Aug 31, 2026

Spain – A stage made for opera

Why does Spain have such a complex relationship with opera, despite providing some of the genre’s most familiar settings, characters and stories? How did Italian opera, Spanish court theatre and zarzuela develop alongside one another – and why did zarzuela become such a powerful...

Jul 31, 2026

A Summer Pause – Reflections from the Road

There is no new destination this month.

Instead, Sebastian F. Schwarz pauses to reflect on the first year of Opera Road Trip and on the many conversations that have taken us from Italy to Ukraine, Ireland, Austria, Croatia, Poland, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and the...

Jun 30, 2026

Opera Road Trip – Czech Opera | From Mozart's Prague to Janáček

Why is Czech opera considered one of Europe's richest musical traditions? Why did Prague become Mozart's favourite operatic city? And how did Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák and Leoš Janáček shape the operatic repertoire we know today?

In this...

Jun 1, 2026

In this episode of OPERA Road Trip, host Sebastian F. Schwarz turns to Belgium—a country whose operatic culture emerged at the crossroads of Europe’s great linguistic and political traditions. From the Habsburg courts of Brussels and the French influence on eighteenth-century musical life to the revolutionary...

Apr 28, 2026

In this episode of OPERA Road Trip, host Sebastian F. Schwarz turns to France—one of the historic strongholds of the European operatic tradition—shaped by a dense network of public institutions, a strong culture of state support, and a long-standing belief in opera as a public good. From the court of Louis XIV and...