Music of introverted tenderness and a libretto that hints at much and offers few answers – such is Pelléas et Mélisande, Claude Debussy’s only completed opera. Dubbed “Drama lyrique” by the composer himself, and written in 1902 at a time when the subconscious, the psyche, dreams and urges commanded the attention of science and art, this music searches the souls of its characters with ist subtle nuances. Pelléas and Golaud are half-brothers, each loving the girl-from-nowhere Mélisande. The elder, dominant Golaud makes her his wife; the younger Pelléas is the soul-mate of the taciturn, strangely vulnerable Mélisande and an equally mysterious bond of concealed love is formed between them. The consummately precise staging by Nikolaus Lehnhoff has a cast to match these wondrous sounds. This exceptional production “achieves […] what actually can only be understood as magic.” (Die Welt)
Salome
Her ‘voice and acting are utterly overwhelming’ wrote the FAZ in its glowing review of Angela Denoke’s performance in Baden-Baden as the enigmatic young woman with a morbid interest in a captured prophet. The stellar cast also includes Alan Held as the doomed prophet; Kim Begley as the lustful Herodes; and Doris Soffel as the imperious Herodias. In a monumental set dominated by the panther-like Salome, director Nikolaus Lehnhoff depicts the inner tragedy of this young woman, who is both strong and weak, victim and perpetrator.
Zazà
With Ruggero Leoncavallo’s rarity Zazá, the Theater an der Wien scored a coup with the grandiose house debutante Svetlana Aksenova in the title role. Christof Loy delivers a striking staging of the Verismo drama and conductor Stefan Soltez spiritedly leads the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien through the highly acclaimed evening. “It would take a whole newspaper page to praise all the performers appropriately”, praises Der Standard. Of particular note is Svetlana Aksenova as Zazá who “suffers the whole spectrum from intimate affection to raging jealousy and mute despair”, Nikolai Schukoff (Milio) “shows himself as a daredevil and a depressed mourner”, Christopher Maltman as Cascart “leads energetically and touchingly his already lost fight for his beloved.” An evening worth seeing and hearing!
Theater an der Wien: Zazà
With Ruggero Leoncavallo’s rarity Zazá, the Theater an der Wien scored a coup with the grandiose house debutante Svetlana Aksenova in the title role. Christof Loy delivers a striking staging of the Verismo drama and conductor Stefan Soltez spiritedly leads the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien through the highly acclaimed evening. At the center of the piece is the provincial variety theatre artist Zazà who soon finds herself between two men, but also between the life she has been used to up to now and the hope for the happiness of a secure middleclass existence through marriage and love. One is Cascart, her stage partner and former lover, whom she keeps afloat like her alcoholic mother. The other is the Parisian businessman and bon vivant Milio, whom she falls head over heels in love with, unaware that he has a wife and child in the capital. She finally sets him free and remains fatally unhappy in this piece. “It would take a whole newspaper page to praise all the performers appropriately”, praises Der Standard. Of particular note is
Svetlana Aksenova as Zazá who “suffers the whole spectrum from intimate affection to raging jealousy and mute despair”, Nikolai Schukoff (Milio) “shows himself as a daredevil and a depressed mourner”, Christopher Maltman as Cascart “leads energetically and touchingly his already lost fight for his beloved.” An evening worth seeing and hearing!