The mirror stage
Now in its penultimate installation, Tobias Kratzer’s Munich Ring is reaching full maturity—without compromising its humor.
Bayerische Staatsoper
Siegfried
Benjamin Bruns, Simone Schneider, and Nicholas Brownlee star in a live performance from Munich
Streamed October 29, 2026 at 9:00 AM
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Wedding crashers
Louise Alder enchants in the comically-inclined revival of Claus Guth’s production of Semele at the Bayerische Staatsoper.
Simon Boccanegra
George Petean, Eleonora Buratto, Freddie De Tommaso, and Alexander Vinogradov star in a performance recorded last April in Munich
Streamed September 26, 2026 at 1:30 PM
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An instrument of your peace
Philippe Sly is sublime as Messiaen’s Saint François D’Assise in Salzburg, though Romeo Castellucci‘s production could brush up on its catechism.
Don’t go in the basement
Malin Byström is a radiant water nymph in the Bayerische Staatsoper‘s house-of-horrors-set Rusalka.
Hit me with your best shot
Dmitri Tcherniakov‘s production of Der Freischütz in Munich may fire a few blanks, but the musicians are all on target.
Sealing the deal
The Bayerische Staatsoper’s summer festival wound down with Lotte de Beer’s darkly effective production of Gounod ’sFaust.
Alcina
A live broadcast from Munich starring Jeanine De Bique, John Holiday, Elsa Benoit, and Avery Amereau.
Streamed July 13, 2026 at 2:00 PM
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Die Walküre
Tobias Kratzer's new production in a live video broadcast from Munich
Streamed July 4, 2026 at 10:30 AM
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Beyond the valley of the gods
The Bayerische Staatsoper’s Ring cycle scores another triumph with Tobias Kratzer’s take on Die Walküre.
Queening out
Brett Dean‘s Of One Blood casts a well-trodden Tudor tale in a poignant, new light.
Die Walküre
Vladimir Jurowski conducts Nicholas Brownlee, Miina-Liisa Värelä, Joachim Bäckström, and Irene Roberts in the opening of the Munich Opera Festival
Streamed June 25, 2026 at 11:00 AM
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A favorite bass performance from Cornelia
I don’t know if I’ll ever hear as great a performance as René Pape‘s Gurnemanz.
By Cornelia
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Is this head kosher?
A captivating Asmik Grigorian leads the Bayerishce Staatsoper‘s revival of its Holocaust-set Salome.
Rigoletto
Igor Golovatenko, Serena Sáenz, and Bekhzod Davronov lead a live broadcast from Munich
Streamed March 7, 2026 at 2:03 PM
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Faust
Nathalie Stutzmann conducts Jonathan Tetelman, Olga Kulchynska, and Kyle Ketelsen in a live broadcast from Munich.
Streamed February 8, 2026 at 12:00 PM
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Christmas Eve
Rimsky-Korsakov's opera in a live broadcast from the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich
Streamed November 29, 2025 at 2:00 PM
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Hear, O Israel
As Messiah season begins, Christopher Corwin reports on two of Handel’s forays into the Old Testament.
By Christopher Corwin
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Gonna build a heaven from a little hell
Tobias Kratzer‘s Das Rheingold in Munich kicks off a Ring for the post-secular age
The Aix factor
This summer’s festival, taking place amid record high temperatures and in the wake of its artistic director, Pierre Audi, featured a disquietingly zeigeisty focus on sexual violence.
Space oddity
In Lohengrin, populism comes to an apocalyptic end on the Bavarian stage
Golden shower
Claus Guth mines urgent and contemporary commentary from Die Liebe der Danae in Munich.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).