King Roger

"It's hard to believe that this 'Król Roger' had been neglected for so long!" The prestigious "Opernwelt" was not alone in welcoming the belated rediscovery of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski's (1882-1937) masterpiece of 1926, which resonates with echoes of Late-Romanticism and Expressionism, Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner. Presented at the Festival Hall of the Bregenz Festival in a production by festival director David Pountney, the musical rarity, a combination of opera, oratorio and mystery play, tells the story of 12th-century Sicilian King Roger, who is led astray by a mysterious shepherd who preaches a life of unrestrained hedonism. Director David Pountney delivers an uncommonly riveting production by staging the clash of virtue and immorality in a simple, archaic, yet wondrously luminous set reminiscent of an ancient Greek theater.