Oppression and isolation, but also hope and the power of love, make Fidelio an opera for all times. In Nikolaus Habjan’s new Vienna State Opera production, Beethoven’s only opera becomes a timeless work beyond any specific era. Leonore and Florestan are each doubled by a puppet, revealing their inner lives and the struggle between emotion and concealment. Habjan’s staging focuses on Beethoven’s universal ideals and the enduring themes at the heart of the work. Malin Byström’s Leonore “has a beautiful timbre and sings expressively” (Orpheus Magazine) while David Butt Philip shows a “crystal-clear diction and a powerful, bright voice” (Orpheus Magazine). Conductor Franz Welser-Möst delivers “a Beethoven interpretation that was thoughtful and passionate, yet also sensitive and powerfully stirring” (Concerti.at).
Salzburg Festival 2026: Il viaggio a Reims
People-watching in a hotel lobby recalls the comedic scenarios of Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, where stranded characters create amusing situations. The plot of the opera, the first that the composer wrote for Paris, is exceedingly flimsy: a group of distinguished European guests are attempting to reach Reims to attend the coronation but find themselves stranded at the spa resort Il Giglio d’Oro because they cannot procure horses for their carriages. Director Barrie Kosky leverages the opera’s minimal action to invent new stories, with the guests speaking of “La Ceci” instead of “Re Carlo” when referring to the protagonist Cecilia Bartoli (Corinna, the self-aware poetess). She leads a cast that brings together some of the finest Rossinian singers of today. Edgardo Rocha as the comedic Cavalier Belfiore, Mélissa Petit as the talented Contessa di Folleville, and Marina Viotti as the femme fatale Marchesa Melibea. These performers deliver humorous and emotionally rich performances, an international parade of characters caught in a web of sympathies and antipathies, flirting and jealousy, enthusiasm and vanity, ideals and eccentricities… Conductor Gianluca Capuano, leading Les Musiciens du Prince– Monaco, captures Rossini’ s style with a transparent sound and rhythmic vitality, with the use of period instruments deeply enriching the performance.
Tonhalle Orchester – Paavo Järvi & Hélène Grimaud
Almost twenty years ago, Hélène Grimaud recorded Gershwin’s Piano Concerto on CD in Baltimore under the direction of our Honorary President David Zinman. Now she is bringing it to the Tonhalle Zurich – together with Paavo Järvi, who, as a jazz lover, also has a special relationship with this work. He will also conduct a suite from Janácek’s opera “The Cunning Little Vixen” and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5: the latter is a work for connoisseurs, says Paavo Järvi, “but perhaps that is precisely why it is also one for everyone”. What is certain is that this music has found its way into pop in very different ways: the swan call motif in particular has been quoted by bands such as The Murmaids, The First Class and Play People.
Verdi 125 – Anna Netrebko and Ludovic Tézier in Recital
Along with baritone Ludovic Tézier and pianist Nelson Calzi, Anna Netrebko marked the 125th anniversary of the death of Giuseppe Verdi with a recital programme dedicated to the legendary composer, in a truly unique event. Showcasing characters from Gilda and Violetta to Lady Macbeth, Amelia, and Leonora, Netrebko demonstrates technical fluency in tackling the various pieces, performing certain passages with a unique finesse. “Her use of vocal agility is supple yet eloquent, not merely for the sake of spectacle” (OperaLibera). Ludovic Tézier perfectly matches her level: “His singing is elegant, his tone is polished, and his performance is characterised by refined good taste” (OperaLibera).
At the piano, Nelson Calzi “was outstanding” (OPERA DIARY). The event took place in the 300-seat Teatro Verdi in Busseto, whose construction Verdi partially financed.
Renaud Capuçon, Lahav Shani & Martha Argerich — A chamber music recital
Renaud Capuçon joins the Argerich-Shani duo for an evening of diverse chamber music that also includes a few musicians from the Munich Philharmonic. Capuçon will be joined by each pianist for two sonatas for violin and piano, Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 18 with Lahav Shani followed by Debussy’s whimsical yet melancholic Sonata, written at the very end of his life, accompanied by Martha Argerich. This will be followed by a piece by Schumann, a composer who is a particular favourite of Capuçon and Argerich. They will perform the generous and magnificent Piano Quintet, op. 44, followed by Andante and variations for two pianos, op. 46, a rare and profoundly poetic piece.
Martha Argerich & Lahav Shani at Aix-en-Provence Spring Festival
Martha Argerich and Lahav Shani have shared the stage many times in recent years, as Shani often invites the Argentinian piano legend to play with the various ensembles he directs. Shani is indeed a multitalented artist as he began performing as a double bass player and soon became a piano soloist before eventually becoming a conductor with support from Daniel Barenboim, one of Martha Argerich’s closest friends. Shani leads his “new” orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, this year’s resident orchestra. After performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 last year, Martha Argerich turns her attentions to his Piano Concerto No. 2, a piece she loves just as much.
Elim Chan, Augustin Hadelich & Münchner Philharmoniker
With acclaimed debuts at the Vienna Musikverein, the Salzburg Festival and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Elim Chan is one of the most sought-after artists of her generation. For her debut with the Munich Philharmonic, the young rising star is joined by Augustin Hadelich, an artist who has long been counted amongst the most successful in his field. Alongside Tchaikovsky’s famous Violin Concerto and the finely nuanced music of Noriko Koide, the programme features Edward Elgar’s ‘Enigma Variations’.
The Wiener Symphoniker’s Spring Concert in Trieste
Vissi d’arte – ‘I lived for art, I offered song to the stars and the heavens,’ sings Floria Tosca in the second act of Puccini’s opera, before she attempts to extract the release of her lover Cavaradossi from the despot Scarpia by any means necessary. The famous aria will be performed by soprano Krassimira Stoyanova as the highlight of a gala concert featuring arias, duets and orchestral works by Giacomo Puccini and Franz Lehár, also known as the ‘Puccini of operetta’. The audience in Trieste will also hear other earthly and heavenly songs from the opera stars – alongside Stoyanova, tenor Francesco Meli. These include the popular Vilja song from the operetta The Merry Widow, from which the symphony orchestra will also play the waltz Ball-Sirenen, along with other instrumental delicacies such as Puccini’s precocious, sumptuous Preludio Sinfonico.
Hélène Grimaud at Ruhr Piano Festival
With Hélène Grimaud at the piano, the audience is always in for more than just a concert. They get to experience an artist who never stands still, who never simply reproduces but always creates something new. Those who get to hear her will immediately sense they are in the presence of someone who does not regard music as mere decoration but rather as an existential adventure. She is a sound seeker, a cross-over artist, which is what makes every evening with her so thrilling. PROGRAM: BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Sonata No. 30 in E major, op. 109 (1820); BRAHMS (1833–1897) Three Intermezzi, op. 117 (1892), Fantasies, op. 116 (1892); BACH (1685–1750) Chaconne from the Partita for Violin No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 (arr. Ferruccio Busoni)
Salzburg Festival 2026: Ariadne auf Naxos
At the heart of the opera is a wealthy Viennese patron who funds and stages art not out of conviction, but as a social whim. For him, a young composer’s opera is merely part of a festive programme that can be altered as much as he wants. Whilst preparations for an opulent musical banquet are underway at the patron’s residence, the artists find themselves caught in a conflict between artistic integrity and courtly caprice. In relocating this parody to the present, director Ersan Mondtag, here making his Salzburg Festival debut, launches into Mars. On this barren planet, the ‘barren island’ of Naxos – where in the second part of the work the encounter between Ariadne and Bacchus takes place – is a silent metaphor for modern ruthlessness. The result is a satire on art and power, on artistic integrity and dependence on money and social favour, that is as ironic as it is astute.