A dud bullet: Thalheimer’s Freischütz fires blanks

By Mark Pullinger, 06 October 2015

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“Anna Prohaska’s Ännchen stood out, her bright tone and excellent diction true assets”

Reviewed at Schillertheater: Großer Saal, Berlin on 6 October 2015

Weber, Der Freischütz

Staatsoper Berlin

Alexander Soddy, Conductor

Michael Thalheimer, Director

Olaf Altmann, Set Designer

Katrin Lea Tag, Costume Designer

Alfredo Daza, Ottokar

Victor von Halem, Kuno

Anna Samuil, Agathe

Anna Prohaska, Ännchen

Falk Struckmann, Kaspar

Nikolai Schukoff, Max

Maximilian Krummen, Kilian

Wilhelm Schwinghammer, A Hermit

Peter Moltzen, Samiel

Staatskapelle Berlin

Love is in the hare: a new Cunning Little Vixen opens in Berlin

Elena Luporini, 28th February

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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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

A dud bullet: Thalheimer’s Der Freischütz fires blanks at Staatsoper Berlin