Gianni Schicchi

Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante’s Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini’s Il trittico (The Triptych)—three one-act operas with contrasting themes, originally written to be presented together. Although it continues to be performed with one or both of the other trittico operas, Gianni Schicchi is now more frequently staged either alone or with short operas by other composers. The aria “O mio babbino caro” is one of Puccini’s best known, and one of the most popular arias in opera.

Oedipus Rex

This ambitious production uses a number of striking visual elements including a massive set that floats above a reflecting pool, huge puppets and sculptures. The noted Butoh artist, Min Tanaka, dances the role of Oedipus, and is joined by twenty dancers to portry this classical tragedy.

La Traviata

Explaining Riccardo Muti’s choice of a group of young, even very young, singers for the production of Verdi’s “La Traviata” staged by Liliana Cavani and premiered in 1990, a spokesman from the La Scala opera house reported: “We did not want to follow the path of comparisons with the past, but attempted to put together a little group of talented youths we had already been working with and whom we will be working with intensively in the future. We hope that the love of music will be greater than a the sometimes hysterical and divisive excitement that arises around certain operas.” Among the gifted young singers in this performance are Tiziana Fabbricini as Violetta Valéry and Roberto Alagna as Alfred Germont. The aristocrat of conductors, the autocrat of the baton, Riccardo Muti cuts a noble figure at the head of any orchestra, and ennobles every ensemble through his charismatic personality and red-blooded musicality. In many respects, including his unwillingness to compromise over artistic matters, he is reminiscent of Arturo Toscanini, who was also a demanding ruler at the podium. His rise to international fame set in with his guest conductorships at the Salzburg Festival in 1971 and at the head of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1972. Muti became principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra a few years later, and was named its music director in 1980. Always a conductor of both the symphonic and operatic repertoire, Muti advanced to the post of music director of La Scala in Milan in 1986. The 1990s saw Muti consolidating his reputation at the head of this venerable institution, as well as in countless other high-caliber venues around the world. Today he is one of the undisputed giants among the leading conductors of the world.

Beijing Opera “You and Me”

“Raise the Red Lantern“ Film Director Zhang Yimou directs his first Beijing. With his films, such as “Hero”, which won a Golden Globe, or “Raise the Red Lantern”, Zhang Yimou has – despite years of repression by Chinese authorities – decisively shaped modern Chinese cinema and helped it surface throughout the world. His first Beijing-Opera production in the Chinese capital at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA): “You and Me” is based on a 2700-year-old Chinese imperial story from the chapter “Lord Zheng defeats Duan in Yan” from the legend of Zuo – a tale of betrayal, the power of infantile love and the fact that blood is thicker than water.

The Passenger

Though composed as early as 1968, Mieczylaw Weinberg’s opera The Passenger received its first full staging only in 2010. The work – based on an 1962 novel by concentration-camp survivor Zofia Posmysz – was quickly recognised as one of the most important operas of the second half of the 20th century, and one whose themes are now as important as they’ve ever been. That first staging, by David Pountney, has gone on to receive classic status, and is here seen for the first time at Madrid’s Teatro Real, conducted by an artist who has been instrumental in the recent Weinberg revival, Mirga Gražinytè-Tyla.

Romeo et Juliette

For this new production of Gounod’s operatic masterpiece at Opernhaus Zürich, stage director Ted Huffmann creates a stark and light-filled scenery in which Benjamin Bernheim and Julie Fuchs’s enchanting voices and their enigmatic play can shine. “The couple of all couples – you can lose yourself in this music for the soul.” (NZZ)

Bayreuth Festival 2022: Die Walküre

This new production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival was the opera event of the 2022 festival season. Young director Valentin Schwarz reimagines the mythical story in the present day and tells a gripping family saga in the world of the rich and powerful. The musical direction is in the hands of Cornelius Meister. In the second part of the tetralogy, Schwarz delves in particular into the relationship between Wotan, the father of the gods, and his “favorite daughter” Brünnhilde, showing it as especially unhappy and traumatic. Lise Davidsen and Klaus Florian Vogt prove themselves audience favourites for their portrayal of the siblings and lovers Sieglinde and Siegmund.

Bayreuth Festival 2022: Siegfried

This new production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival was the opera event of the 2022 festival season. Young director Valentin Schwarz reimagines the mythical story in the present day and tells a gripping family saga in the world of the rich and powerful. The musical direction is in the hands of Cornelius Meister. In Siegfried, Schwarz underlines the tragicomic elements in the relationship between the title hero and his foster father, Mime. The production also finds original and novel images for Siegfried’s encounter with the dragon and Brünnhilde’s liberation from the circle of fire. As Siegfried, Andreas Schager makes light of the role’s legendary challenges.

Bayreuth Festival 2022: Götterdämmerung

This new production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival was the opera event of the 2022 festival season. Young director Valentin Schwarz reimagines the mythical story in the present day and tells a gripping family saga in the world of the rich and powerful. The musical direction is in the hands of Cornelius Meister. The final part of the tetralogy sees Siegfried abandon his beloved Brünnhilde, allowing himself to be taken in by the Gibichungen and the unscrupulous Hagen and succumbing to the advances of Gutrune. Schwarz once more features the powerful symbol of a child and turns the horse Grane into a human companion of Brünnhilde, who also plays a central role in the shocking final image.