Le Nozze di Figaro

The young conductor Dan Ettinger is fascinating for the great musical sensibility with which he directs an attractive young cast that is not only altogether convincing vocally but absolutely ready to grace the screen. And it is those very singers – “the sweet-voiced, appealing soprano Marina Janková”, “the alluring soprano Anett Fritsch” and “the charismatic bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni” (New York Times) – who capture our hearts. It all sounds so full of life and so finely judged as it is being played out on stage. At the end, Luca Pisaroni’s vocally impressive Count approaches his melancholy Countess (Anett Fritsch) with a glass of champagne and a plea for pardon. “The waves of applause have already begun, for Bechtolf extends Da Ponte’s ‘corriam tutti a festeggiar’ almost as an invitation to the audience, which indeed joins in the festivities with gusto.” (Die Presse) The concluding work of the Da Ponte trilogy succeeds as a great evening of opera in the hands of Sven-Erich Bechtolf with the Vienna Philharmonic. Simply marvellous Mozart music from Mozart’s birthplace.

Faust

In occasion of its 200th season opening, Teatro Real presents a spectacular new production of Gounod’s Faust directed by Àlex Ollé (La Fura dels Baus). Set in a futuristic laboratory, Goethe’s timeless themes of knowledge, desire and redemption are reimagined through the lens of artificial intelligence and human emotion. Star singers including Piotr Beczala, Marina Rebeka, and Luca Pisaroni lead the cast in this gripping drama. Under the baton of Dan Ettinger, the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Real deliver a thrilling performance that, as Bachtrack wrote, “takes its cue from Goethe but doesn’t shy away from theatrical imagination.”