Pierre Audi directs Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek and American tenor Bryan Hymel in one of Berlioz’s most ambitious operas. In this staging of Les Troyens, Audi made the orchestra more visible: the stage extends around the pit, the orchestra is in the centre. He also set up opposite styles for the sets of each parts: horizontal for Troy, vertical for Carthage. Eva-Maria Westbroek, one of the most acclaimed sopranos in the world, is Cassandra, Priam’s clairvoyant daughter. Bryan Hymel, the American tenor, made his debut in 2010 as Aeneas, Dido’s lover.
La Wally
Catalani’s masterpiece, first performed in 1892 at La Scala in Milan, is best known for its aria “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana”. With nuanced harmonies and colourful instrumentation, he pays great attention to the orchestra sound. He chose highly unusual material for his opera: the successful novel Die Geier-Wally by Wilhelmine von Hillern tells the story of a young woman who does not fit any of the gender clichés of the time. Unlike many earlier operatic heroines commanded to marry against their will, Wally does not look for a solution in society, but instead runs away to the mountains. Her husband must be her equal, someone unafraid to face both a bear and her father. “Izabela Matula – A Wagnerian hell of a woman with a great soprano.” (Kronenzeitung) / “Catalani’s highly dramatic music finds an intense advocate in Andrés Orozco-Estrada on the podium of the excellently disposed Wiener Symphoniker.” (Wiener Zeitung)
La forza del destino
“The cast is a dream team,” wrote the Financial Times after the premiere of this production of Verdi’s La forza del destino at the Wiener Staatsoper. Powerful performances by Nina Stemme, who gives a fullblooded portrayal of Leonora, Alastair Miles as her father, Salvatore Licitra as Alvaro, Carlos Álvarez as Don Carlo and Nadia Krasteva as Preziosilla resulted in one of the Viennese ensemble’s most celebrated achievements of recent years. Zubin Mehta leads the Staatsoper Orchestra with agility, subtleness and relaxed mastery, and right from the start David Pountney establishes an atmosphere of entrapment by fate. “A perfect utopia.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
Medea in Corinto
Giovanni Simone Mayr’s “Medea in Corinto” is “the most absolutely amazing opera discovery in decades” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). Mayr, born in Germany in 1763, became one of the most important composers of Italian opera between Mozart and Rossini. At the Bavarian State Opera, director Hans Neuenfels stages this tragedy of betrayed love, lust for power and murderous hatred as a fascinating political thriller. Providing a vigorous orchestral support for soprano Nadja Michael as Medea and Ramón Vargas as her ex-husband Giasone, conductor Ivor Bolton plumbs the depths of Mayr’s rich score.
La Wally
Catalani’s masterpiece, first performed in 1892 at La Scala in Milan, is best known for its aria “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana”. With nuanced harmonies and colourful instrumentation, he pays great attention to the orchestra sound. He chose highly unusual material for his opera: the successful novel Die Geier-Wally by Wilhelmine von Hillern tells the story of a young woman who does not fit any of the gender clichés of the time. Unlike many earlier operatic heroines commanded to marry against their will, Wally does not look for a solution in society, but instead runs away to the mountains. Her husband must be her equal, someone unafraid to face both a bear and her father…
La forza del destino
“The cast is a dream team”, wrote the Financial Times after the premiere of this production of Verdi’s “La forza del destino” at the Wiener Staatsoper. At the top of the list is soprano Nina Stemme, who gives a full blooded portrayal of Leonora. Passionate, forceful readings are also provided by Salvatore Licitra as Alvaro, Leonora’s lover, and by Carlos Alvarez as Don Carlo, Leonora’s vengeful brother. Zubin Mehta leads the Staatsoper Orchestra with agility, subtleness and relaxed mastery. Director David Pountney establishes the randomness of fate at the outset in a video depicting a butterfly flapping its wings and setting fortune’s wheel into motion.