Operetta on a count: Lehár in Düsseldorf

By Matthew Rye, 09 December 2016

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“Lehár’s score is one treat after another”

Reviewed at Opernhaus, Düsseldorf on 8 December 2016

Lehár, Der Graf von Luxemburg (The Count of Luxembourg)

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Patrick Francis Chestnut, Conductor

Lukas Beikircher, Conductor

Jens-Daniel Herzog, Director

Mathis Neidhardt, Set Designer

Sibylle Gädeke, Costume Designer

Juliane Banse, Angèle Didier

Romana Noack, Angèle Didier

Astrid Kessler, Angèle Didier

Florian Simson, Armand Brissard

Cornel Frey, Armand Brissard

Lavinia Dames, Juliette Vermont

Monika Rydz, Juliette Vermont

Bruce Rankin, Prince Basil Basilowitsch

Renée Morloc, Countess Stasa Kokozow

Susan Maclean, Countess Stasa Kokozow

Luis Fernando Piedra, Pawel von Pawlowitsch

Karl Walter Sprungala, Pélégrin

Bo Skovhus, René, Graf von Luxemburg

Kay Stiefermann, René, Graf von Luxemburg

David Jerusalem, Sergei Mentschikoff

Volker Weinhart, Lighting Designer

Christoph Kurig, Choirmaster / chorus director

Kati Farkas, Choreography

Hans-Peter Frings, Dramaturgy

Anne do Paço, Dramaturgy

Michal Maciejewkski, Dancer

Ivan Keim, Dancer

David Laera, Dancer

Yoko El-Edrisi, Choreography, Dancer

Giulia Fabris, Dancer

Hinako Sakuraoka, Dancer

Olena Yalyeyeva, Dancer

Chor der Deutschen Oper am Rhein

Düsseldorfer Symphoniker

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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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Matthew Rye

Matthew read music at Oxford and worked in music journalism for 30 years as a writer, critic and editor. He wrote numerous programme and CD booklet notes, spent 13 years as a Daily Telegraph critic, worked at BBC Music Magazine and was reviews editor of The Strad. He also wrote for The Wagner Journal and Opera and blogged at ferneklang.blogspot.co.uk. He was general editor of 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die (Cassell Illustrated, 2007) and was the author of a new series of eBooks, Masterpieces of Music (Erudition).