Staging Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Germany, and especially at Bayreuth, has been a challenge since World War II ended. Its unbridled celebration of German art and culture has been thorny for those who could not see past the “German.” And, increasingly, even the concepts of art and culture, in the Western European sense, have faced headwinds from those who should surely be its staunchest advocates. As a[...]
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s full-length concert performances of Tristan und Isolde on June 1 and 8 marked several milestones in the contemporary opera scene: the first time Yannick Nézet-Séguin had conducted the full score […]