Praise for the Bayerische Staatsoper's new Ballo in Maschera: “A formidable vocal feast” (Bayerische Staatszeitung). Ten years after stepping down as music director of the Bavarian State Opera, a “grand Zubin Mehta“ (Bayerischer Rundfunk) returned to Munich in March 2016 to celebrate his 80th birthday conducting Verdi’s masterpiece for the first time in a staged production. His cast features some of today’s finest Verdi singers: soprano Anja Harteros, singing Amelia for the first time and “filling every note with Verdian intensity”, tenor Piotr Beczala as a “visually and vocally dashing Riccardo” and George Petean as an “exemplary” Renato (Neue Musikzeitung). In director Johannes Erath’s musically super-sensitive new production, this historically-based tale of illicit love, conspiracy and betrayal unfolds in a surrealistic, shadowy setting transformed by lighting and projections. Special praise was showered by the enthusiastic critics on Maestro Mehta, who “creates concentrated musical connections, miraculously guiding his orchestra and unsurpassable voices the way a thermal lifts a paraglider ... Musically the performance was a dream” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). “A total triumph” (La Razón). “This production shows what a utopia opera can be” (Abendzeitung).

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli – even among fellow pianists this name almost evokes reverence, because it stands for the highest perfection, for a cult of beauty that perhaps no other master pianist has ever practiced. But it also stands for concert cancellations at short notice and artist’s neuroses, which the media spread with delight. “Beyond Perfection - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli” is the result of a 30-year search for traces, which has not only led to interesting contemporary witnesses, but in particular has brought to light a wealth of new archive material: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli has never been seen and, above all, never heard like this before. Thus one can experience at first hand how the severely stricken maestro fights his way back to his old perfection after a heart attack. This is the first comprehensive and multi-faceted portrait of the legendary pianist. “A whole lifetime only just suffices to learn to do something well.” (Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli)