Performer: Michael Thalheimer

At the start of his farewell to Deutsche Oper Berlin, Sir Donald Runnicles shines with his orchestra, supplying the passion and tension withheld in Michael Thalheimer’s production.

A musically strong revival of an austere production still leaves one feeling short-changed.

A fascinating, psychologically penetrating reading of Verdi’s penultimate opera, performed to the highest standards, promises much for the new season at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. 

The unclear ideas and the excessive blackness in Thalheimer’s concept failed to convince, but Stoyanov and Joel’s presentation of Verdi’s score made up for those problems.

Director Michael Thalheimer staging Weber’s Der Freischütz entirely in the Wolf’s Glen, albeit relocated from a “fearsome forest gorge” to what looks like a badger’s sett. 

La mise en scène de Michael Thalheimer, la direction musicale de Mark Elder, le décor, les lumières, la distribution : tout concourt ici à produire une soirée prodigieuse.