International Opera

All opera reviews from sources other that the UK

Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain ‘breathes, speaks and moans’ in an amazingly moving Erfurt production

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GermanyGermany Charles Wuorinen, Brokeback Mountain: Soloists, Opernchor des Theaters Erfurt, Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt / Hermes Helfricht (conductor). Theater Erfurt, 28.3.2026. (AB)

Daniela Gerstenmayer (Alma) and Máté Sólyom-Nagy (Ennis) © Lutz Edelhoff

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Berlin Festtage’s new Verdi Un ballo fails to ignite. Blame the director (partly)

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GermanyGermany Berlin Festtage 2026 [3] – Verdi, Un ballo in maschera: Soloists, Staatsopernchor Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin / Enrique Mazzola (conductor). Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, 1.4.2026. (SRT)

Charles Castronovo (Riccardo) and Anna Netrebko (Amelia) © Stephan Rabold

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A Festtage Der Rosenkavalier in Berlin that left me in pieces

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GermanyGermany Berlin Festtage 2026 [1]: Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier: Soloists, Children’s Choir of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (chorus director: Vinzenz Weissenburger), Staatsopernchor Berlin (chorus director: Gerhard Polifka), Staatskapelle Berlin / Christian Thielemann (conductor). Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, 31.3.2026. (SRT)

Staatsoper Unter den Linden’s Der Rosenkavalier (previous performance) © Ruth Walz

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Arresting visuals and narrative confusion of Tristan at the Met with Lise Davidsen’s transcendental Isolde

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United StatesUnited States The Met: Live in HD – Wagner, Tristan und Isolde: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Gary Halvorson) from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, 21.3.2026 and viewed at Everyman Cinema, Chelmsford, Essex, 24.3.2026. (JPr)

Yuval Sharon’s production of Tristan und Isolde Act II © Karen Almond/Met Opera

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