Verdi revelled in the power and fantasy of Shakespeare, and when he recreated Macbeth as an Italian opera he practically redefined the genre – demanding a Lady Macbeth who was a sublime actor as well as an outstanding singer. He’d have been thrilled with this production from Zurich Opera House, with its boldly imaginative staging by David Pountney and urgent, nuanced conducting from Franz Welser-Möst. But above all, he’d have been gripped by the young Sardinian soprano Paoletta Marrocu as Lady Macbeth, and an interpretation that Gramophone magazine compared to Maria Callas: “from first to last, a truly stunning performance”.
Lulu
Alban Berg’s final opera Lulu is like nothing else in 20th-century theatre. A psychodrama of a woman and her sexuality in a corrupt (and corrupting) world, it’s set to music of shattering power and iridescent sensuality; an opera to disturb and seduce in equal measure. This 2001 staging from Zurich Opera made a powerful impression on critics at the time, with soprano Laura Aikin compelling as the morally ambivalent heroine, and Franz Welser-Möst drawing lustrous playing from the orchestra. Director Sven-Erich Bechtolf, meanwhile, calls on pop culture and Weimar cabaret to explore the dark underbelly of an opera that never gets any less compelling.
Il trittico
Il trittico was premiered in New York on 14 December 1918, composed while the First World War was still raging in Europe. At first glance, the three one-act operas Gianni Schicchi, Il tabarro and Suor Angelica seem to have no connection with each other; their common denominator is solely the entanglement of man in a fateful destiny that only exceptionally, for a moment, seems to promise a happy outcome to the “adventure of life” – a set of themes that in its complexity seems to be in such good hands with few directors as with Christof Loy. The main female roles in the three opera acts are performed by the Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian, a very rare and tremendous feat, but once again connects the works to each other. “Grigorian is […] a wonderful, intense performer: a gracefully graceful Donna fragile as Lauretta, a feverishly longing for love while tormented by guilt Giorgetta, and a desperately lost Angelica rebelling with defiance.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) “Loy’s direction is competent and detailed without being revelatory; this is scrupulous conservatism at its best.” (Financial Times)
Elektra
Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The Lithuanian soprano Ausrine Stundyte as vengeful and traumatized Elektra turns the opening of the Festival into a real knockout performance! Her sister Chrysotemis is sung by her compatriot Asmik Grigorian, who made her international breakthrough as acclaimed Salome at the 2018 Salzburg Festival, and whose performance once again draws the audience into spell. Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as Klytämnestra, Derek Welton as Orest and Michael Laurenz as Ägisth complete an ensemble of top-notch singers. The staging by Krzysztof Warlikowski of this work about matricide, obsession, revenge and physical degradation is a deep psychological study of a broken family. Franz Welser-Möst brings his trademark flair to the pit where the brilliantly effervescent and then again heartrendingly gentle playing Wiener Philharmoniker create gloriously exultant Strauss moments. “To have chosen Elektra of all pieces, was audacious – and to have brought it off so well, triumphant”
Salome
Richard Strauss’s opera at the Salzburg Festival, staged by Romeo Castellucci at the Felsenreitschule, was nothing short of a sensation! Debuting in the title role, Asmik Grigorian propelled herself to international stardom with her mesmerizing singing and acting abilities. The exceptional soprano recently won the International Opera Award as best singer. To witness Maestro Franz Welser-Möst performing together with the Wiener Philharmoniker and an outstanding cast “makes you think you are hearing the piece in its most perfect incarnation yet” (Financial Times). “Asmik Grigorian sweeps all in her wake in the title role of Strauss’s opera. […] Hers is a Salome to end all Salomes. […] In total, it is stunning…” (Financal Times) “thrilling” (Spiegel Online) “A breathtakingly dense, musically epoch-making […] Salome, which brought the house down!” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung)
Teatro alla Scala Opera Box
FIVE OUTSTANDING OPERAS FROM THE LEGENDARY TEATRO ALLA SCALA: AIDA: “A perfect coup de théâtre” (Giornale della musica). A “stellar cast” (La Stampa) I DUE FOSCARI: The Financial Times was deeply moved by Domingo’s performance, calling his interpretation of the role “sublime” DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE: Ádám Fischer “gets the best out of the Academy Orchestra with delicate execution and humane phrasing” (Die Presse) LE NOZZE DI FIGARO: “… when Diana Damrau enters as the Countess, we get a performance of special gravitas. Even the orchestra, under Franz Welser-Möst’s baton, melts to such grace.” (Financial Times) DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL: A „masterful use of light and silhouettes“ by Giorgio Strehler. (Milano Post) „Extraordinary, a wonder …“ (Corriere Della Sera)
Le nozze di Figaro
For the 225th anniversary of Mozart’s death, La Scala Theatre presents a new production of Le nozze di Figaro that had been entrusted to the extraordinary director Frederic Wake-Walker (author of a production of La finta giardiniera which was the revelation of the Glyndebourne Festival in 2014). He focusses the action of the piece on the instability of love: “Le nozze di Figaro presents us with an impossibility – a world where everyone is loving and forgiving.” The approach to his direction is “elaborate and very innovative” and “also musically, the new production of Figaro is worth a tour to Milan.” (NZZ) “the cast is magnificient.” (Kurier) “… when Diana Damrau enters as the Countess, we get a performance of special gravitas. Even the orchestra, under Franz Welser-Möst’s baton, melts to such grace.” (Financial Times)
Der Rosenkavalier
With their “comedy for music” in the spirit of Mozart, Richard Strauss and his inspired librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal created the most popular of all their works and one of the most frequently performed operas of all time. In the guise of a gossamer-light and supremely entertaining high-class comedy, Der Rosenkavalier touches on universal themes such as love, sex, marital fidelity and the changes that human relations undergo over time – and all of it set to music of the most glorious kind imaginable. With its stellar cast under the inspired direction of Harry Kupfer, the 2014 Salzburg Festival’s production of Der Rosenkavalier was one of the most internationally acclaimed interpretations of the work since the start of the new millennium. “A musical feast from beginning to end“ (Wiener Zeitung).
Il Turco in Italia
A romantic poet, a gypsy girl, a spirited young wife and an Ottoman pasha: throw them together under the blue skies of Naples and the result is an opera buffa that’s precisely as fizzy and as farcical as you’d imagine from Rossini at the absolute top of his game. Il Turco in Italia is exuberant (and distinctly spicy) fun in the sun and Cesare Lievi’s delightful, candy-coloured 2002 staging from the Zurich Opera House has a cast to die for: with Cecilia Bartoli, no less, as the capricious Fiorilla and the veteran Ruggiero Raimondi exuding charisma and warmth as the Turk Selim.
Tiefland
One of the most successful European operas of the first half of the 20th century, D’Albert’s Tiefland has had a long history and this minimalist new staging by Matthias Hartmann and Franz Welser-Möst gives it a welcome revival. Matthias Goerne’s portrayal of Sebastiano’s brings out the essence of evilness. Peter Seifert and Petra Schnitzer – husband and wife in real life – as Pedro and Marta are simply splendid in their roles, both in their singing and their acting. László Polgár is excellent as Tommaso.