| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 19-Mar-2013 Theater an der Wien | Harnoncourt's Fidelio sees a remarkable directing debut in Vienna |
 The Theater an der Wien has a storied history with Fidelio, having hosted the première of the work’s first and second versions in 1805 and 1806 respectively. In 2013 this is a house more oriented to the present than the past, and in interviews prior to this new production, conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and director Herbert Föttinger warned that those accustomed to Beethoven’s only opera being performed by “war horse” or “armoured cruiser” orchestras would get “their ears cleaned out” by the work’s third version.Read full review... | |
| 4-Aug-2012 Felsenreitschule | A visually brilliant but serious Zauberflöte at the Salzburg Festival |
 The new Zauberflöte at this summer’s Salzburg Festival is a visually brilliant production with sets tailored to the atmospheric venue of the Felsenreitschule (for people not familiar with Salzburg, this is where the singing contest was held in the film The Sound of Music). The set, by Mathis Neidhardt, consists of four interlocking box-type rooms with façades of doors and arches (imitating the arched walls of the Felsenreitschule), which in various configurations function as the forest, the temple, Pamina’s room, and the place of the trial by fire and water.Read full review... | |
| 22-Mar-2011 Theater an der Wien | The Harnoncourts' Rodelinda |
 Nikolaus Harnoncourt is the elder statesman of the historical performance movement and one of the pillars of Vienna’s musical scene. This season, the Theater an der Wien has already hosted comparative upstart period practice specialists Christophe Rousset, René Jacobs, William Christie and Alan Curtis, so it was only fitting that Harnoncourt and his orchestra, the Concentus Musicus Wien, would also appear. Their excellent production of Handel’s Rodelinda proves that Harnoncourt is still on the top of his game.
Read full review... | |
