When one approaches the new season of an institution like the Bayerische Staatsoper, one expects everything and especially the best. It is therefore with a certain excitement that we discover the new opera productions for this season 2017-2018. We must remember that the Munich opera is currently known as the best opera house in the world. The biggest voices of the lyrical repertoire are to be seen throughout the season in productions of renown stage directors.
The first strong impression is the superb baritone Christian Gerhaher in the role of the Count of Almaviva of the Nozze di Figaro by Mozart. Followed by Il Trittico by Puccini, magnificent opera defended by a 5-star distribution, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Ermonela Jaho, Ambrogio Maestri and conducted by Kirill Petrenko. We then continue with Verdi’s Sicilian Vespers in a stunning French version of great luxury with Bryan Hymel and Erwin Schrott, among others.
The big event of the international lyric season is Wagner’s Parsifal, under the refined direction of Kirill Petrenko and embodied by Jonas Kaufmann. But that’s not all! The biggest bass voice, René Pape, not only joins one of today´s most sublime baritones Christian Gerhaher but also the leading Wagner performers, Nina Stemme.
The three cycles of the Wagner Ring, another great event of the 2017-2018 season, are also directed by Petrenko with again Nina Stemme in Brünnhilde and an ad hoc distribution (Stefan Vinke, Wolfgang Koch, Anja Kampe, etc.).
So far for the new productions, however the repetitions also reserve their slice of surprise and excellence. The exceptional Jonas Kaufmann and his sublime partner Anja Harteros are at home in Munich. Both are on display with Andréa Chenier by Giordano. The soprano embodies golden roles: Tosca (with Joseph Calleja), Strauss’s Arabella, Amelia in Un ballo in Maschera by Verdi, while Jonas Kaufmann, besides Parsifal and Chénier, returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper to play Siegmund in Walküre.
Following, some real fireworks that can only delight lovers of beautiful voices. Anita Rachvelishvili and Elina Garanca are Carmen, Anna Netrebko plays Tosca, Simon Keenlyside, Macbeth, Diana Damrau, Traviata and Lucia di Lammermoor of Donizetti with Piotr Beczala and Ludovic Tézier. Juan Diego Flórez sings Edgardo in a second cast and equally offers an amazing show with Edita Gruberova in Lucrezia Borgia. A beautiful distribution also to be noted in Il Turco in Italia with Olga Peretyatko, Ildebrando D’Arcangelo and Alessandro Corbelli. The 2017-2018 season lives up to the reputation of one of the largest opera houses in the world.
