Intermezzo

Skin renewal tip

Barely a year after its 2012 debut,  a second new production of George Benjamin’s Written on Skin has been announced - evidence that the opera is well on its way from festival novelty to repertoire staple. The show planned for the 2013 Beethovenfest Bonn this autumn will be directed by Alexandra Szemeredy and Magdolna Parditka.

The Katie Mitchell staging opening tonight at Covent Garden has already been seen in Aix and Toulouse, and will journey on to Florence, Vienna and Munich, together with most of the singers from the premiere.

Beethovenfest Bonn - Beethoven and more

The Ring is everywhere. You cannot escape the Ring.

Leafy Bonn is the city of Beethoven, whose presence registers discreetly everywhere. The formal side is the bronze monument in the central square and the Beethovenhaus birthplace museum. But while Bonn hasn't yet stooped to Salzburg/Mozart levels of commercialisation, there's also tasteful and presumably officially-sanctioned graffiti, enterprising shop window displays, even marzipan figurines. Still Wagner manages to get a look in too, as he so often does.