I’ve been waiting for this for almost 8 years, since I first heard the name Asmik Grigorian in connection with her Salzburg Salome in 2018. Not just her either, a wonderful cast. Tx3 to all @ Bayerische Staatsoper.

Final performance @ OperFrankfurt pon this trip and this season 😢 I have seen this one before, more than a few times. A little bit of the Met following me around. Tx3 to all!

Tonight, more opera! Not a new one tonight, but I’ve only seen this twice, in 2013 when Houston Grand Opera brought their production to NY and 2 years ago in Munich. Tx3 to all @ OperFrankfurt!

Tonight to the Alte Oper (Old Opera House) for a concert. It was very badly damaged during the war. The exterior was restored but the interior is completely new. OperFrankfurt no longer uses it. Glad to be able to hear a concert here. It has rooms for sauntering! 🥰

First performance in Frankfurt @ OperFrankfurt. Both opera and composer new to me. Fifth new opera of the trip. Tx3 to all.

I make a one-night stop in Brussels for another opera I’ve never seen (even on video), Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini featuring John Osborn, another of my very favorite singers. Tx3 to all @lamonnaie.bsky.social

Tonight my first ever visit to the Dutch Nationale Opera for everyone’s favorite Valentines Day opera, Tristan und Isolde! Tx3 to all!

Nightcap of today’s doubleheader, final performance in Berlin this trip, and third of 3 operas new to me thanks to Deutsche Oper Berlin, though I have seen this on video. Looking forward to finally hearing it live.

Holy Salzburg, Batman! It’s a doubleheader day! Leading off, a work and composer new to me. Auf Englisch, “The 3 Riddles” or “Turandot auf Deutsch” said the man who sold me the program. A joke…I think. A “kid-friendly” opera and the place is overrun with kids. @ Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Tonight one of the events I’ve anticipated most on this trip, my first ever live Schreker opera @ Deutsche Oper. I have DO’s DVD of this production from a few years ago, largely different cast, but created a very favorable impression.

Beczala brought down the house with E lucevan le stelle, so he did a bis! A memorable night in the theater. Both leads were in fine form. Kurzak’s Vissi d’arte was splendid, her final pianissimo exquisite.

My only visit to the Staatsoper Berlin on this trip, perhaps my 2nd favorite Puccini and a couple of singers I really admire Alex Kurzak and Piotr Beczala. Tx3 to all!

First event of the trip, a performance of Schönberg’s Gurrelieder by the Deutsche Oper at the Philharmonie, Sir Donald Runnicles conducting. Have never heard this live before. Love the picture of Arnie.

Program for last night’s opening concert of the 2025 Sibelius Festival, this year being novel in not being exclusively dedicated to Sibelius’s works.

And now for something completely different… as someone once said. I’ve recently heard a recording of this and it should be, um, an interesting evening at the Salzburg Festival. A couple of familiar names but most are new to me.

Ho hum. Just another day another stunning performance of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda from @lisetteoropesa.com Kate Lindsay, Bekhzod Davronov as Roberto, Aleksei Kulagin as Talbot, Thomas Lehman as Cecil and Nino Gotoshia as Anna, at the Salzburg Festival tonight.

Tonight another eagerly anticipated performance, Maria Stuarda featuring @lisetteoropesa.com and Kate Lindsay. One of the shows that got me over here! 🥰

Today a triple header day and an 11 am start with this program. Last year they did Bruckner 8 at 11 am. I love these people.

Getting my Salzburg Frstival off to a roaring start!

You can get a nice second breakfast in Salzburg. At Cafe Tomaselli. 😉

As I hoped, last night’s L’italiana in Algeri at the Rossini Festival was a lot of fun. A sort of S&M take on the story, very funny, lots of gags. Excellent singing and Mustafà appears to have had a happy ending. 😉 A great way to end my visit!

For me this is the main event of the Rossini Festival 2025, one of my favorite Rossini operas that I get to see too rarely 😢 with another great cast Tx3 to all!

Rossini Opera Festival program for 2026. High probability I will attend this too, since it features 3 I’ve never seen.

Tonight we’re back to a proper opera house, the beautiful Teatro Rossini, for the second night of the Rossini Festival. Il Cambiale is new to me, about my 20th Rossini opera. I’ve heard Spagnoli and Swanson at the Met (also here last year for the latter), all others are new to me. Tx3!

Had an excellent time at Zelmira, the opening performance of the 2025 Rossini Opera Festival last night. Perhaps not his best work but in the hands of a superb cast of Rossinians a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Strange production; one shouldn’t do opera “in the round”.

The Rossini Festival opens at the Auditorium Scavolini with tonight’s performance of Zelmira, the first time I’ve seen a fully staged production of this opera. Wonderful cast. The setting a bit peculiar.

My Pesaro program

Teatro Rossini basking in the morning sun.

Greetings from Pesaro, Italy, where I arrived earlier today for the Rossini Festival, which begins tomorrow night.

For a long time I’ve wanted to visit Tierra del Fuego. I’ve just booked an apartment in Ushuaia - the southernmost city in the world - and a flight from Buenos Aires in early November. 🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷🥰

The strange wanderings of my mind. Reading a book about the Siege of Malta, which I bought at the shop at Fort St Elmo in Valletta, leads me to Beethoven via a discussion of contemporary events in the Netherlands. My reading always seems to lead me to more reading. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Oh the nostalgia! I’ve got a standing room ticket for tonight’s Aida at the Met.

Had a blast @metopera.bsky.social last night. Rosa Feola and Luca Pisaroni shone as the betrothed couple, Adam Plachetka was a domineering, dominating Count, and Jacquelyn Stucker was radiant in her house debut as the Countess. I look forward to hearing her often at the Met.

Tickets booked: Philadelphia Orchestra concert Tristan, with YNS conducting, Nina Stemme and Stuart Skelton in the leads, 6/1, and BEMF, 6/14 and 6/15, Keiser and Telemann, works new to me.

Tonight my second Barbiere in this run. For me it’s an evergreen opera, particularly in the hands of such a good cast. @metopera.bsky.social

Cherry blossoms starting to rock n roll around the Central Park Reservoir.

Delighted to return to the Boardroom at the Park Avenue Armory for today’s recital by Erin Morley. One immediately notices the range of material. This should be great!

Tonight a return to the Mother Ship for my favorite Mozart with this excellent cast. Tx3 to all!

The trip is well and truly over. Back to the gym this morning! 🤣😓 significant though not unexpected increase in my heart rate on the treadmill. Will take a couple of weeks to get it back down to where it should be.

Checked in at Fiumicino for the flight home. Entertaining myself in the lounge by calculating the trip. 31 days, 8 cities in 6 countries. In between those 8 cities, 6,706 km (4176 mi). 46% of that distance was the short hop Tunis to Valletta via Istanbul 🤣🙄 This was probably a personal best trip.

Yesterday we traveled from Tunis to Malta. It’s only 250 miles as the proverbial crow flies, but there are no direct flights so we went via Istanbul in 7 hours 🤣. Valletta, Malta is wonderfully picturesque.

Yesterday we went in search of ancient Carthage. There is not a lot left to see. The Romans were very good at their work. Modern bodies of water trace the form of the ancient port; ongoing archaeological work at a site identified as a “Punic sanctuary”; the Byrsa citadel commands the area.

Some photos from a walk around Dougga, a spectacular Roman town about a 90 minute drive from Tunis. Compares favorably with Ostia, Pompeii and Herculaneum and is much less crowded. Setting is beautiful. My first day in Tunisia. 🇹🇳

Final performance on this trip and a great way to end it. But I still have 2 weeks of tourism to look forward to: 2 more days here in Barcelona, then Tunisia, Malta and Rome.

Starting the Barcelona leg of the trip with one of my favorite Wagner operas with an excellent cast.

Corinne Winters delivered an utterly searing performance as Kata Kabonova last night at the Bayerische Staatsoper. I was transfixed. Strong support in particular from Violeta Urmana,Pavel Černoch, John Daszak and Emily Sierra. Marc Albrecht conducted brilliantly. God I love that orchestra.

Final performance @ Bayerische Staatsoper this trip 😞 but I’m delighted to be crossing paths with Corinne Winters for the second time this season! Tx3 to all! Bonus pic the Nationaltheater basking in the late afternoon sun. 🥰

Or as we call it in English, The Cunning Little Vixen. First performance of this leg of the trip, in one of my favorite houses in all the world. Tx3 to all @ Bayerische Staatsoper. This may be the first time I’ve heard it sung in Czech. 🤔

The Liège opera house is a classic old school house. Everything is in 4 languages (French, Dutch, German and English).

Great time with Guillaume Tell at Opera Liège. Wonderful to have Nicola Alaimo and John Osborne in the leads. Excellent work from the whole cast and chorus and orchestra. This company is now on my radar. Well worth the visit.