Tag Archives: Gábor Bretz

Top ten operas 2022

Posted on December 26, 2022 by Mark Pullinger

This was the year that opera houses got back to something approaching “normality” post-pandemic. It’s easy to forget that at the start of 2022, Covid restrictions were still very much in place: visiting Vienna in January, one needed proof of … Continue reading →

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Widescreen operatic chiller: Karina Canellakis unlocks the doors to Bluebeard’s Castle

Posted on July 4, 2020 by Mark Pullinger

Bartók: Bluebeard’s Castle TivoliVredenburg, 3rd July 2020 There can be little doubt that, along with ballet, fully staged opera will be the last of the arts to return to any sort of normality once this pandemic is over (unless it’s … Continue reading →

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Thrills, chills and an immersive auto-da-fé: Konwitschny’s Don Carlos sizzles in Hamburg

Posted on May 31, 2019 by Mark Pullinger

Verdi: Don Carlos Staatsoper Hamburg, 30th May 2019 “Beware my Grand Inquisitor!” The Hamburg audience would do well to heed Phliip II’s warning to the Marquis de Posa in Peter Konwitschny’s production of Don Carlos. During the first interval, there … Continue reading →

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On the rocks: Castellucci delivers an ice-cold Salome in Salzburg

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Mark Pullinger

Strauss: Salome **** Salzburg Festival, 9th August 2018 Above Sigmundstor, the tunnel that cuts through Salzburg’s mighty Mönchsberg next to the Festspielhaus, is the Latin inscription Te saxa loquuntur: the stones speak of you. Also hewn into the Mönchsberg rock a … Continue reading →

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Rattle leads the LSO on a thrilling ride into the abyss

Posted on September 20, 2017 by Mark Pullinger

Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust **** Barbican Hall, 19th September 2017 “Diff! Diff! Belzébuth, Belphégor, Astaroth, Méphisto!” Once the hissing demons had greeted Méphistophélès, Faust’s soul successfully delivered after their Ride into the Abyss, calm was restored to the Barbican … Continue reading →

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