La Damnation de Faust

Tomáš Netopil and stars of the New York Met in the dramatic and entertaining legend based on Goethe’s Faust. All roads lead to hell!

“This marvellous book fascinated me from the very beginning. I could not put it down. I read it incessantly, during meals, in the theatre, in the street, everywhere,” composer Hector Berlioz, musical visionary of 19th century French music, and perhaps something of a fantasist, describes his enchantment with Goethe’s Faust. His “Faustian” passion gave rise initially to Eight Scenes from Faust and then, eighteen years later, to a composition perhaps even more remarkable than his Symphonie fantastique – a “légende dramatique” that treads a fine line between oratorio and opera entitled La Damnation de Faust (The Damnation of Faust). Here, Berlioz’s version of the story deviates considerably from Goethe’s play, with the composer mercilessly propelling the protagonist to the gates of hell right from the start. However, before he condemns Faust forever, Berlioz applies his special brand of imagination as he takes him on numerous adventures full of twists and turns involving a series of entertaining, dramatic and, naturally, also romantic scenes. Tomáš Netopil chose this extraordinary work for mixed and children’s choirs, four soloists and large orchestra for his debut at the Prague Spring as the new Chief Conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra. The main roles of Faust and Mephistopheles will be undertaken by stars of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, tenor Paul Appleby and bass Alexander Vinogradov, Marguerite will be sung by soloist at the Semperoper Dresden Štěpánka Pučálková, and the role of the student Brander will be performed by Pavel Švingr, soloist at the National Theatre Opera and State Opera.

Tickets: 500 – 1 400 CZK