Johann Strau�'s Die Fledermaus (The Bat) has been part of the Bayerische Staatsoper's repertoire since 1895 and has always been performed there by star-studded casts. In December 2023, the curtain rose on a spectacular new production of this piece. Director Barrie Kosky gave the "operetta of all operettas" a new look: a society, an entire city dances towards the abyss in a colourful, lavish set (stage design: Rebecca Ringst, costumes: Klaus Bruns). The setting is Vienna, the city of the golden operetta era, where Die Fledermaus premiered in 1874. A volcano boils beneath the glamour of feather boas and tutus. Not only for Gabriel von Eisenstein, the bat's revenge becomes a nightmare when, during a glittering masked ball at the residence of Prince Orlofsky, a fake marquis and a fake chevalier, an alleged Hungarian countess and plenty of budding artists meet for a raucous party. Glasses are clinking, relationships are shaken, there are lies, there is love, and dancing (choreography: Otto Pichler). The people celebrate while they still can, true to the motto: "Happy is the one who forgets...". General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski - in his third new Munich production together with Barrie Kosky - brings new aspects of the score to the fore. Diana Damrau makes her role debut as Rosalinde, Georg Nigl interprets her husband Gabriel von Eisenstein, Katharina Konradi appears as Adele and Martin Winkler as Frank; other roles feature Markus Bruck (Dr. Falke), Sean Panikkar (Alfred), Kevin Conners (Dr. Blind) and Miriam Neumaier (Ida). The actor Franz Josef Strohmeier and the tap dancer Max Pollak, among others, play the six-fold frog.

Special concerts reserved for subscribers. Due to the exceptional quality of the concerts and the limited offer, the average waiting time for subscribers is more than 10 years. With this series, these very special concerts are made available for the first time audiovisually to a wider audience worldwide. For this subscription concert, the Wiener Philharmoniker asked a long-time artistic companion to take the podium: more than 140 concerts and a multitude of celebrated recordings connect Christian Thielemann with the traditional Viennese orchestra. The live recording of his debut on the podium at the Vienna Musikverein almost 23 years ago promptly became a reference recording. On the programme then as now: Richard Strauss' monumental Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony). This work, often regarded as the final and climax of the "symphonic poem" genre, is juxtaposed with Arnold Sch�nberg's probably most famous tonal composition, the orchestral version of the string sextet Verkl�rte Nacht (Transfigured Night). Composed in 1899, this highly expressive work by the 25-year-old Sch�nberg reads, in retrospect, like a swan song to the 19th century. "Sch�nberg and Strauss rarely sound so grandiose." Kurier "A truly persuasive performance." The New York Times "The 'Alpine Symphony' under Thielemann has long been a Viennese legend." Die Presse Program: Arnold Schoenberg: Verkl�rte Nacht (Transfigured Night), op. 4 Richard Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), op. 64

In 1835 Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor made it's triumphant debut at the San Carlo in Naples. For it's Parisian appearance four years later as Lucie de Lammermoor, the composer went much further than merely Gallicising the heroine's first name, he subjected the opera to a condensation in which Lucie became the only woman in the entire cast. Donizetti's orchestration remains largely the same but the French influence is audible in new recitatives. This later version is no surrogate or mere abridgement, but, perhaps because of it's greater concision, is more brutal and emotional than the original.

Acknowledged as a definitive model of Italian Romantic melodrama, Lucia di Lammermoor was one of Donizetti's greatest triumphs, and it's popularity led him to produce a French version for Parisian audiences. Lucie de Lammermoor became the 'other Lucia', with the opera's tragic tale of feuding families and doomed romance modified in a way that deepens the characters and makes it an even more brutal and emotional theatrical experience than the original. This new Lucie de Lammermoor made it's debut in 1839 with enormous success, becoming a cornerstone of French culture.

Bohuslav Martinu's opera The Greek Passion, here in the 1961 version, is based on the novel The re-crucified Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis. The opera develops the Christian doctrine of "love thy neighbour" ad absurdum, as a group of refugees are driven out of a little Greek village just as the village is putting on a Passion play for Holy Week. The opera is a pessimistic plea for humanity, made in the awareness that humanity must always wrestle anew with it's own egoism. Director Simon Stone "creates a modern parable, somehow both contemporary and timeless." (The Times) For the last of his 16 operas, Martinu developed a tonal language which combined his early musical experiences with elements of Greek folklore, Greek Orthodox liturgy and dance music. Maxime Pascal, the 2014 winner of the Salzburg Festival's annual Young Conductors Award and at the podium of the Wiener Philharmoniker for the first time, "unfolds a musical and dramatic intensity that makes your hair stand on end, both in the tender outbursts and the violent ones. A maestro of his time." (Le Figaro) "A highlight of this year's Salzburg Festival" The Times The Greek Passion elected "BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR 2023" OPER! Awards 2024 "This opulence and the playing of the overall grippingly coherent ensemble hits one to the core." Neue Musikzeitung

Classical Music

Classical Music

Rued Langgaard's remarkable opera 'Antikrist' confronts the decline and fall of Western civilisation, critiquing modern lifestyles and ways of thinking, which resonates with our times more than ever before. Never performed in the composer's lifetime, 'Antikrist' blends Romantic and contemporary styles to create a score that is both seductive and opulent, while the lack of a conventional plot creates space for an ironic and sarcastic expos� of contemporary civilisation's weaknesses. This spectacular Deutsche Oper Berlin production was acclaimed in 'The New York Times' as a 'riotously colourful, boldly stylised staging [in] a near-breathless swirl'.

Rued Langgaard's remarkable opera 'Antikrist' confronts the decline and fall of Western civilisation, critiquing modern lifestyles and ways of thinking, which resonates with our times more than ever before. Never performed in the composer's lifetime, 'Antikrist' blends Romantic and contemporary styles to create a score that is both seductive and opulent, while the lack of a conventional plot creates space for an ironic and sarcastic expos� of contemporary civilisation's weaknesses. This spectacular Deutsche Oper Berlin production was acclaimed in 'The New York Times' as a 'riotously colourful, boldly stylised staging [in] a near-breathless swirl'.

Love and duty collide and nations clash in Verdi's political drama, starring Elena Stikhina. In this new production, director Robert Carsen situates Verdi's large-scale drama within a contemporary world, framing it's power struggles and toxic jealousies in the apparatus of a modern, totalitarian state. Antonio Pappano conducts Verdi's glorious, monumental score.

In the early 1670s, soon after Venetian opera became established in Naples, a series of comic figures began to inhabit secular but also sacred operas. These stock characters included the Neapolitan, the Calabrian and the Boy, and all three plus a fourth, 'The Spaniard', appear in a comic intermezzo inserted in the 1673 opera Il disperato innocente by the little-known Francesco Antonio Boero. This is the oldest surviving Neapolitan comic intermezzo, and, along with it's Prologue, seems to have been written by other authors. This video preserves a historically informed performance given by Antonio Florio with Pino de Vittorio that explores the tradition of the intermezzo in 17th century plots.

In the early 1670s, soon after Venetian opera became established in Naples, a series of comic figures began to inhabit secular but also sacred operas. These stock characters included the Neapolitan, the Calabrian and the Boy, and all three plus a fourth, 'The Spaniard', appear in a comic intermezzo inserted in the 1673 opera Il disperato innocente by the little-known Francesco Antonio Boero. This is the oldest surviving Neapolitan comic intermezzo, and, along with it's Prologue, seems to have been written by other authors. This video preserves a historically informed performance given by Antonio Florio with Pino de Vittorio that explores the tradition of the intermezzo in 17th century plots.

Classical Music

Love and duty collide and nations clash in Verdi's political drama, starring Elena Stikhina. In this new production, director Robert Carsen situates Verdi's large-scale drama within a contemporary world, framing it's power struggles and toxic jealousies in the apparatus of a modern, totalitarian state. Antonio Pappano conducts Verdi's glorious, monumental score.

What makes a King? What makes a father? Shakespeare's monumental history play travels to the heart of family, duty and country. This innovative film, recorded before a live audience, documents the Donmar Warehouse's all-female stage production, adapted from William Shakespeare's two plays about King Henry IV, Prince Hal and Falstaff. The bold, contemporary production is presented as if played by inmates of a women's prison and was described by critics as 'unforgettable'. The director for both stage and screen is Phyllida Lloyd, and Harriet Walter is Henry IV. The Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy began in 2012 with an all-female production of Julius Caesar led by Dame Harriet Walter. Set in a women's prison, the production asked the question, "Who owns Shakespeare?" Two further productions followed: Henry IV in 2014 and The Tempest in 2016, all featuring a diverse company of women. The Trilogy enthralled theatre audiences in London and New York and was shared with women and girls in prisons and schools across the UK. The film versions were shot live in a specially built temporary theatre in King's Cross in 2016, and now offer screen audiences unique access to these ground-breaking productions.

Gaetano Donizetti had big shoes to fill at his debut in Naples in 1823, arriving at the Teatro di San Carlo just after Rossini's departure, full of talent but still seeking his true voice. Alfredo il Grande is influenced by Rossini, but also shows hints of great things to come. The narrative is a celebration of heroism and magnanimous royalty, taking us to 9th century England where King Alfred the Great is on the run from the Vikings. Revived two centuries after the spectacular failure of it's premiere, this little-known opera seria can now stand as a reflection on humanitarian values and gestures of resistance against the destructiveness of war.

The Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo continues to present early works by Donizetti that have been unjustly neglected for decades. Alfredo il Grande, a love story that explores the defeat of the invading Danish army by the victorious Britons, was first performed in 1823 and was revived in this production two centuries later. Skilfully orchestrated, it features memorable arias for the hero Alfredo, and includes a superb concluding rondo for the heroine Amalia, as well as a radiant quintet. The opera is heard here in Edoardo Cavalli's 2021 critical edition. Gramophone called it 'a vocally accomplished performance' and 'a fine revival'.

Rusalka, a water spirit, lives with her family in the pure waters of the forest lake. When she falls in love with a Prince, she sacrifices her voice and leaves her home in the hope of finding true love in a new world - a world that does not love her back.�Natalie Abrahami and Ann Yee create a poetic, contemporary new staging of Dvorak's lyric fairy tale, revealing our uneasy relationship with the natural world and humanity's attempts to own and tame it. Semyon Bychkov conducts an all-star cast featuring Asmik Grigorian in the title role.

Rusalka, a water spirit, lives with her family in the pure waters of the forest lake. When she falls in love with a Prince, she sacrifices her voice and leaves her home in the hope of finding true love in a new world - a world that does not love her back.�Natalie Abrahami and Ann Yee create a poetic, contemporary new staging of Dvorak's lyric fairy tale, revealing our uneasy relationship with the natural world and humanity's attempts to own and tame it. Semyon Bychkov conducts an all-star cast featuring Asmik Grigorian in the title role.

Francesco Cilea’s Gloria, performed here in its 1932 revised edition, takes as its theme the ultimately tragic story of two lovers caught up in a conflict in 14th-century Siena. The libretto is based on Victorien Sardou's play La Haine (Hatred) and the opera features Cilea’s refined orchestral writing inspired by the Russian and French schools, with vocal lines that are varied and rewarding. Opera Today called this production ‘musically magical’, while Operawire.com extolled the inventive and convincing staging along with Francesco Cilluffo’s compelling musical direction.

Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) plays the title role in Shakespeare’s thrilling study of nationalism, war and the psychology of power. Captured live from the Donmar Warehouse in London. Fresh to the throne, King Henry V launches England into a bloody war with France. When his campaign encounters resistance, this inexperienced new ruler must prove he is fit to guide a country into war. Directed by Max Webster (Life of Pi), this exciting modern production explores what it means to be English and our relationship to Europe, asking: do we ever get the leaders we deserve?

Francesco Cilea's Gloria, performed here in it's 1932 revised edition, takes as it's theme the ultimately tragic story of two lovers caught up in a conflict in 14th-century Siena. The libretto is based on Victorien Sardou's play La Haine (Hatred) and the opera features Cilea's refined orchestral writing inspired by the Russian and French schools, with vocal lines that are varied and rewarding. Opera Today called this production 'musically magical', while Operawire. Com extolled the inventive and convincing staging along with Francesco Cilluffo's compelling musical direction.

Götterdämmerung ('Twilight of the Gods') is the final opera of Wagner’s epic tetralogy "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ('The Ring of the Nibelung') in which his visionary masterpiece reaches its cataclysmic conclusion. Betrayal and death, murder and remorse, lie at the opera’s heart, in a work that draws together every plot element in writing of blazing intensity. As the ring is restored to the Rhinemaidens, the age of the gods ends, with the opera offering the certainty of destruction but the consolation of renewal. Staged by the award-winning director Stefan Herheim, this innovative new production from Deutsche Oper Berlin features a leading international cast conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. The release includes "Making Of" documentary featuring interviews with Stefan Herheim and Sir Donald Runnicles, and behind the scenes footage.

Donizetti's L'aio nell'imbarazzo ('The Embarrassed Tutor') is a melodramma giocoso in two acts, premiered to considerable acclaim in 1824. It's subject is the belated attempt by the elderly Marquis Giulio to keep his sons innocent of the ways of world and the comedy of errors that result. Two years later Donizetti drastically revised the opera, which duly appeared under the title Don Gregorio. This production uses the critical edition and restores the work, as far as possible, to Donizetti's original conception - including excised arias, and emphasising the composer's sparkling orchestration.

British mezzo-soprano, Dame Janet Baker, chose to retire from the operatic stage singing the title role in Sir Peter Hall's acclaimed production of Orfeo ed Euridice. This 1982 recording from Glyndebourne, where Dame Janet appropriately began her professional career, proved a suitable crowning glory to the career of one of the great singing actresses of our age. Dame Janet's realisation of Orfeo, the grieving musician from Greek mythology, who follows his beloved wife Euridice to the depths of Hades in an attempt to bring her back from the dead, is totally convincing “… a quite staggering performance …” (MusicWeb International)