Archives

14 Posts
archive-post-image
Salzburg Festival 2019: Mozart’s Idomeneo
Salzburg generally does Mozart exceptionally well. But this year Salzburg did very little well, including Mozart. The Salzburg native’s seminal work is difficult to perform at the best of times. The story set in Crete after the Trojan War poses
Read more
archive-post-image
A Salome to flummox the Salzburg glitterati
This summer’s Salzburg Festival chatter was dominated by the enthusiastic reviews of the new production of Richard Strauss’ Salome and its new star soprano Asmik Grigorian.
Read more
archive-post-image
William Kentridge turns Salzburg’s new Wozzeck into a Gesamtkunstwerk
Salzburg doesn’t fear difficult opera. And Alban Berg’s Wozzeck certainly qualifies as one. Infrequently performed on more conventional stages because of the inaccessible music and distressing storyline, Salzburg embraced it wholeheartedly, both musically and visually.
Read more
archive-post-image
Salzburg: Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida by Shirin Neshat
The Salzburg music festival’s new director Markus Hinterhaeuser boldly outlined the motto of this year’s program as ‘power’: “strategies of power, its disgraces and horrors, but also with the ability to forgive.” With this bold declaration Hinterhaeuser possibly tried to
Read more
archive-post-image
Salzburg shines with no-name ensemble: Nozze di Figaro
Every now and then the Salzburg Festival puts on a performance of such perfection, we are reminded how this festival became the leading operatic summer event in Europe. This year’s new production of Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro (Marriage of Figaro)
Read more
archive-post-image
Fidelio in Salzburg: Matrix, mediocrity and musical brilliance
A highlight of this year’s Salzburg Festival was a new production of Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio. It was largely deemed a vehicle to show off leading German tenor Jonas Kaufmann at his vocal and artistic zenith. And indeed, he did
Read more