For his three-season cycle of Mozart’s Da Ponte operas – The Marriage of Figaro, Così fan tutte and Don Giovanni – the Leipzig Opera’s director Udo Zimmermann turned to John Dew, the Cuban-born, New York-raised British director. Though a staunch believer in authenticity and historical performance practice, Dew feels that it is perfectly acceptable to cast an opera in a modern-day setting. In Dew’s productions, Mozart’s characters seem to have stepped out of a TV series. They’re people of today with problems of today. This is also what Dew sees in the three Da Ponte operas: “They are all about trust and the search for happiness. Maybe we expect more from a work of art. But for me it’s a great deal. After all, personal happiness makes life worth living.” Elsewhere he says: “The purpose of art is to dispel boredom.” Indeed, Mozart’s three Da Ponte operas are guaranteed to provide witty, throught-provoking, stimulating entertainment – anything but boredom!
Così fan tutte
The aristocrat of conductors, the autocrat of the baton, Riccardo Muti cuts a noble figure at the head of any orchestra, and ennobles every ensemble through his charismatic personality and red-blooded musicality. In many respects, including his unwillingness to compromise over artistic matters, he is reminiscent of the great Arturo Toscanini, who was also a demanding ruler at the podium. Born in Naples in 1941, Muti studied at the Conservatory of his native city, where one of his teachers was the later celebrated film-score composer Nino Rota. He made his breakthrough as a conductor in 1967, when he won an important competition, and was appointed principal conductor of the prestigious Maggio Musicale in Florence in 1969. His rise to international fame set in with his guest conductorships at the Salzburg Festival in 1971 and at the head of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1972. Muti became principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra a few years later, and was named its music director in 1980, succeeding the legendary Eugene Ormandy. Always a conductor of both the symphonic and operatic repertoire, Muti advanced to the post of music director of La Scala in Milan in 1986. The 1990s saw Muti consolidating his reputation at the head of this venerable institution, as well as in countless other high-caliber venues around the world. Today he is one of the undisputed giants among the leading conductors of the world. “Così fan tutte” contains some of Mozart’s loveliest arias and the greatest number of ensembles in any of his operas. Although its libretto is often said to be frivolous, it is a foil for Mozart’s lucid and utterly non-Romantic view of the sexes. Director Roberto de Simone captures both the comedic and tragic core of the work from within and makes its depth palpable. Since the beginning of the 1990s, conductor Riccardo Muti has been increasingly making a name for himself as a Mozart specialist. Austria’s leading daily “Die Presse” gushed: “Roberto de Simone simply directs the work itself in harmony with Riccardo Muti, who does the same in the orchestra pit .. a triumphal reprise at the Vienna State Opera.” And the “Neue Kronen Zeitung” reported that “Muti wonderfully polished his successful Vienna ‘Così’ with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra: Mozart played with an abundance of freshness, impulsiveness and humor.”
Don Giovanni
“Il dissoluto punito, ossia Il Don Giovanni” is the full title of the opera that is widely held to be the most perfect work of its genre. Luckily, it is known today merely as “Don Giovanni,” a title that far better evokes the hero in all of his seductive power, his disregard for the social order, his merry wantonness. It is this hero who fascinated Mozart, not the “dissoluto punito” – the “rake punished” – who harks back to the morals and conventions of the late 18th century. The work, again on a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte (like “Figaro” and “Così”), was written for Prague after “Figaro” had enjoyed such an overwhelming success in the Bohemian capital. It was premiered there on 29 October 1787. The opera’s perfect fusion of opera buffa and opera seria is suggested by its novel designation as a dramma giocoso, or merry drama. It is a moral tale of murder, sexual exploitation and betrayal that is lightened by comedic elements that infuse the whole with warmth and humanity. The aristocrat of conductors, the autocrat of the baton, Riccardo Muti cuts a noble figure at the head of any orchestra, and ennobles every ensemble through his charismatic personality and red-blooded musicality. In many respects, including his unwillingness to compromise over artistic matters, he is reminiscent of Arturo Toscanini, who was also a demanding ruler at the podium. His rise to international fame set in with his guest conductorships at the Salzburg Festival in 1971 and at the head of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1972. Muti became principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra a few years later, and was named its music director in 1980. Always a conductor of both the symphonic and operatic repertoire, Muti advanced to the post of music director of La Scala in Milan in 1986. The 1990s saw Muti consolidating his reputation at the head of this venerable institution, as well as in countless other high-caliber venues around the world. Today he is one of the undisputed giants among the leading conductors of the world.
Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)
At the age of 27 Peter Sellars was hailed as a wunderkind of the U.S. theater and was already the general manager of the American National Theater in Washington’s Kennedy Center. In his productions, Sellars brings out the timelessness and topicality of the works with such naturalness that he arouses interest around the world and stimulates lively discussions as to whether he is brilliantly modernizing the works or brutally maiming them. Besides “Don Giovanni,” Sellars has also staged “Le nozze di Figaro” and “Cosi fan tutte” and moved their stories to present-day New York, whereby, however, he invented a new world for each opera. Thus “Don Giovanni” plays in Spanish Harlem, “Figaro” in the noble Trump Tower on Park Avenue, “Così fan tutte” in Despina’s dilapidated coffee shop. The Da Ponte trilogy is for Sellars, who studied at Harvard, the nonplus ultra of opera literature. With his Mozart productions, Sellars first caused a ruckus in the New York cultural scene, when he presented his work to the public between 1986 and 1988 at the University theater festival Pepsico Summerfare. Then his da Ponte operas went on a European tour and were finally recorded for television in Vienna. Since then Sellars numbers among the most sought-after, unorthodox directors on the international opera scene. But in spite of his gags and witty ideas, Sellars is not out to provoke; instead, he takes the action of the opera literally, transposing it with dramatic sharpness and intelligence. His productions prove that even a 200-year-old opera does not have to be cut off from present-day life.
Così fan Tutte
“Così fan tutte” contains some of Mozart’s loveliest arias and the greatest number of ensembles in any of his operas. Although its libretto is often said to be frivolous, it is a foil for Mozart’s lucid and utterly non-Romantic view of the sexes. Director Roberto de Simone captures both the comedic and tragic core of the work from within and makes its depth palpable. Since the beginning of the 1990s, conductor Riccardo Muti has been increasingly making a name for himself as a Mozart specialist.
Der Rosenkavalier
Though the librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal originally described the project as “a comedy for music”, there is also great emotional depth in this stirring portrayal of the delights and torments of love. Enhancing Strauss’s lush, late-romantic music are Otto Schenk’s rich and witty staging and, above all, Carlos Kleiber’s sensitive conducting. Internationally acclaimed singers Gwyneth Jones, Manfred Jungwirth, Brigitte Fassbaender, Benno Kusche, Lucia Popp and Francisco Araiza bring their superb vocal artistry into play to ensure an unforgettable musical experience.
Das Rheingold
World of the gods – world of the earthly elements: Herbert von Karajan has succeeded in forcefully underscoring the contrast between the world of the gods and the earthly realm. The ‘Rhinegold’ already bears within it a foreboding of the ‘Götterdämmerung’. In the Prelude, man – the hero – does not yet appear; what checks the power of the gods are the earthly elements: fire, water and earth. Wotan only appears to be victorious when he enters Valhalla with his fellow gods. The actual victor is Loge. Based on a production from the Salzburg Easter Festival, Georges Wakhevitch has produced stage settings and transformations that support Karajan’s concept with every possible means. The depths of the Rhine are dynamic and full of natural motion, but the inside of the earth – Nibelheim – with its corridors and vaults which lead to Alberich’s realm, also has something organically proliferating about it. With his singers – foremost among them Peter Schreier – Karajan has an ensemble that fully conforms to his intentions. Thomas Stewart is a nobly singing Wotan. Next to him is the grandiose Brigitte Fassbaender als Fricka, a profoundly embittered figure.
Der Freischütz
“I am trying,” says director Vicco von Bülow, also known as Loriot, “to take this opera very seriously and to show all its horror, mystery, piousness and the German forest.” Germany’s most refinedly witty comedian staged “Der Freischütz” in 1988 at the Ludwigsburg Festival. Von Bülow considers the work “a mixture of comedy, drama, romanticism and deep religiousness.” Comedy, however, was not the guiding principle of his production. He relates the story like a tale from some romantic picture- book, in a mysterious, symbolic manner. The stars of the performance were, next to the splendid sets reminiscent at times of the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, the excellent singers and brilliant orchestra conducted by Wolfgang Gönnenwein. Among the singers, the most highly applauded were Uwe Heilmannn as Max, Ulrike Sonntag as Ännchen and Nancy Johnson as Agathe.
Rigoletto
Along with “Il Trovatore” and “La Traviata,” “Rigoletto” is part of the immortal triumvirate of milestone operas written by Giuseppe Verdi and premiered in the early 1850s. It has become one of the most popular operas in the entire repertory, with stupendous music for the baritone, soprano and tenor leads. The work contains such beloved numbers as “Caro nome,” Gilda’s coloratura aria; the Duke of Mantua’s famous “La donna è mobile”; and the quartet “Bella figlia dell’amore” from the third act. In this production from the early 1990s from Milan’s La Scala, Roberto Alagna sings the part of the Duke, Renato Bruson the title role and Andrea Rost the role of Gilda. The staging is by Gilbert Deflo, whose vision is supported by the distinguished set designer Ezio Frigerio and costume designer Franca Squarciapino. The aristocrat of conductors, the autocrat of the baton, Riccardo Muti cuts a noble figure at the head of any orchestra, and ennobles every ensemble through his charismatic personality and red-blooded musicality. In many respects, including his unwillingness to compromise over artistic matters, he is reminiscent of Arturo Toscanini, who was also a demanding ruler at the podium. His rise to international fame set in with his guest conductorships at the Salzburg Festival in 1971 and at the head of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1972. Muti became principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra a few years later, and was named its music director in 1980. Always a conductor of both the symphonic and operatic repertoire, Muti advanced to the post of music director of La Scala in Milan in 1986. The 1990s saw Muti consolidating his reputation at the head of this venerable institution, as well as in countless other high-caliber venues around the world. Today he is one of the undisputed giants among the leading conductors of the world.
Norma
The reigning queen of bel canto, Edita Gruberova has laid the cornerstone for a new ‘Norma’ legend in her first stage performance of this virtuoso role. The premiere of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich marked a resounding new triumph in the singer’s career. Sharing the stage with Gruberova were Zoran Todorovich, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Sonia Ganassi and other renowned soloists, along with the chorus of the Bavarian State Opera. Friedrich Haider conducted the production directed by Jürgen Rose.