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).

Salzburg Festival 2024: The Gambler

Based on a short novel by Dostoyevsky, Prokofiev’s The Gambler unfolds in the fictional casino town of Roulettenburg, where a variety of characters converge and clash. These characters include a General indebted to a covetous Marquis, the General’s resentful stepdaughter Polina, and Alexey, who harbors feelings for her. Director Peter Sellars, known for his insightful interpretations of overlooked masterpieces, challenges us to mirror the bravery of Dostoyevsky and Prokofiev – the courage to confront our inner darkness. The musical direction of Russian conductor Timur Zangiev shines together with the vocal performances of the exceptional cast:”Asmik Grigorian portraying a passionate Polina, and Sean Panikkar delivering a powerful performance as Alexei” (Financial Times).

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.

Salzburg Festival 2023: Macbeth

With his Macbeth, Giuseppe Verdi broke with the operatic conventions of the time and created one of his darkest and most abysmal works. Directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski, the timeless drama unfolds in a new interpretation that takes the audience on an intense journey into human abysses. An opera of this kind demands not only outstanding voices but also outstanding actors. “Vladislav Sulimsky is forceful and brutish in the title role, at times truly frightening, always utterly assured.” (Financial Times) Asmik Grigorian is giving her debut as Lady Macbeth and performs “with an urgency of expression that needs no further explanation.” (Salzburger Nachrichten) “Her singing becomes a victory over expressive resistance.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine) “Philippe Jordan celebrated a triumph on the podium of the Wiener Philharmoniker” (Kurier), his “Macbeth crackles with power and electricity, propelled by its own velocity. The orchestra attacks the score with relish.” (Financial Times)

Salzburg Festival 2022: Suor Angelica

In Suor Angelica the perspective has narrowed to the tragic fate of a single figure, the young nun Angelica. Banished to the convent for an indiscretion, she leads a joyless existence and waits for news of her son, whom she has been forbidden to see since his birth. When she learns that he has died, she resolves to put an end to her life. The climax of the opera is an extended monologue lasting 20 minutes in which Angelica works through her doubts as a devout Catholic and frees herself from her feelings of guilt and remorse. In a redemptive ending she finally transcends all her pain and escapes her agony. With a radiant finale Puccini opens up a path for her into the spheres of celestial paradise. “Overwhelming” Opernwelt

Salzburg Festival 2022: Il Tabarro

In Il tabarro (‘The Cloak’), surrounded by the decaying miasma of the river Seine, we have arrived in purgatory on earth. Puccini sets the piece in the present day, in Paris, in a realistic, Simenon-like milieu of stevedores, drinkers, and whores. In an oppressive atmosphere of hopelessness a love triangle arises between Giorgetta, her husband – the barge owner Michele – and his stevedore Luigi. Giorgetta is a woman with a history: she’s a mother who has lost a child and whose marriage is on the verge of breakdown. She starts an affair with Luigi, which gives her a momentary escape from the bleakness of her everyday life… Il tabarro fathoms the entire unremitting darkness of human existence. “Grigorian’s final scene, which milks the unexpected poignancy of her simply changing in front of us from her habit into a sleek black cocktail dress and letting down her hair, is just as wrenching.” The New York Times

Salzburg Festival 2022: Gianni Schicchi

In Gianni Schicchi, with its playful levity, peals of unbounded, strident laughter ring out – albeit of the kind that can only be heard in hell. We are in Florence, in the house of Buoso Donati, who has just died. Once the will has been found, his assembled kinsfolk – degenerate aristocrats – discover they have been deprived of their inheritance. After initial reluctance they bring themselves to seek assistance from an unpopular newcomer, the cunning Gianni Schicchi. He sets to work, ruthlessly turning the situation to his own advantage – not for nothing does he rage through Dante’s Inferno as a kind of sinister poltergeist. “Great opera cinema!”

Kronenzeitung

Salzburg Festival 2021: Don Giovanni

Vitality and destruction: Romeo Castellucci sees one of the fascinations of Don Giovanni in this essential ambivalence. In his interpretation of the opera, he penetrates deep into the myth of the character and creates an aestheticised world of fantasy with striking images, such as that of the 150 women, with which he underlines the horror of the title hero’s empty, heartless string of conquests. Musically, there is drama in spades from Currentzis and musicAeterna Orchestra in the pit. Their razor sharp, high-energy approach is clearly an inspiring environment for the largely young cast, too, and results in a terrific performance: “After four long hours of Mozart in Salzburg, one feels refreshed, even invigorated, floating out into the rainy night on clouds of sound and images. Rarely has a team taken Mozart’s genre designation dramma giocoso seriously in such a radically lavish, detailobsessed and conceptually strong way.” Die Zeit / “The most unusual Giovanni the world has ever seen”. Die Welt

Salzburg Festival 2017: Aida

“Passionate and unconditionally dedicated” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Anna Netrebko makes her role debut as Aida at the Salzburg Festival, joined by Francesco Meli as Radamès and Ekaterina Semenchuk as her rival Amneris. In the pit: no other than Verdi expert Riccardo Muti, “our finest Verdi conductor” who “creates effects you didn’t quite think possible” (NY Times). This Aida is the first opera staging by award-winning Iranian film-maker, photographer and video artist Shirin Neshat, known for her critical examinations of gender roles and religious fundamentalism. “Lyric sensitivity and searing power – Ms. Netrebko is ready for Aida!” (New York Times)

Salzburg Festival: Verdi, Don Carlo

The Salzburg Festival hosts a new production of Verdi’s “Don Carlo”, directed by Peter Stein and embodied by Jonas Kaufmann. The production is based on the original version of the opera, which includes those passages that were cut shortly before the first performance in 1867. Verdi’s masterpiece demands world-class singers at the peak of their powers, such as Jonas Kaufmann, “who combines absolute technical stability with the highest musical intelligence”, and soprano Anja Harteros, who’s “Elisabetta is quite simply sublime: majestically phrased, rich in nuance, clear of diction and moving easily from immaculately floated pianissimo to sterling fortissimo”. (The Telegraph)