Fidelio

Oppression and isolation, but also hope and the power of love, make Fidelio an opera for all times. In Nikolaus Habjan’s new Vienna State Opera production, Beethoven’s only opera becomes a timeless work beyond any specific era. Leonore and Florestan are each doubled by a puppet, revealing their inner lives and the struggle between emotion and concealment. Habjan’s staging focuses on Beethoven’s universal ideals and the enduring themes at the heart of the work. Malin Byström’s Leonore “has a beautiful timbre and sings expressively” (Orpheus Magazine) while David Butt Philip shows a “crystal-clear diction and a powerful, bright voice” (Orpheus Magazine). Conductor Franz Welser-Möst delivers “a Beethoven interpretation that was thoughtful and passionate, yet also sensitive and powerfully stirring” (Concerti.at).