Musical America Blogs

Compiled and annotated by Larry L. Lash

09 September – 06 November, 2011
Volksoper Wien. Wiener Blut.
It’s no easy task keeping the operetta repertoire fresh, so Intendant Robert Meyer is importing a new production team (director Thomas Enzinger; designer Toto; choreographer Bohdana Szivacz) to enliven this posthumous compilation of Johann Strauss, Jr. tunes compiled by Adolf Müller.  The multiple casts offer the best of Volksoper’s young ensemble with beloved veterans taking on the smaller roles.  It’s hard to imagine there could be a better conductor for this work than Alfred Eschwé.

08 October 2011
Národní divadlo Praha. Jakobín.
Dvořák’s opera of small-town intrigue receives a rare, new production on the stage of Prague’s National Theatre where it premiered in 1889.  Tomáš Netopil conducts a production by the company’s brilliant young director Jiří Heřman, who has created some of the most stunning productions in Prague in years.

09 October 2011
Wiener Staatsoper. La traviata.
Superstar Natalie Dessay will, undoubtedly, add new dimensions to Verdi’s beloved courtesan in a new production by Jean-François Savidier conducted by Bertrand de Billy.  American tenor Charles Castronovo is her lover, Alfredo; Fabio Capitanucci is his ultraconservative dad, who wrecks the whole romance.

16 Otober 2011
Theater an der Wien. Serse.
The brilliant cast of last season’s Rodelinda reunites for another Händel rarity: Malena Ernman in the title role, Bejun Mehta as Arsamene, and Danielle de Niese as Atalanta.  Jean-Christophe Spinosi leads original instrument band Ensemble Mateus in a new production by Adrian Noble.

18 October 2011
Konzerthaus Wien. Simon Keenlyside.
Not only is the London-born baritone one of the foremost opera singers of his generation, he is a gifted recitalist, and, accompanied by Malcolm Martineau, offers a program including Lieder and chansons by Mahler, Duparc, Debussy, Strauss, and Schubert in the intimate Mozart-Saal.  An unusually down-to-earth chap for an opera singer (his hobby is foraging for wild mushrooms), his recitals are notable for their intimacy, lack of pretension, and humor.

26 October 2011
Wiener Staatsballett. La Sylphide.
Better known in its 1836 choreography by Danish master August Bournonville, ballet director Manuel Legris has opted to present Pierre Lacotte’s reconstruction of the original 1832 Paris version with choreography by Filippo Taglioni and music by Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer, created as a showcase for Taglioni’s legendary daughter, Marie. Since Taglioni’s choreography is irretrievably lost, Lacotte has based his version on prints, notes, drawings, and archival materials from the era of the ballet’s premiere, with sets and costumes based on the originals.

03 November 2011
Wien Modern. Radio-Sinfonieorchester Wien.
One of the highlights of the annual month-long celebration of new and newer music comes when conductor/composer Johannes Kalitzke leads the RSO-Wien in a program at the venerable Musikverein of some of the 102 pieces commissioned for the 2011 festival, none of which is to last more than 40 seconds. The second half features Harrison Birtwistle’s The Triumph of Time based on Algernon Charles Swinburn’s autobiographical epic poem of unrequited love.

06 November 2011
Grazer Oper. Pique Dame.
Tchaikovsky’s gripping story of a gambling addict’s downfall abetted by ghostly visions receives a new production from Regietheater granddaddy Peter Konwitschny.  Tecwyn Evans conducts a cast including Avgust Amonov, Asmik Grigorian, and veteran America mezzo Fran Lubahn in the scene-stealing role of the Old Countess.

08 November 2011
Konzerthaus Wien. Philharmonia Orchestra.
Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the London-based orchestra in a concert performance of Bartók’s only opera, A kékszakállú herceg vára (Bluebeard’s Castle), sung in the original Hungarian by Michelle de Young and John Tomlinson.  Filling out the program is Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and Bartók’s ballet score The Wooden Prince.

15 November 2011
Theater an der Wien. Gogol.
Vienna’s most adventurous opera company has commissioned a new work from young Russian composer Lera Auerbach, selected as a member of the forum of Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum in Davos.  Auerbach contributes both music and a Russian-language libretto drawn from her own prose.  Vladimir Fedoseyev leads the RSO-Wien in a production by German provacateuse Christine Mielitz.  Bo Skovhus and Natalia Ushakova star.

17 November 2011
Rabenhof Theater.  Baron Munchhausen.
Another world premiere, this one commissioned by Wien Modern, is a new comic opera by Wolfgang Mitterer, one of the festival’s featured composers.  Mitterer conducts a production by Franc Aleu which will travel to Festival Musica Strassbourg and the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.

03 December 2011
Bayerische Staatsoper. Turandot.
Wildly-inventive Catalan theater troupe La Fura dels Baus creates a new production of Puccini’s Chinese fantasia with Zubin Mehta conducting Jennifer Wilson as the titular ice princess, Marco Berti as her suitor Calaf (the guy who gets to sing “Nessun dorma”), and Ekaterina Scherbachenko as doomed slave-girl Liù.

11 December 2011
Wiener Staatsoper. Z mrtvého domu.
Come on: it’s really not that hard to pronounce, but call it From the House of the Dead if you must.  This next installment of Staatsoper’s recently-launched Janáček Cycle is notable for many reasons: it is the company’s first-ever production of the opera; it will be sung in Czech (a new policy for a house where Jenůfa is still sung in German); and will mark only the second production by Peter Konwitschny at the House on the Ring, with sets by his longtime collaborator Johannes Leiacker.  Music Director Franz Welser-Möst helms the huge ensemble cast with lead roles taken by Christopher Maltman, Misha Didyk, Sorin Coliban, and Herbert Lippert.

13 December 2011
Konzerthaus Wien. City Lights.
For film buffs of all ages, Konzerthaus once again transforms its great hall into the biggest cinema in Austria for a screening of Charlie Chaplin’s 1931 classic silent romantic comedy, with Cornelius Meister leading his RSO-Wien in Chaplin’s own score arranged by Timothy Brock.

14 December 2011
Theater an der Wien. L’Orfeo.
Claus Guth, one of the hottest names in opera (Salzburg’s Mozart/da Ponte trilogy; Bayreuth’s Der fliegende Holländer; Staatsoper’s recent Tannhäuser; Theater an der Wien’s groundbreaking Messiah) brings his psychological intensity to a new production of Monteverdi’s 1607 “fable in music.” John Mark Ainsley takes the title role, with Mari Eriksmoen as his beloved Euridice. Ivor Bolton leads the Freiburger Barockorchester, Monteverdi Continuo Ensemble, and the indispensable Arnold Schoenberg Chor.

17 December 2011
Volksoper Wien. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Stephen Sondheim’s raucous, 1962 five-time Tony Award-winning musical gets a new production auf Deutsch (under the title Die spinnen, die Römer! – roughly They’re Crazy, Those Romans!) by Werner Sobotka, conducted by American musical specialist David Levi.  Aping the last Broadway revival which cast both a man and a woman (Nathan Lane and Whoopi Goldberg) as Pseudolus, Volksoper Intendant Robert Meyer and Austrian comedienne Sigrid Hauser will alternate in the role.