A number of opera houses have been stoic in their response to the pandemic, keeping performers on the stage even if the audience was restricted to online rather than in the auditorium. One such is Opernhaus Zürich which managed to rehearse and stage a number of its planned new productions which were then streamed worldwide, such as Boris Godunov, Simon Boccanegra and Les Contes d'Hoffmann. It even made inventive use of technology to beam the orchestra and chorus from the safety of a rehearsal room 1km away into the pit.
With much of Europe tentatively reopening after the crisis, Zürich Opera and Ballet have announced a typically bold 2021-22 season with a good number of new productions, the launch of a new Ring Cycle, a constellation of star singers and the arrival of new General Music Director Gianandrea Noseda.
Noseda has a hard act to follow. The much-loved Fabio Luisi was a tremendous asset to the house and leaves the Philharmonia Zürich in fine fettle. But Noseda is no stranger to the operatic world. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre from 1997 - 2007 and Music Director at the Teatro Regio in Turin after that. Like Luisi, Noseda is outstanding in Italian repertoire and conducts two Verdi operas next season – Il trovatore and Falstaff – as well as pursuing his love of Wagner with a new Rheingold and the revival of Tristan und Isolde. Noseda also continues the tradition of orchestral concerts running through the season, where you can expect to hear Bruckner, Brahms and Dvořák resounding through the Opernhaus.
Staging a Ring Cycle is the pinnacle of any opera house’s ambitions, requiring huge resources. Intendant Andreas Homoki undertakes the challenge which will begin, naturally enough, with Das Rheingold in April 2022, culminating in an autumn 2023 immolation (where Camilla Nylund and Klaus Florian Vogt are slated to make their respective role debuts as Brünnhilde and Siegfried). The Rheingold cast is led by experienced Wagnerian Tomasz Konieczny as Wotan, ruler of the gods whose terrible bargaining skills with giants Fasolt and Fafner have landed him in a pickle which takes 15 hours to unravel across the course of the cycle.
Homoki is also at the helm of the first new production of the season – Richard Strauss’ biblical shocker, Salome. Anyone who saw Russian soprano Elena Stikhina in the title role streamed from La Scala this season will know they’re in for a treat. Conductor Simone Young’s fine cast includes Kostas Smoriginas as Jochanaan and Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke as Salome’s slimy stepfather, Herod.
Verdi’s Il trovatore boasts some of the best arias in all Italian opera. However, its credulity-stretching “oops, I threw the wrong baby on the fire” plot challenges the best of directors. Adele Thomas grapples with this convoluted tale of misidentification and vengeance. She is aided by a knockout cast. Enrico Caruso once claimed that casting Trovatore was simple: all you needed were the four best singers in the world! Two roles debuts – Piotr Beczała as Manrico and Marina Rebeka as Leonora – should add to the excitement, complemented by Quinn Kelsey as the Conte di Luna and fabulous Georgian mezzo Anita Rachvelishvili as Azucena, the gypsy whose mysterious back story drives the plot.