Salzburg Festival’s first-ever performance of Charles Gounod´s most famous and most performed opera! Internationally-acclaimed tenor Piotr Beczala triumphs in the title role as soul-selling philosopher Faust: “Piotr Beczala is a world-Faust” (Kurier) and “The well-deserved crown goes to a perfectly-cast Piotr Beczala” (Abendzeitung). Ildar Abdrazakov was “celebrated” (Broadway World) for his signature role as seductive and demonic Méphistophélès. Maria Agresta as convincingly innocent Marguerite struggling to resist temptation and to gain salvation: “She is fabulous!” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). “Spectacular and photogenic” staging (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) by award winning stage director and designer Reinhard von der Thannen. The Philharmonia Chor Wien and the Wiener Philharmoniker are performing under the baton of young Argentinian conductor Alejo Pérez.

Contemporary Moscow. Nikita and Afina are the perfect couple: young, smart, attractive, and in love. Well, perfect, that is, until Afina suddenly leaves Nikita for a 40-year-old dentist. How will Nikita win her back?

Valery Gergiev conducts Mariusz Trelinski’s thrilling new production of these rarely heard one-act operas. Anna Netrebko stars as the blind princess of the title in Tchaikovsky’s lyrical work, opposite Piotr Beczala as Vaudémont, the man who wins her love—and wakes her desire to be able to see. Nadja Michael and Mikhail Petrenko are Judith and Bluebeard in Bartók’s gripping psychological thriller about a woman discovering her new husband’s murderous past.

New Year is a kind of milestone, the moment of summing up, making decisions. New Year is a new beginning, time to dream, make wishes and wait for miracles ... While all of Moscow is buying up gifts and decorating Christmas trees, Denis is desperately trying to manage to open the bar by December 31 and prove his worth to his father. Irina is more and more immersed in work, trying not to notice either the decorated office, or the approaching holidays, or her own loneliness. Nastya is a first-year student, all alone in a strange Moscow, misses her mother, works in a cafe and, smiling with all her strength, brings people joy and coffee. Sveta is Snegurochka, and to whom, how could she not be happy about the New Year and give others a festive mood, but she’s not going smoothly either: her beloved husband is completely immersed in the world of computer games and does not notice either his son, or Sveta, or reality.

British director Phelim McDermott offers the audience a new take on the culture of the people of Ancient Egypt in Aida, one that allows us also to question the world in which we live. This new perspective entails a number of bold creative choices that do not make use of the traditional staging imagery associated with Aida. Aida’s command to Radames — “Ritorna vincitor!” — comes at a price. The triumphal march of the victorious Egyptians is a procession for the coffins of the heroes fallen in battle, the chorus are their grieving kinsfolk. McDermott’s staging resonates keenly with the images of so many civilian and military funerals that crowd our newsfeeds. Here is a triumphal march that does not seek to hide the true, lethal and disastrous nature of war, whatever side you are on.

Teatro alla Scala presents a new production of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece of unrequited love, drawn from Pushkin’s novel. Acclaimed soprano Aida Garifullina stars as Tatyana, the naïve young girl who grows into a sophisticated beauty. Baritone Alexey Markov sings the title role of the nobleman who lives to regret his blasé rejection of Tatyana’s love and his careless incitement of a fatal duel with his best friend Lensky (Dmitry Korchak). The tender music is entrusted to the exciting Timur Zangiev, and staging is in the hands of prolific stage and film director Mario Martone, now in his tenth La Scala production.

Tchaikovsky’s macabre thriller, set against the backdrop of Tsarist Russia, is back in the Met’s atmospheric staging. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva makes her highly anticipated role debut as Lisa, the young woman who embarks on a deadly love affair with the gambling-obsessed officer Hermann, sung by tenor Arsen Soghomonyan in his Met debut. Baritone Igor Golovatenko reprises his moving portrayal of Lisa’s fiancé, Prince Yeletsky, alongside mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana as the spectral Countess and baritone Alexey Markov as Count Tomsky. Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts the sweeping score.

Sixteen-year-old Timofey, who foolishly ended up in a juvenile detention center, escapes during an off-site concert to find his gravely ill grandmother—the only family he has—who hasn't responded to his letters for two months. Following him is an eight-year-old street kid, Malek, who uncontrollably creates only difficulties along the way. The detention center's management conceals the escape and conducts their own pursuit of the runaways. The journey home in search of Timofey’s grandmother turns into a trial for both boys, helping them understand the true meaning of friendship, honesty, and justice.