by Jens Winther | Apr 7, 2026 | Opera
MANON LESCAUT • OPÉRA DE LYON ★★★★☆☆ Photo: Jean-Louis Fernandez REVIEW MANON LESCAUT: IMPRESSING OPERA FESTIVAL OPENER IN LYON The 2026 Lyon Opera Festival opened with a particularly beautiful—yet also controversial—production of Puccini’s Manon Lescau, one of the...
by Jens Winther | Apr 7, 2026 | Opera, Opera
THE TURN OF THE SCREW • LONDON ★★★★★☆ REVIEW THE TURN OF THE SCREW: TERRIFYING OPERA HALLUCINATION IN LONDON The main stage at the Royal Opera House in London offers grand productions full of pomp, splendor, and red velour. But if you’re not averse to something darker...
by Jens Winther | Mar 27, 2026 | Opera, Opera
IDOMENEO • BRUXELLES ★★★★☆☆ Photo: Simon Van Rompay REVIEW IDOMENEO: CAPTIVATING MOZART AND NEUROLOGY IN BRUSSELS At first, it almost seems as if there is more vitality in Mozart’s 300-year-old Idomeneo than in Calixto Bieto’s three-week-old production at La Monnaie...
by Jens Winther | Mar 26, 2026 | Opera, Opera
BILLY BUDD • LYON OPERA FESTIVAL ★★★★★☆ REVIEW BILLY BUDD: FORBIDDEN FASCINATION IN A STORMINGLY BEAUTIFUL PRODUCTION The affable French director and opera director Richard Brunel is usually inclined toward radical interpretations, but here he focuses on clarity and...
by Jens Winther | Mar 25, 2026 | Opera, Opera
SIEGFRIED • LONDON ★★★★★★ REVIEW: SIEGFRIED—A NEW ARTISTIC TRIUMPH FOR BARRIE KOSKY In a brilliant opening scene, Erda, the goddess of the earth, swings naked, long-haired, and emaciated from a charred ash tree, where Mime lives with the young Siegfried in a shattered...
by Jens Winther | Mar 17, 2026 | Musical, Opera
WERTHER • OPER FRANKFURT ★★★★★☆ Photo: Barbara Aumüller REVIEW WERTHER: IN GOETHE’S OWN CITY, THE TYRANNY OF EMOTION BECOMES IRRESISTIBLE I have seen Werther several times before without ever being truly moved. But Oper Frankfurt has changed that for me. In Goethe’s...
