Anett Fritsch

The second part of Richard Wagner’s monumental tetralogy in Dimitri Tcherniakov’s new production. He has thoroughly modernised the material and set the action in a research institute in the 1970s. Christian Thielemann is conducting *Der Ring des Nibelungen* at the Berlin State Opera, standing in for the house conductor Daniel Barenboim, who is unwell.

In Vienna, at the Schönbrunn Palace Theater, director Nikolaus Habjan, in collaboration with conductor Hannah Eisendle, presents the operetta “Wiener Blut,” based on waltzes by Johann Strauss Jr.

Mozart's "Idomeneo" is a work about love, hate, jealousy, war and destruction. It shows in a disturbing way the musical genius of the Salzburg composer. Each figure is characterized individually without losing sight of the musical whole. In a way, "Idomeneo" anticipates Wagnerian techniques in composition. The direction of this production at Madrid's Teatro Real was in the proven hands of Robert Carsen, who brings the work to the stage in a contemporary, modern and very disturbing way. Under the sovereign direction of Ivor Bolton, Eric Cutler, David Portillo, Anett Fritsch and Eleonora Buratto are among the singers.

A myth, a heroic epic, a family saga - perhaps all of these together – make up Richard Wagner’s Ring tetralogy. This epic production of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden sees a remarkable collaboration between Christian Thielemann, one of the most distinguished Wagner conductors of our time, and Dmitri Tcherniakov, one of the great, internationally celebrated opera directors of our time.

The Salzburg Festival presents one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's masterpieces: the opera Le Nozze di Figaro, in a new production staged by Sven-Eric Bechtolf and conducted by Dan Ettinger. Set-List: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492.

Christian Thielemann conducts "Walküre", the second part of the "Ring des Nibelungen", at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Having paid the giants for building Valhalla with the ring stolen from Alberich, Wotan is determined to get it back. For if he fell into Alberich's hands again, the fate of the gods would be sealed. But since he himself, as the father of the gods, is not allowed to break contracts, his children Siegmund and Sieglinde are to take care of that...

Gathered at the foot of the rock where Siegfried and Brünnhilde have come together, three Norns weave the fate of the world. Past, present and future are interwoven in their rope; when it breaks unexpectedly, the fates still have one oracle: the twilight of the gods is imminent! Götterdämmerung has more than one ending: Siegfried falls victim to intrigue and to his own innocence, Valhalla goes up in flames, Brünnhilde sacrifices herself to return the ring to the Rhinemaidens. Alliances are forged and immediately broken again, magical potions and helmets create painful confusions, and generational traumas result in general destruction. Everything familiar to humans and gods collapses.

Director and visual artist Romeo Castellucci will tackle this mythological material and project his visions over the course of the journey performed by the characters, representing concretely such key elements of the Ring as water and fire. This symbolic reading will concentrate on essential aspects of the libretto, inviting spectators to forge their own interpretation. Avoiding irony, Castellucci will treat each protagonist with equal importance, highlighting the aspirations, emotions and thoughts that animate them: absolute love and the conquest of power.

Director Sven-Eric Bechtolf pulls off a brilliant coup with the high aesthetics of his intrigue, a masterful parody of the "everything is possible" of our time - flanked by an ensemble of exquisite vocal talents.

Who loves whom in Così fan tutte, Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s cruelly comic reflection on desire, fidelity and betrayal? Or have the confusions to which the main characters subject one another ensured that in spite of the heartfelt love duets and superficially fleetfooted comedy nothing will work any longer and that a sense of emotional erosion has replaced true feelings? Così fan tutte is a timeless work full of questions that affect us all. The Academy Award-winning director Michael Haneke once said that he was merely being precise and did not want to distort reality. In only his second opera production after Don Giovanni in 2006, he presents what ARTE described as a “disillusioned vision of love in an ice-cold, realistic interpretation”.