Things are heating up at the Opéra-Comique — as hot as the coffee Louis Langrée served to the journalists welcomed into his office, a mythical place haunted by the ghosts of all the artistic directors who came before him. Birthplace of Carmen, Pelléas et Mélisande, Lakmé and Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Paris’s other national opera house […]
We won’t stop talking about Wagner in 2026! Indeed, the year will be marked by the 150th anniversary of the premiere of Der Ring des Nibelungen, the famous tetralogy comprising Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods). Berlin, La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, […]
Is it necessary to introduce Verdi, who is at home in opera houses worldwide, and especially at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice? Indeed, many masterpieces by the composer from Busseto premiered on this legendary stage. At 30, he achieved his first triumph with Ernani (in 1844), soon followed by the audience’s ovations for Rigoletto […]
From March 29 to April 9, 2025, laughter will replace tears at Teatro alla Scala with L’Opera seria, commedia per musica by Florian Leopold Gassmann. This three-act opera is a hilarious parody of the 18th-century operatic world, gleefully mocking the behavior of all those involved through countless misunderstandings. The greed of producers, the pretentiousness of […]
For the past two seasons, this Wagnerian event has been taking place in Dresden with an incredible project led in collaboration by Jan Vogler and Kent Nagano. The two artists, supported by the Dresdner Festspielorchester in collaboration with Concerto Köln, have decided to revive the famous cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen in a historically informed interpretation. […]
A masterpiece of German Romanticism, Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber returns to European opera stages, notably at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, which is presenting it as part of its groundbreaking season. Indeed, with Iphigénie en Tauride, Salome, and soon Wozzeck on the program, this season focuses on works that have shaken up the operatic […]
Launched in 2022 with Ariane et Bacchus by Marin Marais, the cycle of Baroque operas presented by Hervé Niquet and the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées will come to an end on February 14, 2025. Following Médée by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Iphigénie en Tauride by Henri Desmarest and André […]
On January 9, 2025, Viennese director Otto Schenk passed away at the age of 94. He left an indelible mark on the world of opera with his remarkable productions, which have been performed across the global opera stage. The Met Opera in New York fondly remembers his grand Wagner productions, just as the Wiener Staatsoper […]
One of the major highlights of the season at the Opéra National de Paris was the debut of Ludovic Tézier as Wotan in Das Rheingold, the first installment of the new Ring cycle directed by Calixto Bieito. Unfortunately, the greatest baritone of his generation is suffering from the flu, which prevents him from attending all […]
The Komische Oper Berlin is currently undergoing renovations (scheduled to last six years!), but this hasn’t stopped the company from performing in other venues and presenting new productions. The Schiller Theater, which is hosting the Komische Oper as it once did for the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, will stage Akhnaten by Philip Glass from March […]
