Overview

• Remaining tickets for the July 18 premiere were sold up to curtain time, a rarity for the summer festival season.
• Andrea Breth made her Bayerische Staatsoper debut with a minimalist staging that slowed character movements to underscore thematic tension.
• Victoria Karkacheva’s title performance and Brandon Jovanovich’s Ulysse garnered widespread acclaim under Susanna Mälkki’s exacting conducting.
• Viewers praised the principal cast’s vocal strengths but offered mixed reactions to the decelerated choreography’s dramatic effect.
• ECB President Christine Lagarde had earlier cited Pénélope as proof of Europe’s enduring cultural resilience during her anniversary address.