An overwhelming story of passion, violence and betrayal, this production of Fedora is a true cinematographic thriller. Director Mario Martone draws on paintings by Magritte for the staging and atmosphere, supported by the noir-inspired stage design by Margherita Palli. Marco Armiliato, giving his Scala debut, “perfectly captures the decadent nature of the opera, drawing on a rich and nuanced colour palette” (Teatro). Soprano superstar Sonya Yoncheva “tackles the title role with all the charisma of the prima donna, with a magnetic
Falstaff
Falstaff is Verdi’s masterpiece of comic opera, in which the behaviour of the ageing Sir John Falstaff, a devious freeloader and would-be ladykiller, causes uproar in the petty-bourgeois household of the Windsor’s. In Berlin, Mario Martone updates the action to the present day and shows Falstaff as ageing rebel in dodgy sideburns and leather jacket. Among the “exquisit vocal cast”, Michael Volle gives his debut in the title role “as if he had been preparing for this role for a lifetime” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).