A critical edition of Jules Massenet’s Werther with all the authentic versions, taking all the sources into consideration including previously unavailable manuscripts, has long been overdue. The American musicologist Lesley Wright, professor at the University of Hawaii and a distinguished expert in the area of 19th century French opera, has worked on this edition for the last several years. Now it will be put to the test at the Zurich Opera, in close collaboration with the conductor Cornelius Meister. Tatjana Gürbaca is the director in the new production of Massenet’s masterpiece, which has its first performance on 2 April 2017. The title role is sung by no less than the Peruvian star tenor Juan Diego Flórez.

The Theater Aachen opens the season on 24 September with a new production of Claudio Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, directed by Jarg Pataki and conducted by Justus Thorau. This will be the first performance to use the new Bärenreiter critical edition, prepared by the early baroque specialist Hendrik Schulze with students at the editing seminar at the University of North Texas. On 29 October 2017 the Staatsoper Hamburg presents its contribution to the Monteverdi anniversary year with Willy Decker’s new production of Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. The conductor is Václav Luks, who has caused a sensation in the last few years with his Prague ensemble Collegium 1704.

Juliette, Martinů’s opera of 1937, has stimulated several opera companies to stage new productions in the last few years. Evidently it touches on the contemporary zeitgeist.

Gluck’s duties in Vienna included the provision of “music for the ballets”. His own compositions and pasticci, independent works in their own right, are now being published as part of the Gluck Complete Works.

The first run of performances has taken place, and what remains are memories of two magnificent hours of contemporary music theatre. Miroslav Srnka’s South Pole was widely acclaimed. A look back.

On 19 August 2016 Leoš Janáček’s great existential masterpiece The Makropulos Case will be heard at one of the world’s most important music festivals – the BBC Proms in London. For this concert performance with the BBC Singers and the BBC Symphony Orchestra the renown Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek has chosen the new Urtext edition from Bärenreiter Praha, edited and performed by his colleague Tomáš Hanus, himself a distinguished Janáček specialist. The Finnish star soprano Karita Mattila will sing the role of Emilia Marty. The Makropulos Case will be broadcast life from the Royal Albert Hall on BBC Radio 3.

The operas of Jean-Philippe Rameau have experienced a renaissance in German theatres in recent years. Now the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich is making its own contribution to this rekindled interest with a new production of the opéra-ballet Les Indes galantes, with its homage to exoticism. The first night is on 24 July 2016 in the Prinzregententheater. The choreography and production are by the Flemish-Maroccan dancer and choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and the conductor is Ivor Bolton, who has previously been involved in many baroque opera triumphs in Munich. Sylvie Bouissou, Editorial Director of the Opéra Omnia Rameau, has prepared the first critical edition of this work with meticulous accuracy. It survives in several versions, some differing from each other considerably, making this a highly complex editorial undertaking.