March 19th 1967 is the birthday of the Salzburg Easter Festival, a creation of classical superstar Herbert von Karajan in his search of optimized conditions for the performing arts. Walkuere and the Ring der Nibelungen were his first projects to be realized together with the Berlin Philharmonic and a world class cast. Since then, the Easter Festival has gained a top position in the international festival calendar and a reputation for outstanding production for a small and exclusive circle...

French composer Charles Gounod was deeply religious and even he did not decide for a clerical career his strong belief dominated his life. His surviving opus consists of many sacred works but also 12 operas of which only two gained world-wide popularity, Faust and Roméo et Juliette. They are good examples of the French Opéra Lyrique, of which Charles Gounod is a leading representative. © Wiener Staatsoper GmbH / Michael Pöhn © Wiener Staatsoper...

The National Opera of Romania opens the new season with a tribute to Italy, a country and culture which is close to the temperament of this proud country and its strong music tradition. Constructed in 1953 in a splendid classic building, it is home for the opera and ballet company and offers a seating capacity of 900 persons. Italian Marcello Mottadelli is the new artistic director and has invited an Italian team for the new production of Gioacchino Rossini Il Barbiere di Siviglia,...

Wide open space on stage as the opera starts. Once more young German director Amélie Niermayer uses the overture for narrating already parts of the story. The new production of the Bavarian State Opera is her first appearance here. The first encounter of Leonor, the mistress of King Alphonse, and monk Fernand is love at first sight with immediate intimate embracing. Stage designer Alexander Müller Elmau created a dark neutral environment with some moveable metal blocks which...

One of the pillars of the successful Wexford festival is the presentations of so called short works. One act operas composed in different centuries giving a strong testimony for the talent of their creators and constitute prestigious rarities of their genre and which have been unperformed unjustly. This year series is put together with two comic examples and one melodramatic. Gaetano Donizetti’s Il Campanello, the night bell, is a mature example of the genius composer full of...

Vanessa by Samuel Barber was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera house and premiered successfully in the year 1958. Samuel Barber’s lifelong partner Gian Carlo Menotti wrote a very sensitive and precise libretto based on a gothic tale. It was his only libretto not being composed by himself later on. There have been some further productions of the opera mainly in the United States whereas in Europe Vanessa has not really grounded in the repertoire of the opera houses. So again...