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It was good to be in Italy, even if it was for less than 24 hours. The panini and espresso (caffe as they say here) alone would have made it worth to come here.

That said, the concert performance of Tannhäuser was truly outstanding as well, the musical highlight of my trip so far. Turin and its Teatro Regio have a long tradition of presenting Wagner's works. In the late 19th century, Arturo Toscanini conducted the Italian premieres of Götterdämmerung and Meistersinger here.

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I finally made it to Paris yesterday for an afternoon of slightly condensed meetings because of my heavy train delay. But it was good to see a number of old colleagues from the Paris Opera and catch up with them.

In the evening I attended a performance of Richard Wagner's Rheingold at the Opera Bastille. This was the first instalment of the Paris Opera's new Ring Cycle. Believe it or not this is the first Ring Cycle to be given at the Opera Bastille. The last performance of Rheingold dates back to 1976 at the Palais Garnier. In the meantime, there were performances of the Ring Cycle at the other opera houses in Paris, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Théâtre du Châtelet, but nevertheless there was quite a bit of excitement about the Paris Opera finally embarking on a Ring Cycle for the Bastille.

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