Death, Devil and naked facts in the Volksoper's Hoffman

By Snapdragon, 18 October 2016

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“This staging will stay longer in the memory”

Reviewed at Volksoper Wien, Vienna on 15 October 2016

Offenbach, Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann)

Volksoper Wien

Gerrit Prießnitz, Conductor

Renaud Doucet, Director, Choreography

André Barbe, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Anja-Nina Bahrmann, Antonia

Beate Ritter, Olympia

Kristiane Kaiser, Giulietta

Juliette Mars, Nicklausse, The Muse

Mirko Roschkowski, Hoffmann

Josef Wagner, Lindorf

Martina Mikelić, Voice of Antonia's Mother

Karl-Michael Ebner, Andrès, Spalanzani

David Sitka, Nathanaël

Ben Connor, Hermann

Stefan Cerny, Luther, Crespel

Alexandre Beuchat, Peter Schlémil

Thomas Böttcher, Choirmaster / chorus director

Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz, Dramaturgy

Orchestra of the Vienna Volksoper

An empty glitter bomb: Aschenbrödels Traum at the Volksoper Wien

Chanda VanderHart, 4th December

A dizzying premise from Martina Eisenreich and Axel Ranisch, loosely drawing on Johann Strauss II’s unfinished ballet Aschenbrödel, which tries to be everything, all at once.

***11

Death, interrupted: KaiserRequiem moves at the Volksoper

Chanda VanderHart, 25th January

Omer Meir Wellber’s Mozart-Ullmann mash-up sounds like a terrible idea, but absolutely hits the mark.

****1

Paging Dr Freud! Iolanta and the Nutcracker at the Volksoper Wien

Mark Pullinger, 5th December

When is The Nutcracker not The Nutcracker? When's it's mashed together with Tchaikovsky's Iolanta to represent the blind princess’ inner world in a dark interpretation.

****1

Ella Milch-Sheriff’s Alma emerges as a dark triumph at the Volksoper

Chanda VanderHart, 31st October

A haunting, musically compelling impression of a woman whose life was shaped by creation, loss, and unfulfilled thirst for personal expression.

****1

Femicide! A controversial Carmen from Lotte de Beer at the Volksoper

Chanda VanderHart, 6th October

Lotte de Beer’s new retelling at the Volksoper reintroduces the element of shock into Bizet's popular opera.

****1

The subconscious at play: Lady in the Dark at the Volksoper

Chanda VanderHart, 18th December

Kurt Weill's musical, with its focus on psychoanalysis, makes its Austrian premiere in the city of Sigmund Freud.

****1

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Snapdragon

Snapdragon is an experienced concert- and opera-goer in Vienna and other music metropoles. Musical emphases include opera (especially Baroque opera) and piano music. As an Austrian native, Snapdragon can’t resist an operetta every now and then.

The Tales of Hoffmann at the Volksoper: Death and the devil, naked facts and a wondrous voice