Farbenprächtiges Musiktheater

By Simon Haasis, 21 October 2015

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Reviewed at Theater an der Wien, Vienna on 18 October 2015

Cavalli, Xerse

MusikTheater an der Wien

Emmanuelle Haïm, Conductor

Camille Poul, Adelanta

Emmanuelle de Negri, Amastre

Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Eumene

Emőke Baráth, Romilda

Tim Mead, Arsamene

Pascal Bertin, Elviro

Ugo Guagliardo, Xerse

Carlo Allemano, Ariodate

Le Concert d'Astrée

Stefan Herheim’s bold Fledermaus at MusikTheater an der Wien

Chanda VanderHart, 13th October

Herheim’s Fledermaus is a risky experiment that, miraculously, works – at least in a city that knows it so intimately.

****1

Miroslav Srnka’s Voice Killer premieres at MusikTheater an der Wien

Chanda VanderHart, 16th June

At MusikTheater an der Wien, Miroslav Srnka’s new opera provess a deeply compelling, meticulously crafted work. It may not uplift, but it sears itself into the memory.

****1

Fish, frocks and farce: a Prokofiev romp in Vienna

Chanda VanderHart, 28th March

Damiano Michieletto directs a slick and frequently hilarious staging of Prokofiev's comic opera Betrothal in a Monastery.

***11

Grigorian and Akhmetshina dazzle in a secular Norma

Chanda VanderHart, 19th February

In a week where Vienna welcomes two new productions of Bellini's Norma, MusikTheater an der Wien sets a high bar with Vasily Barkhatov's staging.

****1

Freitag, der Dreizehnte celebrates Schoenberg at the Reaktor

Chanda VanderHart, 28th April

What do you get for the composer who made – and also kind of broke – everything? Arnold Schoenberg’s well-documented phobia of the number 13 aside, he could not have asked for a superior tribute in his 150th anniversary year.

****1

Not quite a premiere, not quite a success: Salieri’s Kublai Khan

Chanda VanderHart, 7th April

Martin G Berger exhaustively reworks the story and the libretto of Salieri's Cublai, gran kan de' Tartari and throws the kitchen sink at this new production, but not everything lands well.

***11

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Simon Haasis

Simon Haasis ist Musik- und Kulturwissenschaftler, der in Wien lebt und arbeitet. Auf der Zielgerade zu seiner Dissertation befindlich, macht er das Wiener Konzert- und Opernleben unsicher, indem er stets auf der Suche nach ausgewählten Raritäten von der Renaissancemusik bis zur neuesten Avantgarde ist. Besonders angetan hat es ihm das Musiktheater in seinen vielfältigen Ausdrucksformen. Neben publizistischer und vortragender Tätigkeit lehrt er derzeit an der Universität Wien zur französischen Operngeschichte.

Farbenprächtiges barockes Musiktheater: Francesco Cavallis Xerse am Theater an der Wien