March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Wagner had the girls busy at spinning- wheels in his ``Flying Dutchman.'' At the Bavarian State Opera, they're pedaling bikes in a slick fitness studio.

Male ideals of female obedience haven't improved since the 19th century. They've just mutated.

At least director Peter Konwitschny gives Wagner's limply self-sacrificing heroine a more assertive end. Suicidal Senta doesn't just jump into the water, she sets fire to a powder keg and takes everyone out with a bang.

The show features an alternating array of historic and modern costumes, a host of intellectual insights and several gags to lighten the tale of a cursed seaman's restless ghost and the woman who saves him from damnation.

Adam Fischer conducts and the cast includes Anja Kampe, Matti Salminen and Juha Uusitalo.

The ``Flying Dutchman'' plays on March 8, 12 and 16. For more information, go to http://www.bayerische-staatsoper.de or call (49) (89) 2185-1920.

Pop-Art `Ring'

David Alden's pop-art take on Wagner's ``Ring'' cycle is also in Munich this March. His Bavarian ``Ring'' owes plenty to the world of popular film -- everything from ``Star Wars'' and ``Bridget Jones'' to the bleak world of David Lynch.

Finished in 2003, this ``Ring'' makes for peculiarly lighthearted Wagner. The more seriously minded can take their pleasure in Zubin Mehta's lush, curvaceous conducting or the singing of a heavyweight cast including Gabriele Schnaut, Marjana Lipovsek, Stig Andersen and Philip Langridge.

David Alden's ``Die Walkure'' is on March 10, ``Siegfried'' is on March 14 and 18. ``Gotterdammerung'' follows on March 22 and 26. For details, go to http://www.bayerische-staatsoper.de or call (49) (89) 2185-1920.

Heart Transplant

Wurzburg might be worth a detour for ``Das Herz,'' the final opera by sulky anti-Semite Hans Pfitzner, who hated the more popular and talented Richard Strauss.

``Das Herz'' received simultaneous world premieres in Munich and Berlin in 1931. To Hitler and his peers, Pfitzner's reactionary harmonies and Aryan supremacy embodied all that a Nazi composer should be, though their praise was never enough for the old grump.

The libretto of ``Das Herz'' (``The Heart'') is a curiosity, detailing a demonic heart transplant long before such things became medical reality. Martin Braun conducts, Stephan Suschke directs. ``Das Herz'' premieres on March 25 with a second performance on March 28. For more information, go to http://www.theaterwuerzburg.de or call (49) (931) 3908-124.

Bach

Speaking of anti-Semites, there's old papa Bach, who worked a pointedly spiteful chorus of Jews into his transcendentally beautiful St. John's Passion. The Berlin Philharmonic performs the piece with Simon Rattle next week. Susan Gritton, Michael Chance, Mark Padmore, Toby Spence and Thomas Quasthoff sing along with the RIAS Chamber Choir.

Performances are scheduled for March 9, 10 and 11. For details, see http://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/1926/ or call (49) (30) 2548-8999.

Kasarova in Zurich

Donizetti's tuneful ``La Favorite'' written for the Paris Opera in 1840, arrives in Zurich with star mezzo Vesselina Kasarova as Leonor, whose complex love life includes the Spanish king and a monk in training. Marc Minkowski conducts a new production staged by Philippe Sireuil.

Performances on March 19, 21, 23, 24, 29 and 31. For more information, go to http://www.opernhaus.ch or call (41) (44) 268- 6666.

Time for Dinner

Giovanni Paisiello's ``Il barbiere di Siviglia'' was pushed from the stage by Rossini's immensely popular version of the same story written 34 years later.

Paisiello, a popular composer in his day, wrote the piece for the St. Petersburg court, who instructed him to keep the chatter to a minimum and the show short enough to give them time for dinner afterwards -- both good guidelines ignored by all too many opera composers.

La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels has a new production by Omar Porras, conducted by baroque-music luminary Rinaldo Alessandrini. Performances are on March 28 and 30. For details, go to http://www.lamonnaie.be or call (32) (70) 233-939.

Italian Clown

Giorgio Battistelli, 53, is one of the opera world's humorists. ``Experimentum mundi'' involved tradesmen from his home town making pasta, fixing shoes, hacking stones and hammering wood on stage.

``Prova d'Orchestra'' (``The Orchestra Rehearsal''), based on Federico Fellini's 1978 film of the same name, is a wacky exploration of musical mayhem. Why should players do what the conductor says? And what would happen if they didn't? Performances in Antwerp on March 12, 14 and 16. Performances in Ghent on March 22, 24, 26 and 28. For more information, go to http://www.vlaamseopera.be or call (32) (70) 220-202.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shirley Apthorp at Sarabande@compuserve.com

Last Updated: March 6, 2006 21:15 EST