Opera & Ballet

Collected opera and ballet reviews

Stunning realisation of Messiaen’s visionary Saint François d’Assise at the Salzburg Festival

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AustriaAustria Salzburg Festival 2026 [5] – Messiaen, Saint François d’Assise: Soloists, Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera (chorus director: Jozef Chabroň), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Maxime Pascal (conductor). Felsenreitschule, Salzburg, 23.8.2026. (MB)

Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise at the Salzburg Festival © SF/Monika Rittershaus

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Chicago City Opera finds big laughs in Mozart’s small-scale singspiels

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United StatesUnited States Mozart, The Impresario, Bastien und Bastienne: Soloists of Chicago City Opera, Jordan Crice (piano) / Alexandra Enyart (conductor). Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, 16.8.2026. (ZC)

Valerie Beck, Tracey Furling, Ian Murrell and Matthew Peckham in Bastien und Bastienne © Zach Carstensen

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Rossini’s Le siège de Corinthe opens the ROF 2026 with musical splendour under siege from its own staging

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ItalyItaly Rossini Opera Festival 2026 – Rossini, Le siège de Conrinthe: Soloists, Coro del Teatro Ventidio basso (choir leader: Pasquale Veleno), Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna / Carlo Rizzi (conductor). Auditorium Scavolini, Pesaro, 11.8.2026. (AB)

Visalisa Berzhanskaya (Pamyra) in Rossini’s Le siège de Conrinthe

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Triumphant Cesti’s Il pomo d’oro celebrates the Innsbruck Early Music Festival’s 50th anniversary

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AustriaAustria Innsbruck Festival for Early Music – Pietro Antonio Cesti, Il pomo d’oro: Soloists, Street Motion Studio, Compagnia Fattoria Vittadini, NovoCanto, Accademia Bizantina / Ottavio Dantone (conductor). Tiroler Landestheater, Innsbruck, 7 & 8.8.2026. (AB)

Ester Ferraro (Discordia), Neima Fischer (Proserpina) and José Coca Loza (Plutone) © Birgit Gufler

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Iolanthe at Buxton: Westminster’s politicians are taught a lesson

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Buxton International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival [3] – Iolanthe: Soloists of Charles Court Opera, National Festival Orchestra / David Eaton (conductor). Buxton Opera House, Derbyshire, 7.8.2026. (RW)

‘None shall part us from each other’ (Matthew Palmer as Strephon and Llio Evans as Phyllis) © Craig Fuller

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Currentzis, Grigorian and Tetelman overcome Carrizo’s choreographic oddities in Salzburg’s Carmen

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AustriaAustria Salzburg Festival 2026 [1] – Bizet, Carmen: Soloists, Utopia Choir (chorus master: Vitaly Polonsky), Salzburg Bach Choir (chorus master: Michael Schneider), Salzburger Festspiele und Theater Kinderchor (chorus masters: Wolfgang Götz, Regina Sgier), Utopia Orchestra / Teodor Currentzis (conductor). Filmed (directed by Michael Beyer) at the Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg, on 8.8.2026 and streamed on STAGE+ on 9.8.2026. (JPr)

Eurudike De Beul (Don José’s Mother), Jonathan Tetelman (Don José) and Kristina Mkhitaryan (Micaëla) © SF/Thomas Aurin

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