Stag do: David Bösch's loveless Lustige Weiber at the Staatsoper

By Hugo Shirley, 04 October 2019

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“Nicolai’s score can rarely have sounded better, more beautifully sculpted and shaped”

Reviewed at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin on 3 October 2019

Nicolai, Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor)

Staatsoper Berlin

Daniel Barenboim, Conductor

David Bösch, Director

Patrick Bannwart, Set Designer

Falko Herold, Costume Designer

René Pape, Sir John Falstaff

Michael Volle, Herr Fluth

Michaela Schuster, Frau Reich

Pavol Breslik, Fenton

Linard Vrielink, Junker Spärlich

David Oštrek, Dr Cajus

Mandy Fredrich, Frau Fluth

Anna Prohaska, Anna Reich

Wilhelm Schwinghammer, Herr Reich

Michael Bauer, Lighting Designer

Detlef Giese, Dramaturgy

Martin Wright, Choirmaster / chorus director

Staatsopernchor Berlin

Staatskapelle Berlin

Eyes wide shut for Berlin’s new Ballo

Mark Pullinger, 29th March

At the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Rafael R Villalobos addresses the problems he perceives with Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, although the musical performances – led by Anna Netrebko – compensate.

***11

Young stars shine in the Staatsoper Berlin’s Rosenkavalier

Mark Pullinger, 28th March

Patricia Nolz makes an outstanding role debut as Christian Thielemann conducts a thrusting Rosenkavalier to open the Staatsoper Unter den Linden's Festtage.

*****

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

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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.