Vienna/Frankfurt/Regensburg: Opera News & Events – Feb 25, 2026

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS (WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2026)

Vienna/ State Opera: Introductory Matinee of LA CLEMENZA DI TITO (Premiere March 9, 2026)

Watch the Video  Duration 1 hour and 47 minutes 

Vienna/State Opera
Introductory Matinee “Titus”: Katleho Mokhoabane Sparks High Hopes
Are kindness and leniency important in a political system? Director Jan Lauwers poses this question in the new production of “La clemenza di Tito” at the Vienna State Opera, as suggested by Director Bogdan Roščić at the beginning of the introductory matinee ahead of the premiere on March 9, 2026.
By Jürgen Pathy

Read more at klassik-begeistert.de

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OPERA AWARDS 2026- Award Ceremony in Regensburg

Group photo of the winners. (Photo: Uwe Moosburger l altro – the photo agency)

Regensburg – The winners of the OPER! AWARDS 2026 were honored at a festive award ceremony on February 23, 2026. Winners in the main categories include soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä (Best Singer), tenor Jonathan Tetelman (Best Singer), Barrie Kosky (Best Director), Erin Morley and Lawrence Brownlee (Best Solo Album), Nadezhda Karyazina (Best Young Artist), and Gianluca Capuano (Best Conductor). The Lifetime and Honorary Award went to stage and costume designer Jürgen Rose.

It was already announced in November of last year that the “Best Opera House” award would go to the Theater Regensburg under its Intendant Sebastian Ritschel. The Opera House hosted the OPER! AWARDS 2026. (Complete list of winners at the end of the press release and in the appendix)

The OPER! AWARDS are Germany’s only publicly awarded international opera prize. We see awarded annually at an award gala to the best artists and players on and behind the stage worldwide. The jury of specialist journalists decides on the awards in a total of 20 categories. The assessment period is across the season, the year 2025. Last year’s winning house was La Monnaie / De Munt Opera in Brussels.

“In addition to the awards for the great winners, the jury also presents the ‘Biggest Annoyance’ every year, to highlight a particular problem in the opera landscape,” says Ulrich Ruhnke, founder and jury chairman of the OPER! AWARDS. This year’s “Biggest Annoyance” is the dismantling of the Baden Stage Orchestra. “Even before the new Intendant of the Baden Stage took office, he was informed that his orchestra, the last real operetta orchestra in Austria, would be dissolved. Its services in the Jubilee Theater and the summer arena are to be provided by the (inexperienced in musical theater) Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra. Public protests went unheeded, and politics remains stubborn. This deprives the last original operetta stage in the country of its backbone, indeed its musical soul. Now only the holiday orchestra of the Lehár Festival Bad Ischl remains in Austria. And a look at Germany, where the Staatsoperette Dresden and the Musikalische Komödie Leipzig show how specialized operations of this kind flourish. The abolition of the operetta orchestra of the Baden Stage is the annoyance of the year,” the jury explained.

signed Ulrich Ruhnke
Jury Chairman of the OPER! AWARDS

Complete list of winners of the OPER! AWARDS 2026:
BEST OPERA HOUSE: Theater Regensburg
BEST SINGER: Miina-Liisa Värelä
BEST SINGER: Jonathan Tetelman
BEST CONDUCTOR: Gianluca Capuano
BEST DIRECTOR: Barrie Kosky
BEST ORCHESTRA: Berlin State Orchestra
BEST CHORUS: Coro del Teatro alla Scala
BEST PREMIERE: Il nome della rosa by Francesco Filidei
BEST PERFORMANCE: Hotel Metamorphosis at the Salzburg Pentecost Festival
BEST SET DESIGNER: Jo Schramm
BEST COSTUME DESIGNER: Cécile Trémolières
BEST SOLO ALBUM: Golden Age (Pentatone) with Erin Morley and Lawrence Brownlee
BEST COMPLETE EDITION: Donizetti Songs (Opera Rara)
BEST YOUNG ARTIST: Nadezhda Karyazina
BEST REDISCOVERY: The Dead Eyes at the Altenburg Gera Theater
BEST FUTURE PROJECT: Verdi OFF at the Verdi Parma Festival
BEST FESTIVAL: Opera premiere Rummelplatz at the Chemnitz Theater as part of the Capital of Culture year
LIFETIME AND HONORARY AWARD: Jürgen Rose
BEST ENTREPRENEUR: Christof Loy for Los Paladines
BIGGEST ANNOYANCE: Dismantling of the Baden Stage Orchestra

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Berlin/ “Berlinale”: The Films Are Actually Great! A Commentary on the 76th Berlinale by Kirsten Liese

It wasn’t long ago that there were fears the Berlinale would no longer be competitive among the major A-festivals. Films in competition often felt undefined, difficult to understand, and shockingly lacking in substance, refusing any kind of narrative.

there were some weak productions at the recent 76th edition, which didn’t belong in the competition. But if, among 22 contributions competing for the Golden Bear, at least a handful of very worthwhile productions can be identified—including even a masterpiece—that’s a remarkable result for a struggling festival and a significant step forward!

New festival director Tricia Tuttle can certainly take credit for this success.

It’s all the more surprising that the German press largely downplays this success, rating the competition as weak as it was during the Carlo Chatrian era.

Finally, understandable and deeply moving stories were told, and the best films were both politically and artistically ambitious.

Also, for the first time in ten years, the jury awarded the prizes to the true gems. How often did one shake their head at completely surprising winners?

And that brings us to the winner of the Golden Bear, “Yellow Letters,” an impressively courageous, system-critical drama about an artist couple who face existential difficulties due to their regime-critical views and consequently lose their work. It traces how long such unwavering conviction can last and at what point a relationship breaks down. What can still be defended as a “compromise” and where does opportunism begin? Ilker Çatak’s film treads a very fine line.

Its true power, however, lies in the fact that this sensitively told story, using a sophisticated artistic trick, doesn’t just reflect dictatorial conditions in Turkey, but also projects them onto Germany: Instead of Ankara and Istanbul, where the story is said to take place, it was shot in Berlin and Hamburg.

Because that’s what the director wants to show: to point out that freedom of the press and opinion are also at risk in Germany, which is supposedly so democratic. The film doesn’t mention specific examples, but they inevitably come to mind, such as the Corona era, when critics of the measures were attacked by police with water cannons at demonstrations and people who refused to be vaccinated were excluded from public life by the 2G rule. This isn’t the subject of the film, but it’s implied.

It’s a sensation in itself that the film made it into the Berlinale—and then even won.

With “Queen at Sea,” the Berlinale then showed a veritable masterpiece, comparable to Michael Haneke’s award-winning drama “Amour.” It deservedly won the Jury Prize.

This also ultimately deals with state control in the context of elderly people, who are told by a seemingly caring society how to live. At the center are a demented woman named Leslie and a vigorous pensioner, who generally manage their married life as well as possible. But because their strong love for each other also manifests physically, which many people discover embarrassing, their relationship suddenly comes under scrutiny, with Leslie’s daughter, gynecologists, lawyers, and social workers questioning whether abuse is taking place and whether the couple should be separated.

Only after she has placed her mother in a nursing home against her stepfather’s will does her daughter, alias Juliette Binoche, finally realize that Leslie is worse off there than at home with her husband.

Markus Schleinzer’s Austrian drama “Rose,” about a woman who lives a dangerous existence as a man during the Thirty Years’ War, and the Mexican tragedy “Moscvas,” about a little boy struggling to visit his seriously ill mother in hospital, were also among a number of powerfully disturbing stories.

At the Berlinale, Ulrike Ottinger’s opulent vampire comedy “Blutgräfin” premiered to great acclaim. Impressive here is the composition of elaborate, powerful images and a soundtrack that combines slightly alienated sounds from Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony with Johann Strauss. The idea of staging Isabelle Huppert as a vampire in a toilet to the sounds of the waltz “Wiener Blut” is something you have to come up with first.

These are the kinds of films an A-festival needs. What more can you ask for after such a short time under new leadership?

The film selection is impressive.

Kirsten Liese
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Vienna/ Schwechat: Discounted tickets available via [email protected]

I’ve managed to get tickets for the NESTROY GAMES in Schwechat for you for the first time!

NESTROY Games Schwechat – As far as Nestroy is concerned, Vienna is a suburb of Schwechat.
OPEN AIR in the castle courtyard of Schloss Rothmühle
ROULETTE TICKETS for only € 30;
LG Christian

NESTROY Games Schwechat 2026 –

My Friend

ROULETTE TICKETS for only € 30;

A roulette ticket is not tied to any seat category. It is valid for all still available seats for the current performance. Where you sit will be decided on the evening of the event… but always next to each other

 “I once had a friend, and since then I have no more disgust for the enemy.”

What does friendship mean?
Who can you rely on? Who do you trust?
And do good-natured, optimistic, almost naive people even have a chance these days?
Friendship put to the test, betrayal, intrigue, and deception are at the center of this almost melancholic comedy – in Nestroy’s unique, unmistakable language.
The NESTROY Ensemble Schwechat has committed itself – firmly anchored in the Theaterfest NÖ – to performing not only Nestroy’s classics, but also rarely played and unknown works by the author.
“As far as Nestroy is concerned, Vienna is a suburb of Schwechat” (Quote: Falter)

Schloss Rothmühle in the castle courtyard, Rothmühlstraße 5
2320 Schwechat

EVENT INFO:

Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Friday, July 3, 2026
Saturday, July 4, 2026
Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Wednesday, July 8, 2026
Friday, July 10, 2026
Start 8:30 PM

                    TICKET INFO:

ROULETTE TICKETS for only € 30.-
Ordered tickets cannot be changed or canceled.
!!IF NOT PICKED UP, THE AMOUNT MUST BE TRANSFERRED!!
“We have analyzed all excuses, the respective ticket price must be transferred”– no matter why!

Tickets will be held at the box office under your name from 7:00 PM on the day of the event.
!!PLEASE NOTE THAT CASH PAYMENT IS ONLY POSSIBLE ON SITE!!

PLEASE BRING EXACT CHANGE!

Reservations are possible Monday to Sunday (around the clock –  ) at [email protected]!
For all other dates that I do not offer, you can also buy your tickets directly at the respective theater, but they will not be offered at a reduced price!
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Vienna: “Das Vindobona: Discounted tickets via [email protected]

From STEPPTANZ to DIE KNEF to CABARET to MUSICAL and of course a CHILDREN’S PERFORMANCE – everything your heart desires!

That’s what March will bring at DAS VINDOBONA!

Part II will follow tomorrow.

Friday, March 20, 2026- TAP INTO SPRING-STEPPTANZ SHOW for only € 20.-

Thursday, March 19, 2026- Eichberger & Niemand – “Psycho” for only € 25.-

Sunday, March 15, 2026- “When I Grow Up”- CHILDREN’S PERFORMANCE for only € 10.-

Friday, March 13, 2026- BARBARA BALLDINI – Highlights for only € 33.-

Thursday, March 12, 2026- Adriana Zartl – “50+ how and hot” for only € 27.-

Sunday, March 8, 2026- DIE KNEF for only € 30.-

Various dates in March 2026- HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH – THE ROCK MUSICAL for only € 50.-

Thursday, March 5, 2026- RYTA TALE – RELEASE SHOW for only € 27.-

For prices and dates as well as information please scroll down to the bottom

LG Christian

RYTA TALE – RELEASE SHOW

Thursday, March 5, 2026
Thu, 5.3.26

Start 7:30 PM
Ticket collection 90 minutes before the event at the box office at the theater entrance/

Admission 60 minutes before the event

Wallensteinplatz 6
1200 Vienna

Guaranteed seats
( in Kat A + Kat B

 Special price € 27.-
After a long time of dreaming, Drag Queen Ryta Tale is releasing her own music for the first time. Her debut song will be released on March 6, 2026 – and will be celebrated exclusively the night before.

Grazia Patricia will lead the evening and give intimate insights into the creation of the song. The audience can expect exciting talks, an exclusive acoustic set and the premiere of the official music video.
After midnight it is official: Release!

Ryta’s DJ set forms the perfect finale and ushers in the start of this new era.

Reservations are possible Monday to Sunday (around the clock –  ) at [email protected] !

For all other dates that I do not offer, you can also buy your tickets directly at the respective theater, but they will not be offered at a reduced price!