Staatsoper unter den Linden: A Siegfried without passion Tcherniakov's direction presents a Siegfried without any romanticism or association to the libretto. But the music speaks a completely different language As in Rheingold and Walküre, in the third part of the Ring we still find ourselves in the E.S.C.H.E. Research Centre. That stands for Experimental Scientific Center for Human Evolution, so it has nothing to do with the eponymous ash tree in the opera. And...

Staatsoper unter den Linden: A Walküre without any allusions Gods are also just ordinary people in this lavish but stark production at the Staatsoper Berlin Consistently, director Dmitri Tcherniakov refuses to use any conventional props on the second evening of the new Ring der Nibelungen at the Staatsoper unter den Linden. As in Rheingold, we find ourselves in the E.S.C.H.E Research Centre - the Scientific Centre for Human Development. During the overture, a short news video...

RIchard Wagner Das Rheingold Staatsoper unter den Linden Berlin A Rheingold without any gold The creation of this Ring der Nibelungen production has a prologue: the planning and staging of this entire Ring with its four works lasting a total of approx. 16 hours in one season, was supposed to be a birthday present from the Staatsoper Unter den Linden to its General Music Director, Daniel Barenboim. Unfortunately, Daniel Barenboim had to step down from conducting the three Ring...

"perpetual music", a project initiated by Artists must speak, make music, and perform: that is their language, that is their soul. Even if it is not reflected in politics, art and culture are part of our society, and as much a part of our life as eating, drinking or breathing. Artists cannot survive without performances and have thus fallen into a deep existential crisis due to the Coronavirus crisis, with its...

The sense of expectation that surrounded the return of Patrice Chéreau's production of Elektra to La Scala is testament to the artistry of the French director, arguably the greatest the nation has produced in the postwar period. Time and again, Chéreau's conceptions bore to the heart of the drama, and through an often startling simplicity of directorial means. The director's Elektra, his last production, opened in Aix in 2013 before travelling to La Scala....

Despite only being mentioned briefly in the New Testament, the character of Salome has certainly caught the imagination as she has pervaded art, literature and music over the centuries. In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark she is described as a girl who pleased King Herod so much at his birthday feast with her dancing that he promised her anything she desired. After consulting Herodias, the husband of Herod and her mother, she asked for the head of John the Baptist on a plate, with Herodias...