What happens when a powerful man makes moves on a strong, independent woman who has no intention of accepting his advances? And how are things further complicated if he is Middle Eastern and she is Western and their cultures fundamentally clash? Find the answers in Moshe Leiser’s & Patrice Caurier’s colourful production of “L’Italiana in Algeri” with Cecilia Bartoli in the title role of the spirited Isabella.”The role of Isabella is sung to perfection by Cecilia Bartoli – a clever, independent woman with an adventurous streak”. (The New York Times)
Salzburg Festival 2018: The Bassarids
“A completely gripping new production” (FAZ): 52 years after their premiere, Hans Werner Henze’s “The Bassarids” return, with Kent Nagano at the helm, to the Salzburg Festival for a rare revival of this modern classic in a highly dramatic psychological staging by Krzysztof Warlikowski. When Dionysus bursts into the intact world of ancient Thebes, he plunges it into chaos. In the gigantic three-part set of Malgorzata Szczesniak the captivating tale unfolds like a film using split-screen techniques. With “an ensemble that without exception has an outstanding cast”, the musical realization is “simply sublime” (Der Standard).
Peer Gynt
In this story ballet, choreographer Edward Clug merges the distinct versions of Peer Gynt by Edward Grieg and Henrik Ibsen into a new ballet experience. “A brilliant narrator” (Kronenzeitung), Clug captures the fantastic adventures of the boastful peasant boy, who sets off to become emperor of the world, with the help of the bold stage and costume design by Marko Japelij and Leo Kulaš. The result are “magical scenes, never seen like this in conventional ballets” (Kurier) with “an outstanding cast, down to the smallest roles” (Opernfreund).
T.H.A.M.O.S.
Wherever they are, that’s where the action is. The Catalan theatre group La Fura dels Baus is staging T.H.A.M.O.S at the Felsenreitschule Salzburg. The performance is based on Thamos, King in Egypt, with interlude music by Mozart for the heroic drama written by Tobias Philipp Freiherr von Gebler, supplemented by other compositions by Mozart and texts by Nikolaus Tesla, Antonin Artaud and Alicia Aza. Mexican conductor Alondra della Parra conducts the Camerata Salzburg and a singer ensemble starring René Pape and Fatma Said.
Bregenz Festival 2019: Rigoletto
Bregenz Festival staged for the first time Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpiece Rigoletto – compelling, blood-curdling and beautiful. The stage and film director Philipp Stölzl (Medicus & Goethe), known for his successful productions in Salzburg as well as for his music videos for Madonna or for the German band Rammstein, created a spectacular setting on the world’s largest stage on a lake, praised by critics as a unique technological masterpiece. The staggering show has attracted not only 200,000 visitors to 20 sold out performances but also close to 2 million TV-viewers in Germany, Austria and Swiss alone. “This Rigoletto on Lake Constance becomes a Hollywood spectacle.” (Handelsblatt); “The performance of the three main characters has been outstanding.” (Der Standard)
Salzburg Festival 2019: Orphée aux enfers
Operetta enthusiast Barrie Kosky has landed a gigantic success with Offenbach’s subversive and hilarious reversion of the Orpheus myth at the Salzburg Festival. Kosky created a magically precise staging in a glittering opulent scenery and a literally devilish choreography. The dialogues are performed by the brilliant German actor Max Hopp as John Styx. Under Enrique Mazzola’s precise conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker provide “a sparkling orchestral sound” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung): “A frantic and fabulous show” (New York Times).
Salzburg Festival 2017: Wozzeck
With a triumphant staging of Berg’s monumental opera Wozzeck, universal artist William Kentridge, who already made headlines with his productions of The Nose and Lulu, makes his appearance at the Salzburg Festival. In a “breathtaking reassessment” (Financial Times), he puts Berg’s tragical portrait of a simple soldier harassed by a merciless society in an extraordinary, multilayered set design, in which various projections of movie scenes and drawings intertwine with the action on stage. “Mr. Kentridge has given Wozzeck his most elegant and powerful operatic treatment yet.” (New York Times)
Salzburg Easter Festival 2018: Tosca
Anja Harteros excels in the title role of Michael Sturminger’s cinematic staging of Puccini’s “Tosca”, the centrepiece of Salzburg Easter Festival. Aleksandrs Antonenko compellingly portrays Cavaradossi, while Ludovic Tézier is a thrillingly malevolent Scarpia. Christian Thielemann leads the Staatskapelle Dresden. “Tosca” is a political thriller with a heart-breaking love story that gives a vivid account of the harassment of artists, political persecution, torture and arbitrary executions. In Salzburg it is set in the Mafiosi world of modern day Rome and is “the perfect thriller … reminiscent of Scorsese’s ‘Goodfellas’” (Kleine Zeitung), a “film noir” (FAZ).
Salzburg Festival 2018: Die Zauberflöte
Mozart’s timeless masterpiece at the Salzburg Festival – it doesn’t get much better than this! Especially when “The Magic Flute” receives such a “spectacular and virtuosic staging” (Le Figaro) by American director Lydia Steier. Her colourful, fairy-tale production conjures up magical scenes and revolves around Hollywood star Klaus Maria Brandauer as grandfather, who reads the fantastical story of Tamino’s quest to his three grandchildren. The Three Boys are sung “technically flawlessly and expressively by three members of the Wiener Sängerknaben, a pure joy” (Spiegel Online). Constantinos Carydis leads a young ensemble of world class singers and draws “precise phrasing and plenty of crisp articulation from the Wiener Philharmoniker” (Financial Times). A delight already enjoyed by over one million TV viewers in Germany alone!
Salzburg Festival 2018: Salome
“Salome”, the masterpiece of Richard Strauss, who conducted the very first opera in the history of the Salzburg Festival, finally returns to Salzburg after 25 years. To witness Franz Welser-Möst, a Strauss conductor in a league of his own, at the helm of the Wiener Philharmoniker “makes you think you are hearing the piece in its most perfect incarnation yet.” (Financial Times). The Italian director Romeo Castellucci has the extraordinary gift of creating images pulsating with knowledge of the subconscious, he is responsible for directing and designing stage sets, costumes and lighting. “Asmik Grigorian sweeps all in her wake in the title role of Strauss’s opera. […] Hers is a Salome to end all Salomes. […] In total, it is stunning…” (Financal Times)