Vienna State Opera’s past, present and future as Garanča, Kaufmann and Bernheim star in the open air

AustriaAustria Vienna State Opera’s Opern Air: Soloists, Vienna State Opera Chorus and Orchestra / Bertrand de Billy (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Dominik Kepczynski) from the Burggarten, Vienna, 7.12.2025 and available from 18 September on ARTE.tv. (JPr)

Elīna Garanča © WS/Martina Berger

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Freddie De Tommaso’s confident role debut and Bryn Terfel’s masterclass in Verbier’s Puccini double bill

SwitzerlandSwitzerland Verbier Festival 2025 – Puccini, Gianni Schicchi, Mascagni, Cavalleria rusticana (concert performances): Soloists, Oberwalliser Vokalensemble choir, Verbier Festival Orchestra / Andrea Battistoni (conductor), Johanna Vaude (video art). Broadcast live from Salle des Combins, Verbier, Switzerland, 24.7.2025 and available on medici.tv. (JPr) Updated review.

Sungho Kim (Rinuccio), Ying Fang (Lauretta) and Sir Bryn Terfel (Gianni Schicchi)

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Eyvazov is a compelling Hermann and Netrebko an expressive Lisa in a Vienna revival of The Queen of Spades

AustriaAustria Tchaikovsky, The Queen of Spades (Pique Dame): Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Vienna State Opera / Timur Zangiev (conductor). Livestreamed from the Vienna State Opera (directed by Dominik Kepczynski), 27.6.2025. (JPr)

Yusif Eyvazov (Hermann) and Anna Netrebko (Lisa) © WS/Michael Pöhn

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Il trovatore in Vienna: Stoyanova, Beczała, Semenchuk and Salsi are great; if perhaps not Caruso’s ‘best’

AustriaAustria Verdi, Il trovatore: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Vienna State Opera / Marco Armiliato (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Anna Gettel) from the Vienna State Opera, 30.5.2025. (JPr)

Luca Salsi (Count di Luna) © Wiener Staatsoper/Michael Pöhn

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The pizzazz of An American in Paris redeems Wheeldon revisiting old choreographic friends

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Ballet to Broadway: Wheeldon Works – Fool’s Paradise, The Two of Us, Us, An American in Paris: Dancers of The Royal Ballet, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Koen Kessels (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Ross MacGibbon) from the Royal Opera House, London, to Cineworld Basildon, Essex, 22.5.2025. (JPr)

Fool’s Paradise – Lukas B. Brændsrød and Marianela Nuñez © Johan Persson

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You will find Asmik Grigorian’s tour de force in Paris Opera’s Il trittico hard to forget

FranceFrance Puccini, Il trittico: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Opéra national de Paris / Carlo Rizzi (conductor). Broadcast live from the Opéra Bastille (directed by Mathilde Jobbé-Duval) on 16.5.2025 and available until 16.6.2025. (JPr)

Paris Opera’s Gianni Schicchi © Guergana Damianova

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Barrie Kosky’s minimally staged, flawed Royal Opera Walküre, is great music theatre nonetheless

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Wagner, Walküre: Soloists, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Sir Antonio Pappano (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Peter Jones) from the Royal Opera House, London, to Cineworld Basildon, Essex, 14.5.2025. (JPr)

Soloman Howard (Hunding), Natalya Romaniw (Sieglinde) and Stanislas de Barbeyrac (Siegmund) © RBO/Monika Rittershaus

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Federica Lombardi shines in a first-class production of Le nozze di Figaro from The Met: Live in HD

United StatesUnited States Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera, New York / Joana Mallwitz (conductor), Metropolitan Opera, New York, performance of 26.4.2025, seen at Avenue Cinema, Belfast, 30.4.2025. (RB)

Olga Kulchynska (Susanna), Federica Lombardi (Countess) and Sun-Ly Pierce (lying, Cherubino) © Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera

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