OperMag
@mag_oper
The English-language channel of OPER!, the international magazine for opera and music theatre, based in Berlin. You'll find our German version at @opermagazin.
2026 programme for the 150th anniversary of the Bayreuth Festival | @WagnerFestival : #Rienzi will make a singular appearance, staged by Alexandra Szemerédy and Magdolna Parditka, conducted by #NathalieStutzmann, with #AndreasSchager in the title role. There will also be a new…
Transferring from the Dutch National Opera Amsterdam to the @teatrosancarlo in Naples, only #IsmaelJordi remains from the premiere cast. In Jetske Mijnssen's production of "Roberto Devereux", his top notes sound a little tired, though the vocal lines have a pleasantly delicate…
It took a long time for Strauss' "The Silent Woman" to make it to the @StaatsoperBLN, and it's certainly not his strongest work. Even Strauss expert #ChristianThielemann can't change that, although he and the ensemble at least ensure beautiful word articulation in its brisk…
Closing out the opera season, another attempt to salvage Fauré's late work #Pénélope: at Munich's Prinzregententheater, #AndreaBreth condensed it to a cerebral, convoluted chamber piece, with a host of doppelgangers cluttering the props. The cast and #SusannaMälkki's fiery…
Bringing this concept album to a stage inside a church is no easy feat. @sonyayoncheva has long admired #GeorgeSand. In her honour, she recorded a CD with love letters by the dazzling literary figure, lover, muse, and bon vivant, as well as compositions by her friends and life…
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's early opera "Il re pastore" sounds so fresh and compelling at the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg, it makes one almost forget the anodyne plot. The young, sometimes beguilingly beautiful voices augur well for great careers, and the Potsdam Chamber Academy…
The @OH_festspiele / Heidenheim Opera Festival dares the impossible: a #GianniSchicchi + #Elektra double bill. The audience moves from the Festspielhaus into the night-time courtyard of the castle. Vera Nemirova's directorial ideas and Marcus Bosch's musical direction both…
OPER! FEATURE | The Austrian countertenor #JJ became the first singer with an operatic background to win the @Eurovision Song Contest. A highpoint in pop’s return to opera? An exploration: oper-magazin.de/themen/pop-ope…
With Verdi's #Attila, the @OH_festspiele Heidenheim delivers musical theater with a message: director #MatthiasPiro presents the king of the Huns as a symbol of autocratic power, powerfully embodied by bass #RobertPomakov with a bushy beard and white tank top. #LeahGordon…
When musicians in green overalls not only play the violin, harp, flute, or percussion, but also reach for the watering can; when rising star #ElenaTarrats bandages a felled tree, arranges tomatoes on bark mulch, and sings of the vulnerability of nature and her deceased…
OPER! INTERVIEW | The Finnish singer #MiinaLiisaVärelä is ready for the big stages: she's debuting as #Ortrud at the @WagnerFestival Bayreuth, later as #Brünnhilde in the new "Ring" of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. A conversation about following your voice rather than your…
With "The Nine-Jewelled Deer" at the @festival_aix, director #PeterSellars presents a Buddhist parable that combines traditional Indian music with electronic sounds, meditation – and perplexity. Our review: oper-magazin.de/kritiken/auffu… (📷 : Ruth Walz)
#JetskeMijnssen stages Cavalli’s #LaCalisto at the @festival_aix-en-Provence as an ancien régime drama with irony, lavish designs and magnificent voices. festival-aix.com/programmation/… (Foto: Monika Rittershaus)
Shortly before 2 a.m. they called it a day, even though there were still about ten minutes to go: 🌧️🌧️🌧️ Until then – with many interruptions due to bad weather - Stefano Poda's semi-abstract, glittering #Aida staging offered its mix of laser show and expressive dance.…
Three years later than initally planned, #AngelBlue finally makes her Verona debut as Violetta Valery. It's clear that she doesn't trust the arena acoustics, forcing her voice, especially in the first act of #LaTraviata. Later, during her suffering and death, she creates…
No wonder that #Rusalka is Antonín Dvořák's most popular opera: the composer revels in folk-inspired melodies, "despite" the leitmotif technique, perfectly showcased at the @operamrhein by the excellent Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Harry Ogg. They allow…
Georges Bizet's #Carmen turns 150 this year, 30 Franco Zeffirelli's picture puzzle production at the @arenadiverona. Both still seem fresh today, well rehearsed, conducted with precision by Francesco Ivan Ciampa. Aigul Akhmetshina @AK_Mezzo in the title role is an event, a force…
The @arenadiverona is one of the largest open-air stages in the world, putting on classic operas in opulent productions - including the historic #Zeffirelli-#Carmen, which is being shown again this summer. A look behind the scenes of this monumental production:…
