Continuity in Motion
4 – 10 April 2026
Saturday 4 April
To Berlin by train
Berlin, Staatsoper • I gathered three take-aways attending a performance of this new production of Un ballo in maschera, directed by Rafael R. Villalobos and conducted by Enrique Mazzola. Firstly, that this score by Giuseppe Verdi never quite manages to draw me in. Second, that Anna Netrebko still possessed an uncanny ability to draw everyone’s attention to her the moment she set foot on stage to sing Amelia with her usual flair. Third, that nothing touches me more than a deep baritone voice, and Amartuvshin Enkhbat left me reeling every time Renato opened his mouth.
Sunday 5 April
Berlin, Staatsoper • André Heller’s production of Der Rosenkavalier, which debuted in 2015, felt like an ageless classic — not unlike the venerable Otto Schenk staging, still in the repertoire of Vienna’s Staatsoper as of this writing after nearly 60 years. The shift to the Vienna Secession era wrapped the piece in vibrant colours and enhanced its emotional impact by bringing the action closer to us. A superb cast — Julia Kleiter as the Feldmarschallin, Peter Rose as Baron Ochs and Patricia Nolz as Octavian — elevated the score’s bittersweet, heart-rending beauty, while Christian Thielemann drew a shimmering, kaleidoscopic reading from the Staatskapelle Berlin.
Monday 6 April
To Salzburg by plane
Salzburg, Felsenreitschule • Das Rheingold, marking the Berliner Philharmoniker’s return to Salzburg’s Easter Festival, didn’t disappoint. The prologue of this new Ring cycle helmed by the two Kirills — with Petrenko in the pit and Serebrennikov on stage — turned out to be absolute musical bliss. Christian Gerhaher’s Wotan projected authority and doubt in equal measure, while a cast largely unfamiliar to me gave depth and vibrancy to the other characters. The huge, wingless stage undermined the visually busy concept the director tried to develop, but that hardly diminished my enjoyment, as Petrenko’s light touch led to such musical radiance.
Tuesday 7 April
Back to Paris by plane
Wednesday 8 April
Paris, Philharmonie • Esa-Pekka Salonen once again led the Orchestre de Paris in a repertoire he knows inside out: Strauss’s Don Juan (1889), Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 (1939) — with Renaud Capuçon — and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5 (1919). He coaxed glowing, telluric performances from an enthusiastic orchestra, foreshadowing another great era for his tenure as musical director.
Thursday 9 April
Paris, Théâtre de Chaillot • 45 years after its creation, May B, one of Maguy Marin’s most successful ballets, hadn’t lost its edge. Set to a finely curated soundtrack featuring several of Schubert’s greatest lieder, a slightly obsessive sequence showed a bunch of atypical characters in atypical situations, evolving both as individuals and as a collective entity. Marin challenged some of ballet’s conventions and unspoken rules back in 1981. Those conventions have mostly been shattered since, yet May B has kept its ability to disturb and provoke. Isn’t that the essence of art?
Friday 10 April
Paris, Maison de la Radio • The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France invited composer Thomas Adès to conduct a programme placing in dialogue two of his own compositions — the piano concerto In Seven Days (with Bertrand Chamayou) and an orchestral piece, Aquifer — with two works by a composer he has often cited as a major influence, Jean Sibelius — Tapiola and Symphony No. 7. The juxtaposition made for a fascinating performance, full of earthy and ethereal textures, interpreted with palpable delight by the orchestra. A rewarding experience, and a striking illustration of what an ever-morphing, still-alive art form classical music can be.
And so, for now, the lights dim… until the next act.