One of the first things that stands out in Dutch National Opera’s 2017-18 season is the sheer number of new productions it is fielding. There are an astonishing eleven new productions next season – either completely new or co-productions which are new to Amsterdam – with just three revivals. This is a situation which other opera companies around the world must envy.
Verdi’s La forza del destino is a difficult opera. It contains fabulous music, especially the three confrontations between Don Alvaro and his nemesis, Don Carlo, but the plot sprawls, presenting its own challenges to the director. Christof Loy quite often pares operas to their bare essentials, so how he works his approach on Forza could be fascinating. Local favourite Eva-Maria Westbroek stars as Leonora, the woman whose secret lover (Alvaro) accidentally kills her father (the Marquis of Calatrava), thus setting off a devastating series of events as her brother (Carlo) seeks revenge.
Pierre Audi adds another Wagner production to his roster at DNO – Tristan und Isolde with Stephen Gould and Ricarda Merbeth in the title roles in a production recently seen in Paris and Rome. Marc Albrecht has a reputation as a fine Wagnerian and conducts the Nehterlands Philharmonic, which bears the bulk of the workload for the Opera this season.
German director Jan Philipp Gloger pairs two operas set in Florence: Alexander Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy and Puccini’s riotous comedy Gianni Schicchi. Based on Oscar Wilde’s unfinished play, Zemlinsky’s opera is a dark tale of betrayal and murder. Simone, a Florentine merchant, discovers his wife, Bianca, is having an affair with Prince Guido. He challenges Guido to a duel, which he eventually wins by strangling the prince, finally earning admiration from Bianca as the curtain falls. Puccini’s one-acter couldn’t be more different. Gianni Schicchi, based on an incident in Dante’s Divine Comedy, is one of the few genuinely funny operas in the repertoire. Massimo Cavalletti plays the wily Gianni, who cons his way into a fortune.
Tobias Kratzer directs a new production of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, in which John Osborn takes on the role of the tortured poet, relating stories of his doomed love affairs. The four lovers are sometimes played by the same soprano, but the vocal requirements are so different that it’s rare to find one soprano capable of doing justice to them all. In Amsterdam, three singers are cast: Nina Minasyan as the doll Olympia, Ermonela Jaho as the fragile Antonia, and mezzo Christine Rice as the courtesan Giulietta, a role she sang with great success recently in London.