Richard Strauss – operaexplorer

Salome in between mysteries of love and death: Stundyte, Neuenfels in Staatsoper Berlin.

Opening season for Deutsche Staatsoper Unter den Linden has a high visibility and interest among opera lovers, thus the season ticket sales opening night did not surprise: the demand was high, and many performances were sold out in minutes. I was lucky enough to secure two consecutive days with prominent directors – Tristan un Isolde […]

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

Watching time fly by: witty and wistful Die Rosenkavalier with Garanča, Fleming, Groissbock, Polenzani, Kim at The Met.

This is one of the most eagerly awaited and most discussed productions in recent history of The Met, mostly due to clear statements from both divas: Renee Fleming and Elina Garanca discontinuing their respective roles of Marschallin and Octavian. On top of that, this farewell tour has got additional flame through speculations that Renee Fleming […]

by antrazalite

When love for gold disappears: Die Liebe der Danae in Salzburger Festspiele, August 12th, 2016

Unfortunately the performance I have been waiting most impatiently to see left me disappointed and a bit confused. After long weekend in April, devoted to Richard Strauss, as part of Straus-Wochen in Berlin, where Danae did not fit my travel schedule, I was quite eager to get to know the opera, and had high hopes […]

by antrazalite

Getting to know Salome. “Salome” by Richard Strauss, Deutsche Oper Berlin, April 2nd, 2016

For those who are relatively new to Richard Strauss operas, like me, it could be one of the surprises, that one of the most famous operas created by him is also one of the shortest – as it lasts only an hour and 45 minutes without intermission. The upside of it is that your operatic […]

by antrazalite

Visual and vocal feast: Die Ägyptische Helena, Deutsche Oper Berlin, April 1st, 2016

The Egyptian Helena by Richard Strauss was unexplored territory for my operatic knowledge, and since I have decided to get immersion-type experience in Strauss-land over a weekend, I have not built up any biases to influence the perception of the performance. It was a wise move, as if all reading I have done after would […]

by antrazalite

Wishlist and plans for operatic adventures in 2016

Starting new year there are a lot of reviews of 2015 and just a few forward looking insights, thus I decided to put together my wishlist (or hopeful list) while absorbed in listening to Jonas Kaufmann singing Puccini at La Scala. Main unknowns yet are Munich Festspiele and Salzburg Festspiele ticket allocations which should come […]