Golden Cockerel as sharp political satire in Düsseldorf

By Mark Pullinger, 16 April 2016

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“Antonina Vesenina... rattles off Rimsky's sinuous chromatic twists and turns with ease”

Reviewed at Opernhaus, Düsseldorf on 15 April 2016

Rimsky-Korsakov, Le Coq d'or (The Golden Cockerel)

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Axel Kober, Conductor

Dmitry Bertman, Director

Ene-Liis Semper, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Eva Bodorová, Golden Cockerel

Antonina Vesenina, Queen of Shemakha

Renée Morloc, Amelfa

Cornel Frey, Astrologer

Corby Welch, Prince Guidon

Roman Hoza, Prince Afron

Sami Luttinen, General Polkan

Boris Statsenko, Tsar Dodon

Edwald Smirnov, Choreography

Christoph Kurig, Choirmaster / chorus director

Hella Bartnig, Dramaturgy

Düsseldorfer Symphoniker

Chor der Deutschen Oper am Rhein

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Eleanor Knight, 16th April

What's a director to do while we wait for technology to catch up with the complexities of the human condition?

***11

Duisburg’s Don Carlos rescued from a devastating deluge

Brian Angus, 17th May

What do you do when 80 tonnes of water flood your theatre, your sets and costumes? Rescue, reshape and present what you can. That’s what Deutsche Oper am Rhein have had to do in Duisburg.

***11

All the world's a stage: Xerxes as a comedy of backstage rivalry

Matthew Rye, 17th January

A revival of Stefan Herheim's production of Handel's Xerxes in Düsseldorf makes for a rip-roaring evening of theatrical comedy.

****1

Stars and the score shine in The Count of Luxembourg

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 25th December

Baritone Kay Stiefermann steals hearts at the eponymous Count of Luxembourg, in an operetta so charming that neither musical missteps nor a mixed-up staging can sink it.

***11

Between two worlds: Wozzeck in Düsseldorf

Matthew Rye, 20th October

Stefan Herheim's eagerly awaited production of Berg's Wozzeck distances us from the emotional heart of the tragedy by portraying the story as a hallucinatory death-room experience.

****1

Die Zauberflöte in Düsseldorf

Edward Sava-Segal, 27th May

Animated characters are the real stars of an imaginative production of The Magic Flute.

****1

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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.

Something to crow about: The Golden Cockerel as sharp political satire in Düsseldorf