Salzburg Festival 2025: Maria Stuarda

At the Salzburg Festival, director Ulrich Rasche shapes Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda into “a Sisyphean image and a powerful metaphor for the mechanics of power in which everyone here is trapped” (NZZ), by moving the action onto enormous discs, “with people who must relentlessly march towards their fate on them” (Kurier). This striking interpretation is perfectly completed by the outstanding performances of the two women at the centre of the story. “Kate Lindsey (Elisabetta) was able to clothe the character’s brokenness, her remorse and indignation, in a flowing song, with an almost theatrical clarity of articulation, on the one hand, and a passionate, full-bodied sound on the other” (WDR). Lisette Oropesa, as her opponent Maria Stuarda, “stands opposite her in gleaming white, but her voice sounds wonderfully warm and full-bodied. She has a

sure command of the high notes and coloratura. But even more impressive than her acrobatics is her expressiveness: when she loves and suffers, she is completely herself, and we are completely with her” (BR).

Kublai Khan

In April 2024, the Komische Oper Cublai, gran kan de’ Tartari by Giambattista Casti celebrate its world premiere with music by Antonio Salieri from 1786 at the MusikTheater an der Wien. Kublai Khan, grandson of the dreaded Genghis Khan, at least still has quite a bit of trouble on his hands. Things are not going well in the great empire: backward economy, cultureless people of barbaric customs. At least that’s the European view of the two Italian emigrants, who are supposed to lead the court into the civilized age of the Enlightenment. To make matters worse, the succession to the throne is also shaky. The son of the Khan is anything but fit to rule and the Indian princess refuses to marry. Director Martin G. Berger places the question of tradition and transformation at the centre of his production. In today’s Vienna, Berger and his production team Antonio Salieri now go in search of traces of how social coexistence between the tried and tested and reimagined is possible in the 21st century and finally help the composer to give his world premiere after all. Conductor Christophe Rousset, who has been committed to Antonio Salieri’s music for many years and will now rehearse the original Italian version, will provide the musical enjoyment.

Bregenz Festival 2024: Tancredi

With an emotional opera thriller, the then 20-year-old Gioachino Rossini surpassed most of the popular Italian composers in 1813. Even though Tancredi is one of his early works, with its sweeping melodies and rushing finales it still shows Rossini’s musical creativity. Jan Philipp Gloger stages this action-packed opera about love, trust and the impossibility of finding happiness in times of crisis. Since 2010, the drama director of the Staatstheater Nürnberg also worked internationally as an opera director. Yi-Chen Lin, who guests of the Bregenzer Festspiele might remember from Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, conducts the opera. “You can hardly do opera better these days!” (Kronenzeitung)

Salzburg Festival 2024: Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Offenbach goes Hollywood: Mariame Clément’s production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann transforms ist titular character into a storyteller of a different kind. The different acts, which are based on short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann, take the audience on a journey through the world of cinema, from a 70s sci-fi flick over a costume drama to a feverish experimental sequence. The three love interests Olympia, Antonia and Giulietta are portrayed by American soprano Kathryn Lewek, who “impresses with brilliantly assertive coloratura, melting cantilenas and pulsating drama” (Drehpunktkultur). At the centre of this tragic tale of unrequited love is Hoffmann himself, stepping into the role of a script writer and film director in this production. The incredibly charismatic Benjamin Bernheim “splendidly cele brates the invasive tragedy of his character. Sound, expression and

presence could not be better combined” (Der Standard). Kate Lindsey, who portrays the muse disguised as Hoffmann’s friend Niklausse is a joy to watch and listen to as she “absorbs Clément’s energy of ideas and gilds her vocal tour de force with scenic exuberance” (Der Standard). An opera evening that spans the emotional spectrum from hilarious comedy to deeply felt heartbreak.

Lohengrin

The Salzburg Easter Festival’s production of Lohengrin, directed by Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito, presents Wagner’s classic as a crime thriller in Vienna. Christian Thielemann, acclaimed Wagner expert, conducts the Vienna State Opera orchestra, while David Butt Philip shines as Lohengrin. Malin Byström’s Elsa reveals a less innocent character, and Anja Kampe delivers a powerful Ortrud. Martin Gantner’s Telramund displays precision. The production excels in stage and orchestral synergy, offering nuanced performances and delicate choral singing made possible by Thielemann’s baton. “When it comes to Wagner, Christian Thielemann really is in a class of his own” (Der Standard)

Where the Wild Things Are

Based on Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are, one of the world’s best selling and most beloved children’s books, this opera will enchant children and adults alike. To turn his story about a young boy who travels to a faraway island full of wild creatures into an opera libretto, author Maurice Sendak let his imagination run riot. He invented, for instance, a new language for the wild creatures that Max meets on the island. This inspired British composer Oliver Knussen to what is probably his most adventurous music: It whistles, squeaks, sparkles, shines, entices and dances with delightful lightness. This production at the MusikTheater an der Wien “captivates as a kind of Gesamtkunstwerk” (Kurier). With loving attention to even the smallest detail, director and puppet virtuoso Nikolaus Habjan and his team created fabulous life-size puppets for Max and his “wild things”. The singers are in the bodies of the puppets and puppeteers handle the gestures and facial expressions. “The result is a visually stunning round dance of monsters” (Kleine Zeitung).

L’Elisir d’amore

“A soothing love potion for the ears and eyes that you’ll want to sip again and again.” (onlinemerker.de) In his iconic production of L’elisir d’amore for the Wiener Staatsoper, legendary director Otto Schenk works with a great attention to detail. Together with his congenial set designer Jürgen Rose, they bathe the stage in a warm, southern light and create a Mediterranean flair. Bogdan Volkov in the role of Nemorino “is not only an outstanding singer with a bright, ingratiating tenor voice, finely audible in his parade aria “Una furtiva Lacrima”, but also a pleasure to perform”. Maria Nazarova “is an enchanting and charming Adina and captivates with her crystal-clear soprano, sparkling coloratura and some inlaid high notes.” (onlinemerker.de)

Bregenz Festival 2024: Der Freischütz

A “small theatre miracle” unfolds at the Bregenz Festival under Philipp Stölzl’s direction, featuring a visually stunning production of Der Freischütz with elements like a dilapidated village and water zombies. Conducted by Enrique Mazzola, the Wiener Symphoniker performs Weber’s music beautifully, while the ensemble shines, particularly Nikola Hillebrand as Agathe and Mauro Peter as Max. Moritz von Treuenfels adds flair as the devil Samiel, guiding the audience through the action with agility and charm, resulting in a captivating two-hour performance.

Les Martyrs

Love, faith, death and the question of what people are prepared to risk for their values and convictions. Gaetano Donizetti deals with these themes using the example of Christian martyrdom. An outrage for the Italian censors of the 1830s, prompting Gaetano Donizetti to switch to France and enlist the help of librettist Eugène Scribe to publish the opera he had been planning, Poliuto, as a grand opéra. Under the title Les martyrs the work had its premiere in Paris in 1840 and included, among other things, a ballet scene, an innovative score structure that presaged the music-drama form, and a spectacularly reworked tenor part. Today, it is one of Donizetti’s lesser-known and rarely performed works, but for Polish director Cezary Tomaszewski it is nevertheless “the best Donizetti opera. A hybrid of bel canto and grand opéra. A masterpiece, thrilling, cinematic with multi-layered and exciting characters”. He transfers the plot to a fantastic, amorphous and futuristic world that focuses on the attempted domination of power over the body. American tenor

John Osborn is debuting in the demanding bel canto part of Polyceute (“heroic, confident in the heights, and supple the Polyeucte of John Osborn”, Der Standard). He is joined by Roberta Mantegna as Pauline (“her singing is enchanting – firm, yet soft and radiant tones with sparkling coloratura”, klasikaplus.cz) The ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Jérémie Rhorer, a specialist in historically informed performance practice. “An absolute event is the […] consummately singing Arnold Schoenberg Choir.” (Kurier)v

Salome

French director Cyril Teste does not interpret the opera Salome, which was banned by the censors at the time of its creation, as a mere tragedy. Nor does he set it during the Roman occupation of Palestine at the time of Christ, but in the context of an illustrious evening party, underlining one aspect of the play: the traumatisation of a four-teen-year-old child by her family. Live video projections onto the back wall of the stage are showing us faces, expressions and actions that help flesh out the action. Swedish soprano Malin Byström “is the central star that carries the evening scenically and vocally. […] She shows a present torn woman who is ground between powerful men.” (Wiener Zeitung) “The Vienna State Opera Orchestra was on excellent form too, full of rich, warm tone in which to luxuriate, yet ever precise and directed” (Seen and Heard International) by the Wiener Staatsoper’s musical director Philippe Jordan – “a master of sound dramaturgy” (Kurier).“The Vienna State Opera simply has Strauss in its DNA.” Kurier