Broadcasts and Film

Valentin Schwarz’s Bayreuth Die Walküre focuses on soap opera-style family angst and drama

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GermanyGermany Bayreuth Festival 2022 – Wagner, Die Walküre: Soloists, Bayreuth Festival Orchestra / Cornelius Meister (conductor). Recorded (directed by Michael Beyer and Jule Geissler) at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus and available on STAGE+ until 14.11.2047. (JPr)

Tomasz Konieczny (Wotan), Georg Zeppenfeld (Hunding) and Christa Mayer (Fricka) © Enrico Nawrath

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A Trump-like Wotan and child trafficking dominate Valentin Schwarz’s new Bayreuth Rheingold

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GermanyGermany Bayreuth Festival 2022 – Wagner, Das Rheingold: Soloists, Bayreuth Festival Orchestra / Cornelius Meister (conductor). Recorded (directed by Michael Beyer) at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus and available on STAGE+ until 14.11.2047. (JPr)

Valentin Schwarz’s Das Rheingold © Enrico Nawath

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Tcherniakov’s Götterdämmerung in Berlin wipes the slate clean, though any message for us is unclear

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GermanyGermany Wagner, Götterdämmerung: Soloists, Staatsopernchor, Staatskapelle Berlin / Christian Thielemann (conductor). Filmed (directed by Andy Sommer) on 9.11.2022 at Staatsoper Unter den Linden but available until 17.2.2023 on ARTE Concert. (JPr)

Anja Kampe (Brünnhilde), Andreas Schager (Siegfried) and Michael Volle (Wotan) © Monika Rittershaus

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John Nelson offers a message of hope with The English Concert’s Messiah at Coventry Cathedral

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Handel, Messiah, HWV 56 (1741): Lucy Crowe (soprano), Alex Potter (countertenor), Michael Spyres (tenor), Matthew Brook (bass), Choir of The English Concert, The English Concert / John Nelson (conductor). Coventry Cathedral, 24.11.2022. Reviewed from recording streamed on medici.tv.

Alex Potter (countertenor) and John Nelson (conductor) © Jamie Gray

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Thielemann’s Siegfried is beautifully crafted as Tcherniakov explores the loss of childhood innocence

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GermanyGermany Wagner, Siegfried: Soloists, Staatskapelle Berlin / Christian Thielemann (conductor). Filmed (directed by Andy Sommer) on 6.11.2022 at Staatsoper Unter den Linden but available until 17.2.2023 on ARTE Concert. (JPr)

Andreas Schager (Siegfried) and Anja Kampe (Brünnhilde) © Monika Rittershaus

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Michael Volle’s Wotan dominates the diminishing returns of Dmitri Tcherniakov’s Berlin Die Walküre

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GermanyGermany Wagner, Die Walküre: Soloists, Staatskapelle Berlin / Christian Thielemann (conductor). Filmed (directed by Andy Sommer) on 3.10.2022 at Staatsoper Unter den Linden but available until 17.2.2023 on ARTE Concert. (JPr)

Michael Volle (Wotan) and Anja Kampe (Brünnhilde) © Monika Rittershaus

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In Munich, Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella continues to confuse as much as it delights

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GermanyGermany Prokofiev, Cinderella: Dancers of Bayerisches Staatsballett, Bayerisches Staatsorchester / Gavin Sutherland (conductor). Nationaltheater, Munich, 13.11.2022. (JPr)

Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella (opening of Act III)

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A highly imaginative fusion of two late Janáček masterpieces in Brno

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Czech RepublicCzech Republic Janáček, From the House of the Dead, Glagolitic Mass: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the National Theatre, Brno / Jakub Hrůša (Conductor), Livestreamed on OperaVision from the National Theatre, Brno, 6.11.2022 (RB)

From the House of the Dead (c) Marek Olbrzymek

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