Overview

• David Hermann’s new Don Giovanni at the Munich Opera Festival has been hailed as one of the best Mozart stagings in years for its blend of mythological imagery and gender-conscious direction.
• Oper Köln reconceived Karl Kraus’s sprawling Die letzten Tage der Menschheit for the nearly bare Staatenhaus substitute after delays at its new venue.
• The first half of Kraus’s epic anti-war work garnered praise for its immersive scale and Peter Rundel’s dynamic musical leadership.
• Critics have faulted the opera’s second half as becoming overwrought, pseudotrendy and overly topical, weakening its dramatic impact.
• Salzburg Festival will present its own production of Die letzten Tage der Menschheit later this summer, extending the revival of Kraus’s wartime drama.