Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, one of the most played operas today, was staged on the Seebühne for the first time. Enrique Mazzola, who was also responsible for the Rigoletto production, leads “the Wiener Symphoniker to a beguiling string sound and a flexibility that is so important for Puccini” (Der Tagesspiegel). Director Andreas Homoki, who is the artistic director of the Opernhaus Zürich, and his internationally renowned team use Michael Levine’s magical stage set with its subtle landscape paintings to bring Japanese flair to Lake Constance. Barno Ismatullaeva’s performance as Cio-Cio-San “is simply world class!” (Online Merker). “Rightly a standing ovation ended the multiple dramatic evening.” (Neue Musikzeitung)
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!
Platée
Jean-Jacques Rousseau hailed “Platée” as “the best musical play ever to be heard in our theatres.” In Robert Carsen’s production, the mythological events take place in the world of Parisian haute couture and Jupiter is portrayed as the fashion god Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019) – who has now really been transferred up to Olympus. This ingeniously apt transposition of this satirical opera into the modern day has long been a hit! The renowned specialist in baroque music, William Christie, conducts his Les Arts Florissants, the Arnold Schoenberg Chor and a fantastic cast. “A candy-coloured baroque dream” Salzburger Nachrichten // “A must-see – and not only for fashion freaks!” Bühne
Thaïs
With the “Méditation”, Jules Massenet probably wrote one of the most famous melodies of our time. It originates from his Comédie-lyrique “Thaïs”, which – unlike Massenet’s operas “Werther” or “Manon” – never made it into the international opera repertoire. Presumably because the two main roles of Thaïs and Athanaël demand something almost superhuman from the singers. In the new production by Peter Konwitschny at the Theater an der Wien, the American soprano Nicole Chevalier is one of the most exciting singers currently on stage in the title role. At her side, the young Austrian bass-baritone Josef Wagner celebrates his house debut.
Salzburg Festival 2020: Elektra
In its 100th anniversary edition, the Salzburg Festival celebrates a real triumph with a mind-blowing new production of Elektra, one of the most famous masterpieces of opera history by the two festival founders Richard 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, who just recently celebrated an overwhelming success with Strauss’ Salome in Salzburg 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” The Times
Salzburg Festival 2020: Così fan tutte
At Salzburg Festival the new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte is a magic moment in Mozart interpretation, a true feast for the eyes and ears: A masterfully clever staging, a ravishingly young cast and, with Joana Mallwitz, for the first time a woman stands at the podium of the Wiener Philharmoniker for a staged opera production at the Festival. “The sovereignty and prudence with which conductor Joana Mallwitz steers her ensemble and the Wiener Philharmoniker through Mozart’s musical cosmos is phenomenal“, praises BR Klassik, “the orchestra likes to be carried away by her, playing with enthusiasm and brilliance.“ For this shortened version of Mozart´s masterpiece the young conductor joins forces with none other than the internationally renowned director Christof Loy. The celebrated stage director brings unexpected psychological elements to his strikingly modern mise en scène which is coherent down to the smallest detail. On the simple black and white stage, the emotional tragedy takes ist course: The sisters Fiordiligi (sung by stunning French soprano Elsa Dreisig) and Dorabella (beautifully presented by Marianne Crebassa) are subject of a bet made by their betrothed Ferrando (exquisite and sunny voiced Bogdan Volkov) and Guglielmo (hot tempered Andrè Schuen) with Don Alfonso (surprisingly uncynical Johannes Martin Kränzle): true faithfulness would not exist with women. In the end, Don Alfonso should be right and still, this game causes deep wounds for all involved!
Idomeneo
Idomeneo is considered as the first of the seven uncontested masterworks of Mozart’s dramatic œuvre and it is perhaps even the most revolutionary and forward-looking of his work. In “Kasper Holten’s coherent production” (Die Presse) Bernard Richter was “a cultivated bright tenor with beautiful expressive moments” (Kronen Zeitung). “Valentina
Nafornita performed the role of Ilia with passion and reached every height with ease and Irina Lungu portrayed Elettra as a great tragic figure and unfolded her soprano with verve in the final aria” (Kurier). Conductor Tomáš Netopil provided with the orchestra “gripping moments from the virtuoso overture onwards” (Kronen Zeitung).
Orlando
Orlando is the first work commissioned from a woman for the Vienna State Opera. Olga Neuwirth, for a long time one of the great composers of the present, succeeds with this opera in creating a captivating arc across many musical genres. An exciting, socially critical production by Polly Graham who puts a fantastically singing and playing Kate Lindsey in the center of the action. Opernwelt made it “First performance of the year” in its annual hit list. “The premiere of the season” Die Zeit
Bregenz Festival 2019: Don Quichotte
French director Mariame Clément takes a clever and exhilarating look at modern heroism in Jules Massenet’s operatic rarity Don Quichotte: “a striking interpretation” (Neue Musikzeitung). But this opera is also a musical discovery, not least because of the outstanding cast starring Gábor Bretz as Don Quichotte, David Stout as Sancho and Anna Goryachova as Dulcinée. In the pit, Daniel Cohen leads the Wiener Symphoniker to a dynamic- differentiated performance. A musically as visually absolutely rewarding evening!
Salzburg Festival 2019: Simon Boccanegra
Giuseppe Verdi’s emotional political thriller, brilliantly captured in Andreas Kriegenburg’s puristic staging, becomes a musical feast in Salzburg with a high-class ensemble including René Pape, Luca Salsi, Marina Rebeka and Charles Castronovo. Conductor Valery Gergiev gives a “musically differentiated and overall convincing interpretation of Verdi’s sonically immensely subtle score” (Die Zeit). The Wiener Philharmoniker and the choir of the Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor perform superbly.