Probably no opera oeuvre and opera house has become more synonymous than Aida and the Arena di Verona: Verdi’s monumental most famous and most played opera established the Arena di Verona as an opera festival venue nearly 100 years ago. Since then, the Arena with its gigantic stage dimensions and its historic charm of a 2,000-year-old roman amphitheatre set in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, has staged Verdi’s masterpiece more than 500 times. As a showpiece in the repertoire Aida is a challenge to the vocal, musical and dramatic means of every opera house. The tragic love story with a political background is ideal for a performance at the Arena. The vast space of the amphitheater provides a magnificent decoration, as would be typical for an epic film. At the center of the spectacle are the singers, the elaborate scenery and the unique atmosphere of the Arena with 20,000 seats. Responsible for the staging of this production is director Gianfranco de Bosio who revives the original production from 1913. Daniel Oren, the experienced and highly estimated Maestro of the Arena for almost 30 years, conducts the Orchestra…. Chinese soprano Hui He is in the lead role of Aida, Hungarian mezzo Andrea Ulbrich her rival Amneris, Italian tenor Marco Berti Aida’s beloved Ramadès and Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri Aida’s father Amonasro. The Opera was produced in standard High Definition 1080 as well as in 3D.
La fanciulla del West
Exactly 101 years after the world premiere of Puccini’s “La fanciulla del West” at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Stockholm’s Royal Opera House now presents a brilliant, modern-day interpretation of this rarely played opera. While the lead role is sung by Nina Stemme, one of today’s best youthful-dramatic sopranos, the two male protagonists, John Lundgren and Aleksandrs Antonenko, can hardly be surpassed in vocal artistry and stage presence. Director Christof Loy stages the opera as an early Hollywood Western relating the impossible love of a young woman and the most wanted criminal in the West.
Ariadne auf Naxos
The proven Richard Strauss trio of Renée Fleming, Sophie Koch and Christian Thielemann gets together once again at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, which continues its series of triumphs after “Rosenkavalier”. In this colorful and humorous staging by Philippe Arlaud, Strauss specialist Thielemann leads his first opera at the head of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, which performed the world premieres of nine Strauss operas. While Renée Fleming dazzles in her role debut as the spurned Ariadne, Sophie Koch, Robert Dean Smith and Jane Archibald prove themselves worthy counterparts of the American soprano.
St. Matthew Passion
The double choir is the essential musical aspect on which Iván Fischer’s interpretation of Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion is based. Only by consistently seizing on that duality will all the complementary layers stand out as they should. He describes this essential fundamental aspect as follows: ‘You can’t do the St Matthew in an unreligious way. The only approach is from a deep, universally religious feeling.’ Anyone the least bit familiar with Fischer knows that this won’t simply be a repeat performance; he is sure to go even deeper.
The Nutcracker
Peter Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” is certainly one of the most popular “family” ballets in the world. This production from the Semperoper combines the work’s fairy-tale aspects with visual opulence. Based on the original libretto by Marius Petipa, the choreography by Aaron S. Watkin and Jason Beechey is modern yet traditional. The spirited dancing, charming sets inspired by Dresden landmarks, and extravagant costumes make the production a joy to behold. The production entrusts the roles of the children in the first act to actual children and youths from Dresden’s famous Palucca School of Dance.
Eugene Onegin
Young conductor Omer Meir Wellber, Musical Director of Valencia’s Palau de les Arts, scores a triumph with Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” in Mariusz Trelinski’s timeless production. Polish filmmaker and stage directo Trelinski has created a series of dream-like, surrealist tableaux of great suggestive beauty. The clear lines of the production (premiered at Warsaw’s Teatr Wielki) are finely echoed by the slender musical design of Omer Meir Wellber – “A miracle of poetry” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). The superb young cast is headed by Artur Ruzinski as Onegin and Kristine Opolais as Tatyana.
Falstaff
Topping the cast of this Zurich production is one of the world’s most acclaimed Falstaff performers of his time, Ambrogio Maestri. His powerful voice, acting skills, stage presence and nimble lightness blend together magnificently. At the head of the Zurich Opera Orchestra is its principal conductor Daniele Gatti. Under his baton, Verdi’s commedia lirica – based on Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” – is a fireworks of high spirits. Adding to the merriment is a cast of outstanding singers including Barbara Frittoli and Yvonne Naef, as well as Javier Camarena and Eva Liebau.
Tannhäuser
This exciting and compelling modern-day adaptation of Richard Wagner’s fable of love and redemption features one of the great Wagner singers of our time in the lead role, Peter Seiffert. As a nimble, youthful-voiced Tannhäuser, he plays alongside Petra Maria Schnitzer as Elisabeth. As the goddess of love, Elisabeth’s counterpart Venus is portrayed by the stunning Béatrice Uria-Monzon. Displaying particular vigor and dynamism is Günther Groissböck as Hermann, here in the guise of an art dealer. Sebastian Weigle, the Liceu’s principal conductor, gives a performance that is ‘full of vitality and visibly inspired’, as the Spanish daily ABC wrote.
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Barcelona’s Teatre del Liceu presents Mozart’s singspiel in an elegant production by Christof Loy with a splendid cast of top stars headed by coloratura soprano Diana Damrau in her debut at Spain’s largest and most distinguished opera house. Damrau’s “charismatic stage presence announced… that we were in the presence of a great singer”, wrote Opera News. Starring along with Damrau are Olga Peretyatko, Christoph Strehl, Norbert Ernst and Franz-Josef Selig. Christof Loy portrays Konstanze and Blonde as having developed profound feelings of respect, admiration and even love for their captors.
Ariadne auf Naxos
Hugo von Hofmannsthal called ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’, which he created in close collaboration with Richard Strauss, one of the ‘most delicate of structures’. Indeed, in its complexity, the work truly does represent something utterly unique. Emily Magee and Roberto Saccà are radiant in their role debuts as Ariadne and Bacchus, just as Elena Mosuc’s Zerbinetta is incomparably dazzling and Michelle Breedt’s Composer profoundly touching. Christoph von Dohnányi, one of the great Strauss interpreters of our time, probes the depths of the incredibly finely-spun score with an elegant feel for sound, and ensures a perfect balance between operetta-like lightness and a tragic operatic tone.