Wagner's reputation can be both a headache and an irresistible challenge to opera directors. Though opera usually demands strict fidelity to the music as it was written, there is traditionally more leeway in staging decisions.
Fast forward a few decades and John Wilson is still hand-picking musicians and still serving up performances so polished they leave critics scrabbling for superlatives. These days Wilson's main outfit is the Sinfonia of London, and he is as likely to be conducting the symphonic mainstream as showtunes.
The opening night of the Metropolitan Opera's new Tristan und Isolde was one of those great nights at the opera, the kind that will have people arguing what shone most: the confident complexity of Yuval Sharon's staging, Lise Davidsen's indelible Isolde, her chemistry with tenor Michael Spyres, or the sensuous discipline of the orchestra. The answer, of course, is all of the above.
Rigoletto's librettist, Francesco Maria Piave, replaced the king with the Duke of Mantua, who is just as morally bankrupt as the original. The opera premiered in 1851 in Venice and has been a popular production to roll out with both name recognition and one of those golden tunes that almost everybody has heard: La donna e mobile, which becomes haunting in the context of the actual plot.
The piece is steeped in Schopenhauer's meditations on the futility of worldly striving and the necessity of accepting oblivion. It is also infused with Wagner's paganistic worship of desire and his matchless ability to translate longing into perpetually unresolved musical phrases.
In Siegfried, the third part of Der Ring des Nibelungen, Richard Wagner shifts the focus away from the troubled world of the gods towards the energy of youth on earth. This is storytelling through opera, where the theatre is crucial and the music sublime.
Join us at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on March 14 & 15, 2026 for an unforgettable cultural experience. This year, renowned Cantonese Opera artists from Hong Kong will present two full-length performances of beloved classic stories - a spectacular showcase you won't want to miss!
"The city of Munich must submit an official application to UEFA by June 2026. Currently, we are the only applicant," Dreesen said (t-online journo Julian Buhl via @iMiaSanMia) The UEFA Executive Committee will then decide in September 2026 where the final will take place. We are, of course, making every effort to secure the hosting rights. With the Allianz Arena, we have the perfect infrastructure for such a major final, and UEFA is well aware of that."
I'm a harmonica and accordion player and one half of folk-classical duo Stevens & Pound. As a multi-instrumentalist I am rooted in a folk tradition that is oral, aural and communal. Music and song are passed down by ear, either through recordings or more fun traditional music sessions. Here, players and singers get together to share, swap and play tunes, drawing from a repertoire that is always evolving.
"You can really push yourself to the limit, and there's a correlation between muscle power and the sound produced," he said. Matzke's appreciation for the accordion began in his childhood. Now, he serves as one of the ambassadors for the instrument of the year in 2026. "The accordion sparks the imagination. Sometimes it sounds like an orchestra with wind instruments, but you can also cover pop songs wonderfully," he told DW.
Andre de Ridder is either brave or stupid. He has accepted the role as the music director of English National Opera its chief conductor and keeper of its musical flame. He will take up the role formally in 2027. The post has been empty for several anguished years, sparked by Arts Council England's 2022 announcement that the company would lose all its funding unless it moved out of London.
