Contents

FRONT OF HOUSE family life with a globe-

5 EDITORIAL

trotting career, plus the

latest developments at his

38 YEAR IN REVIEW

A look back over the

some of the memorable

Great Britten?

beloved Mariinsky Theatre operatic moments of

6 FEEDBACK

8-12 NEWS & NOTES

24 POSTCARD FROM .. .

St Petersburg- a profile

of opera in Russia's

2012, with predictions

of next year's highlights

fron'l our correspondents

around the world

New productions in

Chicago, London, Glasgow,

Leeds and Hong Kong

MULTIMEDIA

64 NEW RELEASES

Classics and rarities from the

German composer Hans

Werner Henze dies aged

historic capital, with an

imperial legacy that still

45 MAKING FRIENDS

German and Italian repertoire

on CD, DVD and Blu-ray

86 I Welsh National Opera permeates the city's grand How can you and your announces British Firsts cultural institutions favourite opera company get 67 OPERA ON FILM series I New Thai company to know one another better? Tony Palmer's Britten at celebrates Britten in 28 BALTIC HORIZONS Find out how joining a Friends 100 I Kasper Holten's Bangkok I James Levine to Opera in Estonia, scheme can seal the bond Don Giovanni Ouan) return to the Met I Carmen Latvia and Lithuania in Dublin I A letter from 48 OPERA BLUFF 68 BOOKS Bucharest I and more ... 30 BRITTEN 100 Become an instant expert Richard Wagner: Sorcerer of

14 TALENT SPOTTING

Company of the month:

Benjamin Britten's

biographer Paul Kildea

explores how the moral

on Britten's Peter Crimes

51 SllUILLO

Bayreuth I The Power cif the Ring

BACK STAGE

OperaUpClose presents

La boheme at London's

ambiguity at the heart of the Michael White takes a look

composer's operas resonates at the challenging and

70 COMPANY PROFILES

Charing Cross Theatre

with audiences today

MAIN STAGE

18 COVER FEATURE

34 BRITTEN IN 2013

Opera Now's pick of the

international celebrations

Russia's superstar maestro, marking the centenary of

Valery Gergiev, discusses the the composer's birth

machinations ofRussian

politics, music education and

his approach to combining

eccentric operatic legacy Bo ton Lyric Opera - facing of avant-garde American down the recession with

composer John Cage

THE CRITICAL VIEW

54-63 LIVE REVIEWS

an impressive programme

of innovative work

78 CURTAIN CALL

Cut the hype and concentrate

Donizetti at the Metropolitan on the customer.Yehuda Shapiro

Opera I Covent Garden's offers some words of advice

Ring I Aida in Qatar I on the marketing of opera

www op r W C L ~