Bluebeard as psychothriller in Castellucci's mismatched double bill

Aušrinė Stundytė (Judith)

Mika Kares (Bluebeard) and Aušrinė Stundytė (Judith)

Aušrinė Stundytė (Judith) and Mika Kares (Bluebeard)

The Sibyls in De temporum fine comoedia

By George Jahn, 04 August 2022

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“Currentzis opened each musical door with intensity and precision”

Reviewed at Felsenreitschule, Salzburg on 2 August 2022

Bartók, Duke Bluebeard's Castle

Orff, De temporum fine comoedia

Teodor Currentzis, Conductor

Romeo Castellucci, Director, Set Designer, Costume Designer, Lighting Designer

Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester

musicAeterna Choir

Theresa Wilson, Costume Designer

Maxi Menja Lehmann, Director

Alessio Valmori, Set Designer

Marco Giusti, Lighting Designer

Aušrinė Stundytė, Judith

Mika Kares, Bluebeard

Helena Rasker, Prologue of the Bard, Mezzo-soprano

Cindy Van Acker, Choreography

Nadezhda Pavlova, Soprano

Taxiarchoula Kanati, Mezzo-soprano

Frances Pappas, Mezzo-soprano

Irini Tsirakidis, Mezzo-soprano

Gero Nievelstein, Speaker

Christian Reiner, Speaker

Vitaly Polonsky, Choirmaster / chorus director

Bachchor Salzburg

Benjamin Hartmann, Choirmaster / chorus director

Salzburger Festspiele und Theater Kinderchor

Wolfgang Götz, Choirmaster / chorus director

Romeo Castellucci directs a new Pelléas et Mélisande at La Scala

Laura Servidei, 26th April

The Italian director makes his long-awaited Italian operatic debut at the Teatro alla Scala in a production which perfectly mirrors Debussy’s most enigmatic creation.

****1

Straussian pastoral: Daphne at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden

Elena Luporini, 19th February

Romeo Castellucci's new production of Daphne for the Staatsoper reflects on our relationship with nature, subverting the perspective of Richard Strauss' opera.

***11

To die in order to live: Castellucci's Resurrection

Romain Daroles, 4th July

Following his Requiem at the 2019 Aix Festival, Romeo Castellucci surprises us with the purity and humility of his Mahler Second, conducted remarkably by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

****1

A hole in the heart: Salzburg Festival’s new Don Giovanni

Hugo Shirley, 4th August

The pairing of controversial director and bad-boy conductor brings some thrills but the Salzburg Festival's new Don Giovanni proves disappointingly uninvolving.

***11

Castellucci’s makeover of Mozart’s Requiem at the Adelaide Festival

Brian Angus, 28th February

A work designed to be performed in church has become a dramatic music theatre event that captured and held me enthralled throughout in a meditation on both death and life.

****1

Barocktage opens with a murder: Scarlatti’s Il primo omicidio

Laura Servidei, 1st November

Romeo Castellucci’s inspiring and spiritual production lands in Berlin, with a superb cast of Baroque specialists and the B’Rock Orchestra under the baton of René Jacobs.

****1

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George Jahn

George Jahn is the former Vienna bureau chief of The Associated Press. During his 35-year career at the global news organization, he covered wars, politics... and opera, reviewing productions at the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Bayreuth Festival and other houses in Austria and Germany. He has also written for Opera Now and International Piano magazines in London. Those he has interviewed include Matthias Goerne, Vesselina Kasarova, Thomas Hampson and Mariss Jansons. George holds or shares awards for his reporting on U.N. affairs and for his coverage of the Bosnian war. A Canadian/Hungarian citizen, he splits his time between residences in Vienna and Budapest.

Bartók's Bluebeard as psychothriller in Castellucci's mismatched Salzburg Festival double bill