Gramophone

5 days ago | gramophone.co.uk | Mark Pullinger

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Netrebko and Eyvazov in Queen of Spades at Wiener Staatsoper (Photo Michael Poehn)Anna Netrebko’s role debut as Lisa in Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades) has been a long time coming. 'It's a slightly heavy role, on the spinto side,' she told me in a 2018 Bachtrack interview, doubting she’d ever sing it. Then came a duet, with (then) husband Yusif Eyvazov, at the 2020 Salzburg Festival and two solo scenes on her 2021 album Amata della tenebrae.

5 days ago | gramophone.co.uk | Mark Pullinger

⭐⭐⭐⭐Voice Killer at Theater an der Wien (Photo: Karl Forster)'Who breathes cannot sing, who sings cannot breathe.' The inscription in the score to Miroslav Srnka’s new opera places the human voice at its very centre. Voice Killer, commissioned and premiered by MusikTheater an der Wien, is based on the true story of Private Edward J. Leonski, an American soldier stationed in Melbourne, who killed three women in May 1942. Caught after the third murder, Leonski was hanged under American military law.

1 week ago | gramophone.co.uk | Mark Pullinger

⭐⭐ Marriage of Figaro Act 2 at Volksoper Wien (Photo: Marco Sommer)Centre-stage in this new Le nozze di Figaro at the Volksoper is a washing machine on which a notice is taped: Out of Order. It’s an apt description of Lotte de Beer’s turkey. About 20% of the audience didn’t bother returning after the interval. I envied them.

1 week ago | gramophone.co.uk | Mark Pullinger

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Patricia Nolz as Rosina in Barber of Seville at Wiener Staatsoper (Photo: Michael Pöhn)Herbert Fritsch’s 2021 staging of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Wiener Staatsoper caused a stink. Literally. Its abstract set consists solely of brightly coloured plastic sheeting and is reportedly a lot of fun.

1 week ago | gramophone.co.uk | Mark Pullinger

⭐⭐⭐⭐David Stout as Mazeppa and Rachel Nicholls as Mariya in Mazeppa at Grange Park Opera (Photo: Marc Brenner)When he was Director of Productions at English National Opera, David Pountney was part of the triumvirate – with Peter Jonas and Mark Elder – that helped instigate a revolution in modern opera production in Britain.