Highway to Hell: La Damnation de Faust in Berlin

By Christie Franke, 13 April 2015

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

Reviewed at Philharmonie: Großer Saal, Berlin on 10 April 2015

Berlioz, La Damnation de Faust

Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor

Joyce DiDonato, Marguerite

Charles Castronovo, Faust

Florian Boesch, Brander

Ludovic Tézier, Méphistophélès

Berliner Philharmoniker

Rundfunkchor Berlin

Simon Halsey, Choirmaster / chorus director

Tavener's Krishna fails to convince in world premiere

Nick Boston, 4th June

John Tavener's “mystical pantomime” proves a disappointment, despite strong performances from singers and orchestra in David Pountney's production.

***11

Jetske Mijnssen's Boccanegra a coup for DNO season finale

Eleanor Knight, 4th June

Everything about this production is fresh and wonderful.

*****

Antonia Bembo’s Ercole amante wins hearts at the Opéra de Paris

David Karlin, 2nd June

Leonardo García-Alarcón's exhumation of Bembo's work proves a winner, in a hyper-quirky staging by Netia Jones with Julie Fuchs as the pick of the fine singers.

****1

Chasing the American Dream: UK premiere for Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up

Mark Pullinger, 1st June

Amy Lane directs an intimate staging of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s 2018 chamber opera in the compact Milton Court Theatre.

****1

Longborough Festival Opera season starts slow with Orlando

Eleanor Knight, 30th May

Beth Taylor gives the lows and highs of Handel's heroics an almighty, whole-body shakedown in Sinéad O'Neill’s new staging of Handel's Orlando.

***11

Viennese splendour in Garsington’s Rosenkavalier revival

Roy Westbrook, 28th May

Bruno Ravella's splendid 2021 production of Strauss' opera of Viennese manners returns with a fine cast.

****1

More reviews...

Christie Franke

Christie Franke is a Berlin-based writer and opera lover. Her blog, Tiny Doom’s Opernpalais, chronicles her adventures as an opera-lover and writer, serving as discussion ground for character profiles, operatic plot holes, and the magic of music in everyday life.

Highway to Hell: La Damnation de Faust with the Berliner Philharmoniker