Salzburg Festival 2016: Faust

Gounod’s Faust was once one of the most famous and most performed of all operas and is still cherished today: surprisingly enough it has never been performed at the Salzburg Festival until 2016! This premiere featured a stunning production by Reinhard von der Thannen, award winning stage director and designer, and a supreme cast, where Ildar Abdrazakov embodies a seductive and demonic Mephistophélès and Italian soprano Maria Agresta stars as Marguerite, who struggles to resist temptation and gain salvatio. But “the crown deserves Piotr Beczala (Faust), a perfect cast” (Abendzeitung). The production was led by young Argentinian conductor Alejo Pérez.