“Some productions present Die Frau ohne Schatten as too much of an overwhelmingly good thing, but this was an exhilarating evening that ran the gamut from minute nuance to house-filling decibels. Alexander Joel's superb conducting of Strauss's huge score favoured transparency and momentum, even if - quite excusably - he indulged Thomas Johannes Mayer's most glowingly expansive moments as Barak the Dyer.”

“Occasional touches of sentimentality were by no means out of place, and big-heartedness triumphed in Marco Arturo Marelli's staging of the opera's closing quartet.”