Festivals

Compelling directorial craftsmanship and musical excellence come together in Bayreuth’s new Die Meistersinger

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GermanyGermany Bayreuth Festival 2025 [4] – Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nϋrnberg: Soloists, Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra / Daniele Gatti (conductor). 11.8.2025. (DM-D)

Die Meistersinger Act I © Bayreuther Festspiele/Enrico Nawrath

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In Bayreuth, Semyon Bychkov explores the primordial depths of the Tristan und Isolde score

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GermanyGermany Bayreuth Festival 2025 [3] – Wagner, Tristan und Isolde: Soloists, Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov (conductor). Bayreuther Festspielhaus, 10.8.2025. (DM-D)

Tristan und Isolde Act I: [l-r] Ekaterina Gubanova (Brangäne), Andreas Schager (Tristan), Jordan Shanahan (Kurwenal),  Camilla Nylund (Isolde) and Günther Groissböck (King Marke) © Bayreuther Festspiele/Enrico Nawrath

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A vague Bayreuth Lohengrin production but it is unlikely the music could sound better

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GermanyGermany Bayreuth Festival 2025 [2] – Wagner, Lohengrin: Soloists, Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra / Christian Thielemann (conductor). Bayreuther Festspielhaus, 9.8.2025. (DM-D)

Lohengrin Act I: Olafur Sigurdarson (Friedrich von Telramund) and Miina-Liisa Värelä (Ortrud) © Bayreuther Festspiele/Enrico Nawrath

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After 300 years: Innsbruck sees a musically brilliant return to the stage of Caldara’s Ifigenia in Aulide

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AustriaAustria Innsbruck Festival for Early Music – Antonio Caldara, Ifigenia in Aulide: Soloists, Accademia Bizantina / Ottavio Dantone (conductor), Tiroler Landestheater, 10.8.2025. (AB)

Ifigenia in Aulide at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Music © Birgit Gufler

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Ensemble Amarine Belladiva’s concert was an absolute joy: my preferred event of L’Itinéraire

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FranceFrance Itinéraire baroque en Périgord 2025 [7]: L’Itinéraire [5]: Les Délices de l’Âme: Ensemble Amarine Belladiva (Zuzana Badárová [soprano], Michaela Ambrosi [transverse flute], Barbara Maria Willi [harpsichord]). Rauzet Priory, Combiers, France, 2.8.2025. (CC)

Zuzana Badárová (soprano)

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Churning is a fresh look for Patience in Buxton

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival 2025 [3] – Peak Opera, Patience: Soloists and Chorus, with Orchestra of the National Gilbert & Sullivan Festival / Dave Anstice-Pim (conductor). Buxton Opera House, Derbyshire, 7.8.2025. (RW)

Patience: ‘I know that I am loved by you’ © Charles Smith

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The LSO’s principals play chamber music at the EIF and Ian Bostridge sings affectingly, sometimes

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Edinburgh International Festival 2025 [5]: Britten, Vaughan Williams, Elgar: Ian Bostridge (tenor), Sir Antonio Pappano (piano), Members of the London Symphony Orchestra (Benjamin Gilmore, Julián Gil Rodríguez [violins], Eivind Ringstad [viola], David Cohen [cello]). Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 13.8.2025. (SRT)

Ian Bostridge and Sir Antonio Pappano

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L’Itinéraire explores music by Hellendaal, Ruloffs, Focking and de Fesch from Dutch Baroque

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FranceFrance Itinéraire baroque en Périgord 2025 [6]: L’Itinéraire [4] – Dutch Baroque plays Dutch Baroque: Dutch Baroque (Ivan Iliev [violin], Beniamino Paganini [transverse flute], Anne-Linde Visser [cello], Gerard de Wit [organ/harpsichord/director]). Église Saint-Pierre d’Edon, France, 2.8.2025. (CC)

Gerard de Wit playing during an earlier concert

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