Christian Rieger – operaexplorer

Emotional and captivating “La traviata” in Munich

The performance of “La traviata” while booking tickets for Munich opera festival was not an intentional choice – my prime target was another Verdi gem – “Les Vêpres siciliennes” on Sunday, and as interim event on Saturday I put it in the booking. Somehow I did not pay too much attention on the planned cast, […]

by antrazalite

Tales of intoxicated Hoffmann: Jones production with Spyres, Brower, Damrau, Pudova and Testé

My intent when booking the ticket for another “Tales of Hoffmann” was to see Aleksandra Kurzak interpreting all 4 roles, and to see how Ildar Abdrazakov will play 4 various villains. None of it materialised since both pulled out and were replaced: Kurzak by a combo of Olga Pudova and Diana Damrau, and Abdrazakov by […]

by antrazalite

Warlikowski nights in Munich: “Die Frau ohne Schatten”

That was a second consecutive night in Munich with the production of Krzysztof Warlikowski at the Munich Opera Festival – following the very successful premiere of “Die Gezeichneten” a night before. Therefore, my main challenge was to put aside impressions of the previous night and look into layers of symbolism created by the team for […]

by antrazalite

Revolution personalised: Jonas Kaufmann as Andrea Chénier in Munich.

It has been 7 weeks since my last opera trip as a virus forced to cancel plans during February, but the performance in Munich gave me an unexpected reward and even more: such emotional fulfilment and happiness that it is still difficult to put the impressions in writing. The production of Andrea Chénier by Umberto Giordani […]

by antrazalite

Filling those Meistersinger shoes. “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” by Richard Wagner, Bayerisches Staatsoper, October 3, 2016

The bad news came a week or so before the performance – Jonas Kaufmann cancelling all next month performances, starting with Meistersinger in Munich.. Should I cancel the trip and wait for next opportunity? When decided to go regardless of cast changes I made up my mind not to expect too much from the performance […]

by antrazalite

The cost of being an outlier: “La Juive”, Fromenthal Halévy, Munich Opera Festival, July 4th, 2016

My first encounter with Fromenthal Halévy and La Juive in opera exploration adventure was approached with care: I have consciously avoided watching premiere streaming and tried to keep away from reviews, except occasional tweet from either enthusiastic or disappointed spectators. This might have paid off since I arrived for performance without any expectations. One of the […]