Erina Takahashi is bidding farewell as an ENB dancer in their delicate and poignant Giselle

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Mary Skeaping’s Giselle: Dancers of English National Ballet, English National Ballet Philharmonic / Gavin Sutherland(conductor), London Coliseum, 15.1.2025. (JO’D)

Erina Takahashi (Giselle) and Francesco Gabriele Frola (Albrecht) in Mary Skeaping’s Giselle © Photography by ASH

Read more

Essen’s inconsistent Die Zauberflöte is set in a laboratory

GermanyGermany Mozart, Die Zauberflöte(The Magic Flute): Soloists and Chorus of Theater & Philharmonie Essen. Essener Philharmoniker / Christopher Moulds (conductor). Aalto Theater Essen, 11.1.2025. (DM-D)

[l-r] Sebastian Pilgrim (Sarastro), Lisa Wittig (Pamina), and Judith Spiesser (Queen of the Night) © Björn Hickmann

Read more

Michieletto’s absinthe-fuelled Tales of Hoffmann for The Royal Opera gets a delightful musical performance

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Offenbach, The Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes d’Hoffmann): Soloists, Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Antonello Manacorda (conductor). Filmed (directed by Rhodri Huw) at the Royal Ballet and Opera in November 2024 and shown at the Everyman Cinema, Chelmsford, Essex, 15.1.2025. (JPr)

Julie Boulianne (rear, Nicklausse) and Juan Diego Flórez (Hoffmann) © Camilla Greenwell

Read more

Bremerhaven’s Hänsel und Gretel has the children escaping into their own dreamworld

GermanyGermany Humperdinck, Hänsel und Gretel: Soloists, Ladies of the Chorus, Children’s chorus of Stadttheater Bremerhaven, Philharmonic Orchestra Bremerhaven / Hartmut Brüsch (conductor). Bremerhaven, 28.12.2024. (DM-D)

Marcin Hutek (Peter), Kristín Anna Guðmundsdóttir (Gertrud), Boshana Milkov (Hänsel), and Victoria Kunze (Gretel) © Heiko Sandelmann

Read more