International Opera

All opera reviews from sources other that the UK

Conductor Eun Sun Kim and a committed cast make Parsifal soar at San Francisco Opera

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United StatesUnited States Wagner, Parsifal: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of San Francisco Opera / Eun Sun Kim (conductor). War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, 25.10.2025. (HS)

Klingsor (Falk Struckmann) reprimands Kundry (Tanja Ariane Baumgartner) in SFO’s Parsifal © Cory Weaver

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Nadine Sierra is the Amina of your dreams in the Met’s new La Sonnambula

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United StatesUnited States Bellini, La Sonnambula: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera / Riccardo Frizza (conductor). Recorded live (directed by Gary Halbvorson) at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, 18.10.2025 and viewed as an encore showing at the Everyman Cinema, Chelmsford, Essex. (JPr)

Nadine Sierra (Amina) in La Sonnambula Act II © Marty Sohl/Met Opera

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Disappointing new Lohengrin in Hannover redeemed by some of the singing

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GermanyGermany Wagner, Lohengrin: Soloists and Chorus of Hannover State Opera. Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover / Stephan Zilias (conductor). Hannover State Opera, 12.10.2025. (DM-D)

Elsa (Viktorija Kaminskaite) and Lohengrin (Maximilian Schmitt) in Act III (Bridal Chamber scene) © Bettina Stöss

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Three Cio-Cio-Sans in Bremen’s intriguing new Madama Butterfly

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GermanyGermany Puccini, Madama Butterfly: Soloists, Chorus and Extra Chorus of Bremen Theatre, Bremen Philharmonic / Sasha Yankevych (conductor). Bremen Theatre, 11.10.2025. (DM-D)

[l-r] Michal Partyka (Sharpless), Sarah-Jane Brandon (Cio-Cio-San II), Oliver Sewell (Pinkerton) and Brigitte Hahn (Cio-Cio-San III) © Jörg Landsberg

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Fine singing and the splendid playing of the Paris Opera Orchestra redeems Shirin Neshat’s polemical Aida

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FranceFrance Verdi, Aida: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Opéra national de Paris / Michele Mariotti (conductor). Livestreamed (directed by Mathilde Jobbé-Duval) from Opéra Bastille, Paris, 10.10.2025. (JPr)

[front] Ève-Maud Hubeaux (Amneris) © Bernd Uhlig/OnP

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