German-speaking world whose success could compete with Richard Strauss. But as of 1933, Schreker’s works were banned in Germany and began to disappear from the international repertoire.

More than two centuries after its creation, the emotional pull of this supreme opera remains absolutely intact. Dmitri Tcherniakov duly revisits the myth and makes the seducer of Seville a ‘man without qualities’, a cipher whose words have a hypnotic power over women. His words will disrupt the proprieties ruling the Commandatore’s family. His words are also what makes Don Juan such a subversive figure and the embodiment of one of the most powerful modern European myths. Leading the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra is one of the best Mozart conductors, Louis Langrée. Bo Skovhus portrays a dispirited Don Giovanni, old playboy and anti-hero. Kyle Ketelsen is his servant Leporello, currently a shoe-in for this rôle. The superb female trio is composed of Marlis Petersen (Donna Anna), Kristine Opolais (Elvira) and Kerstin Avemo (Zerlina).

Olga Peratyatko and Atalla Ayan star in Rolando Villazón's scintillating production of Verdi's La Traviata at the Festspielhaus in Baden Baden, Germany. Supported by the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor and the Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble.