Rebeca Olvera

Emmerich Kálmán’s Csárdásfürstin (The Gypsy Princess) was once one of the most popular works in the operetta repertoire, but has appeared only sporadically on the operatic stage in recent decades. The plot tells the story of a love triangle involving Sylva Varescu, a spirited variété artist of humble origin, and the aristocrat Edwin, who is already promised to another woman. The obstacle to their love is their difference in social status.

When Strauss and Hofmannsthal wrote «Der Rosenkavalier» – setting it in an imaginary Rococo Vienna and yet closely linked to the decadent fin de siècle – they created a profound social comedy. It is not without melancholy that the Marschallin lets her young lover Octavian go when he falls head over heels with Sophie, who hails from Faninal’s bourgeois household. As voluptuous as Strauss' score is, it contains tender moments of dream and melancholy. Director Lydia Steier stages Strauss’ opera according to an aesthetic concept by Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein. Diana Damrau sings the Marschallin. Joana Mallwitz, chief conductor at the Konzerthaus Berlin, conducts the Orchester der Oper Zürich.

Isabella is a strong, independent woman who has no intention of giving in to the clumsy advances of the powerful Mustafà. In this production by Mosh Leiser and Patrice Caurier, which plays on preconceptions about culture clash, Mustafà is no longer a handsome Ottoman, but a shady gangster who traffics in electronic goods in the port of Algiers. Make of it what you will...

Der Ring des Nibelungen in a production of the Zürich opera house, recorded 2024. "Dramatic music-making at its finest". In the hands of General Music Director Gianandrea Noseda and Stage Director Andreas Homoki, Wagner's myth is represented as "a dysfunctional family of gods" (The Independent) in a polished yet unpretentious production that underscores the humanity of the characters, who are performed by the same exceptional cast of singers across all four operas.