Gilliam's Damnation de Faust reaches the Staatsoper

By Hugo Shirley, 29 May 2017

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“while it’s a great show, the main question is whether or not it should be, given what it portrays”

Reviewed at Schillertheater: Großer Saal, Berlin on 27 May 2017

Berlioz, La Damnation de Faust

Staatsoper Berlin

Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor

Terry Gilliam, Director

Hildegard Bechtler, Set Designer

Katrina Lindsay, Costume Designer

Magdalena Kožená, Marguerite

Charles Castronovo, Faust

Jan Martiník, Brander

Florian Boesch, Méphistophélès

Peter Mumford, Lighting Designer

Finn Ross, Video

Martin Wright, Choirmaster / chorus director

Staatskapelle Berlin

Staatsopernchor Berlin

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The Staatsoper's new production of Janáček's opera buzzes with life thanks to Sir Simon Rattle's conducting and an excellent cast led by Vera-Lotte Boecker and Magdalena Kožená.

****1

Pintscher’s Das kalte Herz premieres at Staatsoper Unter den Linden

Elena Luporini, 14th January

On a snowy January evening, the premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s new opera Das kalte Herz fails to warm up the Berlin public.

**111

Happy 100th birthday, Wozzeck! Thielemann leads Berlin revival

Elena Luporini, 14th December

The Staatsoper Unter den Linden celebrates the 100th birthday of Alban Berg's masterpiece with a stellar cast in Andrea Breth’s revived production.

***11

Low on laughs: Die schweigsame Frau in Berlin

Elena Luporini, 19th July

Newly General Music Director Christian Thielemann and Jan Philipp Gloger bring Richard Strauss' Die schweigsame Frau to the Staatsoper Berlin for the first time, but la commedia is hardly stupenda.

**111

A Norma cooking on medium at Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden

Elena Luporini, 13th April

Despite excellent performances from Rachel Willis-Sørensen and Elmina Hasan, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden's new production of Norma lacks a pinch of salt.

***11

To the Moon and back: Janáček’s Mr Brouček visits Berlin

Elena Luporini, 16th March

Robert Carsen's new production of Janáček’s The Excursions of Mr Brouček for the Staatsoper Unter den Linden scores a well-deserved success thanks to a stellar – or rather, lunar – conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.

*****

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Hugo Shirley

Hugo Shirley is a Berlin-based writer and musicologist. He has written widely as a critic in the UK, including for The Spectator, the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph, and has held editorial posts at both Opera and Gramophone. He was editor of 30-Second Opera (Ivy Press, 2015) and has a PhD in musicology from King's College London, where his thesis focused on Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s Die Frau ohne Schatten.

The Third Reich Show: Terry Gilliam's Damnation de Faust reaches the Staatsoper