This is an almost perfect performance, both vocally and in its staging and acting…Charlemagne is taken by the young and magnificent bass-baritone Georg Zeppenfeld, and Fierrabras himself, son of the Moorish prince, by Michael Slade. They both deservedly get huge applause, but Dorothea Röschmann gets even more…if this doesn't put Fierrebras securely on the map, nothing can.

Peter Stein's Salzburg Festival production mercifully eschews a modern - and potentially inflammatory - Western-Islamic Konzept and sets Fierrabras more or less in its historical period...All four [main] roles are convincingly taken, with the palm going to Julia Kleiter's Emma, alluringly voiced and phrased, and soaring without shrillness into the stratosphere.

...the Vienna Philharmonic supplying focused playing under Ingo Metzmacher, and several worthwhile principal performances, especially from Georg Zeppenfeld’s firm Karl, Michael Schade’s engaged Fierrabras, Benjamin Bernheim’s efficient Eginhard, Dorothea Röschmann’s passionate Florinda, Julia Kleiter’s conflicted Emma and Markus Werba’s emphatic Roland.

his performance of Fierrabras…persuades me more than ever that we need more Schubert opera in our lives… The cast is fantastic… This Fierrabras remains well worth exploring, and potentially the window to a whole new side of Schubert.