Erschreckender Stoff, gefällige Musik

By Simon Haasis, 05 July 2016

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Reviewed at Theater an der Wien, Vienna on 2 July 2016

Kolonovits, El Juez

MusikTheater an der Wien

David Giménez-Carreras, Conductor

Emilio Sagi, Director

Daniel Bianco, Set Designer

Pepa Ojanguren, Costume Designer

Itziar de Unda, First Nun

Milagros Martín, Old Woman

Sabina Puértolas, Paula

Ana Ibarra, Abbess

María José Suárez, Maria, Second Nun

José Luis Sola, Alberto García

José Carreras, Federico Riberas

Thomas Birch, First Man

Julian Henao, Second Man

Manel Esteve Madrid, Paco

Tobias Greenhalgh, Third Man

Stefan Cerny, Fourth Man

Carlo Colombara, Morales

ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra

Arnold Schoenberg Choir

Eduardo Bravo, Lighting Designer

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.

Erschreckender Stoff in gefälliger Musik: El Juez am Theater an der Wien