My visit to the Bucharest National Opera left me with rather mixed first impressions. The theatre itself and its interior feel quite modest and, in my opinion, are long overdue for renovation. This applies not only to the auditorium but also to the public spaces, including the buffet area. I could not even find a place where I could purchase a programme.

Aigul Akhmetshina is accustomed to living life on the edge: between rehearsals and flights, major opera houses and tiny rented apartments, the fear of stepping on stage and the feeling of absolute freedom that comes with the first notes. Today, she is singing Dalila in London and Berlin, reflecting on the cost of an international career, burnout, directing, criticism and the future of opera — and increasingly asking herself what lies beyond the familiar image of the "femme fa

On 26 September, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden presented the premiere of Gaspare Spontini’s La Vestale. Despite the legendary performances featuring Maria Callas and Franco Corelli at La Scala in 1954–1955, as well as Rosa Ponselle’s historic recordings, whose portrayal of Julia became a true example of vocal artistry, this opera remains largely unknown to the wider public and appears only rarely in the repertoire of today’s opera houses. Its return to the Berlin stage was

We are used to thinking of opera as an art form of kings, tragic lovers, and mythological heroes. But what if I told you that some of the darkest crimes in history have also found their way onto the operatic stage? In this series, I’ve brought together several operas inspired by real people, murders, and stories that remain impossible to forget.

Bayreuth is marking the festival’s 150th anniversary with an experiment: the new Ring transports Wagner into a world of AI, projections, and an almost complete rejection of traditional stage action. But can technology replace dramatic tension? After Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, Julia Pneva, editor-in-chief of Voci dell’Opera, was left with more questions than answers — and one of the most unexpected is this: if all that remains on stage are singers and visual projections, d

On July 4, Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin presented the premiere of a new production of Camille Saint-Saëns’s opera Samson et Dalila — a work that had already been part of the theatre’s repertoire. The leading roles were performed by Roberto Alagna and Aigul Akhmetshina, for whom the role of Dalila marked her debut on the stage of Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

On June 20, 2026, the ancient theatre of Epidaurus once again became a place of operatic history. On the opening day of the Athens Epidaurus Festival, ten thousand spectators gathered under the open sky to witness the return of Luigi Cherubini’s Medea — the production that, 65 years earlier, had turned opera in Greece into an event of global importance. It was here, in 1961, that Maria Callas created one of her legendary stage heroines in Alexis Minotis’s production, with set

Claude Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, directed by Ruth Berghaus, has returned once again to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. This production has been part of the theatre’s repertoire since 1991, and that fact alone gives the evening a special aura: what appears on stage is not merely another revival, but an encounter with the theatre’s history, with a particular aesthetic, and with the artists through whom many of us once discovered opera.

Sara Allegretta , soloist at La Scala , professor at the Conservatorio di Musica Niccolò Piccinni in Bari and a bearer of the Italian bel canto tradition, has arrived in Moscow . From June 23rd to 27th, she is holding a vocal intensive for singers , featuring open master classes, individual lessons, and separate work with an orchestra. For Moscow's vocal community, this is a rare opportunity to see how the Italian school works not just in theory, but in live teaching: with br

Claudia Muzio remains one of the most fascinating and elusive figures in twentieth-century vocal art. Remembered not only for the beauty of her voice, but for the emotional truth, refinement, and almost mysterious intensity of her interpretations, she continues to inspire singers, collectors, and opera lovers nearly a century after her greatest triumphs. In this interview, we speak with a singer and researcher Monica Zanettin whose long-standing devotion to Muzio began wit