Der Ring des Nibelungen

“Velvety sound of unmatched beauty” (The Guardian)

“Musically, this ‘Ring’ blew away everything that had gone before – and we are talking about a performance history of more than one hundred years.” (Die Welt)

“Christian Thielemann creates a sound paradise.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

“Tcherniakov, as usual, manages details on a level rarely seen in opera.” (The New York Times)

“A dream cast of voices” (Le Monde)

“Wagner at his best.” (BR Klassik)

“Spectacular und breath-takingly precise, that’s how Thielemann illuminates the Wagner score.” (NZZ)

“Michael Volle’s Wotan […] is an event, […] Rolando Villazón plays a fabulous Loge.” (FAZ)

Jenufa

Jenufa is still Janácek’s most successful and most often performed opera, and the Berlin premiere at the Staatsoper in 1924 brought the work its final breakthrough on German stages. This performance from Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden is “artistically unsurpassable. There are three reasons for this. Firstly, the cast […], secondly: the direction […], thirdly: Simon Rattle, the Staatskapelle and the chorus of the Staatsoper” (BR Klassik). “Simon Rattle revs up the Staatskapelle Berlin with a passion as if he had to fill a melodrama by Giacomo Puccini with bursting sound life” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). “A beguiling mixture of speaking articulation and tonal roundness.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

Falstaff

Falstaff is Verdi’s masterpiece of comic opera, in which the behaviour of the ageing Sir John Falstaff, a devious freeloader and would-be ladykiller, causes uproar in the petty-bourgeois household of the Windsor’s. In this performance stage and film director Mario Martone updates the action to the present day and shows Falstaff as ageing rebel in dodgy sideburns and leather jacket. Among the “exquisit vocal cast” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Michael Volle gives his debut in the title role “with masterly dynamic shadings” (Financial Times) and “as if he had been preparing for this role for a lifetime.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) while “Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin are tickling out all the wit and all the momentum from this score.” (Online Merker)

Die schweigsame Frau

Die schweigsame Frau (The Silent Woman), the first and only joint work by Richard Strauss and Stefan Zweig, was performed for the first time at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. The opera embodies comic opera in a new and unexpected way, starting with the genre name, which Strauss used here for the first and only time in his career. Compositionally, it is his most progressive work. With his new production of Richard Strauss’ opera, director Jan Philipp Gloger places social issues such as loneliness and housing shortages at the centre of the opera. The superb cast brings his ideas to life with “energetic performance and balanced vocal power” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). “What Thielemann conjures up from the orchestra pit is classical cinema at its finest.” (BZ)

Daphne

Richard Strauss’ opera Daphne, subtitled “bucolic tragedy in one act”, features lush, complex orchestrations and employs a large orchestra to convey its musical themes. The vocal writing is often highly virtuosic, showcasing the abilities of the singers in the lead roles. With Vera-Lotte Boecker – crowned “Singer of the year”, the prestigious Opernwelt Critics Award – he has found “an ideal Daphne, embodying both the youthful and the fated side of her character” (Bachtrack.com). “Thomas Guggeis conducted the admirable Staatskapelle Berlin with infinite delicacy and clarity” (La Libre Belgique). “Strong images that will have an impact for a long time to come.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).