Extravagance and excellence vie in Meyerbeer’s Le prophète at Bard SummerScape

United StatesUnited States Meyerbeer, Le prophète: Soloists, ‘Marche du Sacre’ Banda, Bard Festival Chorus, Dancers, Enfants, American Symphony Orchestra / Leon Botstein (conductor). Bard SummerScape, Fisher Center at Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, 4.8.2024. (RP)

Robert Watson (Jean de Leyde) © Andy Henderson

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Fine singing but problematic conducting as Der fliegende Holländer is revived at Bayreuth

GermanyGermany Bayreuth Festival 2024 [2] – Wagner, Der fliegende Holländer: Soloists, Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra / Oksana Lyniv (conductor). Festspielhaus, Bayreuth, 1.8.2024. (MB)

Der fliegende Holländer Act II: Elisabeth Teige (Senta) and Eric Cutler (Erik) © Enrico Nawrath

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Garsington Opera’s A Trip to the Moon will have children and adults delight in the magic of live theatre

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Garsington Opera 2024 [5] – Andrew Norman, A Trip to the Moon: Soloists, Garsington Opera Adult and Youth Companies, Primary and Infant School Companies, and Philharmonia Orchestra / Douglas Boyd (conductor). Garsington Opera at Wormsley, 30.7.2024. (CR)

Garsington Opera’s A Trip to the Moon © Julian Guidera

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Sofia Opera’s spectacular staging of The Hermit of Rila is a spiritual and visual musical wonder

BulgariaBulgaria Fr Kiril Popov, The Hermit of Rila: Soloists, Children’s Vocal and Theatre Formation (Dimitar Kostantsaliev, director), Chorus and Orchestra of Sofia Opera / Metropolitan of Stara Zagora Kyprian (conductor). Patriarchal Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky, Sofia, 26.7.2024. (GT)

Sofia Opera’s The Hermit of Rila © Svetoslav Nikolov-Chapi

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Christian Thielemann leads a fine concert performance of Capriccio in Salzburg

AustriaAustria Salzburg Festival 2024 [4] – R. Strauss, Capriccio: Soloists, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Christian Thielemann (conductor). Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg, 26.7.2024. (MB)

Salzburg Festival’s concert performance of Capriccio © SF/Marco Borrelli

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Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson’s new Bayreuth Tristan lacks coherence, dramatic cogency and better singing

GermanyGermany Bayreuth Festival 2024 [1] – Wagner, Tristan und Isolde: Soloists, Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov (conductor). Recorded live (directed by Michael Beyer) at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, 25.7.2024. (JPr)

Bayreuther Festspiele 2024 – Tristan und Isolde Act III © Enrico Nawrath

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