Aida, the opera performed more often than any other at the Liceu, was chosen to open the present season. In that respect, then, there was nothing particularly new. The attraction of this opening-night Aida lay, on the one hand, in Anna Netrebko’s Liceu debut in a staged role and, on the other, in the new production, directed by the Iranian artist Shirin Neshat. This production wasoriginally created for the Salzburg Festival in 2017 and substantially revised by the director herself...

Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlo, which premiered in 1867 in Paris as Don Carlos, exists in several versions, and, depending on which is performed, is either his longest or one of his longest operas. Although the first performance was in French, Nicholas Hytner’s 2008 production for the Royal Opera House employs the Modena version of 1886, which is one of several to utilise an Italian libretto. Don Carlo ; © ROH, Catherine Ashmore Don Carlo ; © ROH, Catherine...

Anna Netrebko is back to Vienna and gives another demonstration of her current vocal class of its own. She acts as Queen Anne, wife and victim of brutal Henry VIII, the selfish and intrigue womanizer. Anna Bolena is Gaetano Donizetti's 25th opera and his first long lasting success. In the unspectacular and simple direction of Eric Genovese but in elegant costumes by Luisa Spinatelli, it is Anna Netrebko's appearence and elegant play together with her brilliant voice that makes...

It is a highlight for the lyrical Roman society: Verdi' s masterpiece, Aida, in a concert version with an exquisite cast. Thanks to an album recording of the show, this cultural spectacle could happen in the Auditorio, Rome's new concert hall designed by the star architect Renzo Piano. Sir Antonio Pappano, musical director of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia heads the international reputable and leading Italian Philharmonic Orchestra. One can feel their symbiotic and...