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...
Mar 31, 2026
In this episode of OPERA Road Trip, host Sebastian F. Schwarz turns to the United Kingdom, tracing a uniquely complex operatic landscape shaped as much by private initiative and tradition as by public institutions. From the courtly masques of the 17th century to Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, from Handel’s...
Mar 2, 2026
Polish opera takes centre stage in this episode of Opera Road Trip. From Warsaw to Kraków, Gdańsk and Poznań, Sebastian F. Schwarz explores how Poland built one of Europe’s most resilient and decentralised operatic ecosystems.
Introduced at the royal court in the 17th century, opera became a powerful tool of...