Götterdämmerung ends a Berlin Ring which challenged and taught us much, moving us too

GermanyGermany Berlin Festtage [4] – Wagner, Götterdämmerung: Soloists, Staatsopernchor Berlin (chorus director: Martin Wright), Staatskapelle Berlin / Thomas Guggeis (conductor). Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, 10.4.2023. (MB)

Götterdämmerung (Act III) © Monika Rittershaus

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Jérémie Rhorer fails to penetrate to the heart of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis

GermanyGermany Berlin Festtage [3] – Beethoven: Camilla Nylund (soprano), Anna Kissjudit (mezzo-soprano), Saimir Pirgu (tenor), René Pape (bass), Staatsopern Chor Berlin (chorus director: Martin Wright), Staatskapelle Berlin / Jérémie Rhorer (conductor). Philharmonie, Berlin, 7.4.2023. (MB)

Jérémie Rhorer conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin © Peter Adamik

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A welcome post-Covid step back towards operatic ‘normality’ with Der Rosenkavalier in Dresden

GermanyGermany Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier: Soloists, Children’s Choir of the Semperoper Dresden, Dresden State Opera Chorus (chorus director: André Kellinghaus), Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden / Cornelius Meister (conductor). Semperoper, Dresden, 3.4.2023. (MB)

Der Rosenkavalier © Semperoper Dresden/Klaus Gigga

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Many virtues to the Deutsche Oper’s new production of Arabella

GermanyGermany R. Strauss, Arabella: Soloists, Opera-ballet and actors of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (chorus director: Jeremy Bines), Tobias Kratzer (director), Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin / Dirk Kaftan (conductor). Deutsche Oper, Berlin, 1.4.2023. (MB)

Russell Braun (Mandryka) in Richard Strauss’s Arabella, directed by Tobias Kratzer and premiered 18 March 2023 at Deutsche Oper Berlin © Thomas Aurin

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