BackstageClassical

Audi CEO Gernot Döllner didn’t just show up during Donald Trump’s election campaign. He’s also cutting away at the very heart of Audi: culture for its employees. backstageclassical.com/lieber-gerno...

Monday is newsletter day! Today, we’re featuring the first late-night show for classical music, debates about money, an opera singer bringing classical music into the boxing ring, and spectacular Wagner performances. backstageclassical.com/ein-ringspre...

At Deutsche Oper Berlin, Milo Rau turns Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman into a reckoning with German guilt and remembrance. But simplistic political messages, heavy-handed imagery and an uninspired musical performance undermine his ambitions. backstageclassical.com/mit-deutsche...

Sneak Preview: Stand-up comedy, conversations and live music: BackstageClassical and No-te launch a new video format, »Klassik Late-Night with Axel Brüggemann«. backstageclassical.com/die-erste-kl...

Daniel Harding conducts Wagner’s »Siegfried« in Rome – unleashing a breathtaking wave of sound with the Orchestra of the Accademia Santa Cecilia. Magnificent voices and a journey through religious history. backstageclassical.com/siegfried-er...

forgotten opera by Delibes, Breinschmid’s glorious madness, Chopin without the schmaltz, Bartók’s scandalous music, and an accordion breaking new ground: Our five recommendations of the week show just how diverse classical music can be. Happy listening! backstageclassical.com/die-5-der-wo...

Lahav Shani criticizes the political leadership of his home country, Israel. He calls for accountability over the failures of October 7 and condemns violence by Israeli settlers. backstageclassical.com/lahav-shani-...

A white fan on the banks of the Huangpu River, three stages with 4,200 seats, and a rooftop open to everyone: Shanghai has opened one of the world’s most spectacular opera houses. The new building is also a symbol of China’s growing cultural ambitions. backstageclassical.com/eine-prestig...

Kollege Axel Brüggemann von @backstageclassical.bsky.social hat eine neue Late Night Talk Show, gestern wurde die erste Folge bei Steinway in Wien aufgezeichnet. Man darf gespannt sein, es war eine illustre Runde.

Monday is newsletter day: Protests on opera stages, a fight for survival in Saxony, and tempers flaring behind the scenes. It’s all about power, money, artistic freedom – and the question of just how much conflict the classical music world can take. backstageclassical.com/neue-chefs-a...

Heute Abend: Protest gegen Vertragskündigungen in Düsseldorf. Auch in Münster wird demonstriert. Wie viel Neuanfang braucht die Kunst – und wie viel soziale Verantwortung trägt ein Theater? backstageclassical.com/neue-intenda...

The Salzburg Festival is on the move: While the Großes Festspielhaus undergoes renovation, concerts will be held at the Salzburgarena. Incoming artistic director Peter de Caluwe will also have to adapt to the temporary venue. backstageclassical.com/salzburger-f...

Five new recordings, five small adventures: Vaughan Williams between sea and monument, Galuppi’s battle of the sexes on an operatic island, Kopatchinskaja and Say in controlled madness. backstageclassical.com/die-5-der-wo...

Berlin State Opera extends the contracts of Christian Thielemann and Elisabeth Sobotka – drawing plenty of praise and a little criticism. backstageclassical.com/lob-und-krit...

BRSO musician Anne Schoenholtz has accused Axel Brüggemann on Instagram of showing a lack of respect for Simon Rattle. Here, the author responds with an open letter about the art of polemics. backstageclassical.com/liebe-anne-g...

Chemnitz is celebrating packed theatres, yet Saxony plans to cut funding. In the BackstageClassical podcast, artistic director Christoph Dittrich warns of devastating cuts that would go far beyond individual productions. backstageclassical.com/sachsens-the...

Over the past few weeks, BackstageClassical has taken a closer look at the world of opera auditions. Now Stephan Knies explains why such competitions aren’t really necessary – because many opera houses discover their young voices in a completely different way. backstageclassical.com/vom-kopf-auf...

Hell has a memory. Here, the past becomes a permanent present. Pascal Dusapin’s »Il Viaggio, Dante« at the Staatsoper Hannover leaves Anne Proft deeply impressed. backstageclassical.com/gefangen-in-...

Five new recordings, five very different worlds: Shostakovich with a punch, an almost forgotten revolutionary opera, Baroque music between heaven and hell, Fatma Said in front of the pyramids – and Susan Tomes making a powerful case for women at the piano. backstageclassical.com/die-fuenf-ne...

Saxony’s cultural sector is up in arms over the proposed 2027/28 double budget. The overall budget is set to rise to around €53.5 billion, yet cuts to culture are still planned. We look at who will be hit hardest. backstageclassical.com/was-sachsens...

The last bastion of public broadcasting’s cultural mission is changing course. An internal „stylebook“ at Deutschlandfunk reveals the direction: broader, more accessible, and more socially focused. A dangerous opening-up. backstageclassical.com/verflacht-je...

onday is newsletter day: today, with the final curtain for Regietheater, a dramatic shake-up at Sony, and criticism without critique. backstageclassical.com/der-abstieg-...

Die fünf wichtigsten Aufnahmen der Woche: Flops und BackstageClassical-Empfehlungen mit Spotify-Links: backstageclassical.com/backstagecla...

Changes at Sony: Per Hauber is leaving, and there is apparently no successor. Sony Classical will remain – but it is losing its independence. Behind this lies a bigger question: How much is classical music still worth to the major record companies?. backstageclassical.com/sony-classic...

A fundamental essay: Our times are brutal. And on our stages, the longing for gentleness is growing ever stronger. A new kind of theatre is emerging: one that no longer wants to lecture and expose, but to listen, touch and bring people together. backstageclassical.com/empathiethea...

A critique of criticism: Everything is terrible – except the orchestra? Critics always seem eager to find something to praise. But criticism isn’t about finding something nice to say. Facts matter, too. backstageclassical.com/liebe-kolleg...

The Miracle of Minden! After 24 years, a unique Wagner project comes to an end with »Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg«. At the small Stadttheater, Philipp v. Studnitz experiences grand opera – with Frank Beermann and a brilliant ensemble. backstageclassical.com/meisterliche...

Our investigation into the Vienna Opera Lab has sparked a debate about the business of selling hope to young singers. Dorothea Gregor takes our investigation as the starting point for a personal look at the system. backstageclassical.com/entdeckt-gef...

Monday is newsletter day: today with a must-hear interview with artistic director Julien Chavaz, another withdrawal from the Opera Lab, free tickets – and our recording highlights. backstageclassical.com/oper-geschen...

Cologne waited 14 years for its opera house. For the reopening, it gets a »Rosenkavalier« in which Marie-Ève Signeyrole strips away the eros and Andrés Orozco-Estrada the transcendence. The new house is beautiful. This premiere is a debacle. backstageclassical.com/kolns-rosenk...

The Met in New York is giving away 20 percent of its tickets. Those New Yorkers are crazy! backstageclassical.com/liebe-met/

Another withdrawal from the Vienna Opera Lab: Following our investigation into the Vienna Opera Lab, another participant has now pulled out: Trevor John Pichanick, Casting Director at Komische Oper Berlin. backstageclassical.com/weitere-absa...

The fundamental question of how to overhaul the Stuttgart Opera is back on the table. Günther Oettinger has been asked to mediate between the state and the city. The options under review include renovation, a new building and the €289 million temporary venue. backstageclassical.com/oettinger-so...

A battle over the future of Naxos is unfolding behind the scenes. Founder Klaus Heymann sold his majority stak. Now he is demanding repayment of loans – and started winding-up proceedings against companies in the Naxos group. backstageclassical.com/der-grosse-n...

Caruso was a brilliant advertising icon. And apparently, he still is. Two major arts sections are enthusiastically sucking on the new Caruso candy – and, along the way, giving its manufacturer the sweetest publicity imaginable. backstageclassical.com/das-feuillet...

This newsletter is packed to the brim: two leading figures in the classical music world pulling out of the Vienna Opera Lab, Peter de Caluwe‘s appointment in Salzburg – and we take a look behind the scene of classical music on television. backstageclassical.com/das-geschaef...

Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht becomes a cosmic mass at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Musically precise, Susanne Kennedy’s production gets lost somewhere between intelligent ideas, visual overload and a lack of substance. backstageclassical.com/im-weltall-w...

The billion-euro renovation of the Stuttgart Opera is back on the table. Minister-President Cem Özdemir has ordered a review to see whether building a new opera house might actually be cheaper. Plans for the temporary venue will also be reassessed. backstageclassical.com/oezdemir-ste...

Peter de Caluwe is set to become the new Director of the Salzburg Festival. This is more than a change of leadership: it marks the end of an era – and of Salzburg’s old networks and power structures. A commentary by BackstageClassical editor Axel Brüggemann. backstageclassical.com/ds-ende-eine...

Salzburg habet Papam: backstageclassical.com/peter-de-cal...

Monday is newsletter day! Today, we’re looking to the future: toddlers in concert halls, transparency in cultural media, the rise of the AfD – and, more specifically, the future artistic leadership in Berlin, Leipzig and Salzburg. backstageclassical.com/intendantenk...

he German Music Council and Cornelius Meister want to take a stand against the AfD — and achieve exactly the opposite! backstageclassical.com/lieber-deuts...

A baby crawls to the edge of the stage during Shostakovich, its mother conducts along, and 1,900 people watch in disbelief. A memorable night at Leipzig’s Gewandhaus. backstageclassical.com/babyalarm-in...

Berlin Philharmonic has put a price on its value: two to three billion euros. Sounds good. But what happens when culture starts justifying itself through returns, reach and economic impact? Anyone reaching for the calculator must expect others to do the same. backstageclassical.com/rechnet-sich...

Justus Frantz is set to perform in the baggage claim area at Lübeck Airport – somehow, it fits the picture: Convictions give you wiiiiiiings! backstageclassical.com/lieber-justu...

A cultural mandate also comes with responsibility: SWR asks critical questions – but doesn’t always like answering them itself. On the question: Do the rules of journalism in culture actually apply to everyone? backstageclassical.com/man-wird-ja-...

The Beethoven-Haus is devoting a major exhibition to Andy Warhol’s artistic engagement with Beethoven. Guy Minnebach explores how these covers trace the evolution of Warhol’s entire artistic career. backstageclassical.com/von-beethove...

Monday is newsletter day! There’s a lot to catch up on: almost »unbelievable« attendance figures, renewed controversy over Gardiner, classical-music drama on the Rhine – and a celebration of the Baroque! backstageclassical.com/kosky-oder-c...

Structural defects at the Düsseldorf Opera House are disrupting the Deutsche Oper am Rhein’s schedule just before the start of the new season. Several performances have had to be cancelled or postponed. backstageclassical.com/statische-ma...

Our author worked for the Leipzig Bach Festival. She reflects on the decision to invite John Eliot Gardiner again and on the festival’s responsibility. backstageclassical.com/tue-rechnung...