Sparks fail to fly at the Staatsoper Berlin's new Macbeth

By Hugo Shirley, 23 June 2018

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“Netrebko’s Lady M struts around imperiously, all but rolling her eyes and tutting”

Reviewed at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin on 21 June 2018

Verdi, Macbeth

Staatsoper Berlin

Daniel Barenboim, Conductor

Harry Kupfer, Director

Hans Schavernoch, Set Designer

Yan Tax, Costume Designer

Plácido Domingo, Macbeth

Anna Netrebko, Lady Macbeth

Kwangchul Youn, Banquo

Fabio Sartori, Macduff

Florian Hoffmann, Malcolm

Evelin Novak, Lady in Waiting

Jan Martiník, First Apparition, Cutthroat, Herald

Dominic Barberi, Doctor

Olaf Freese, Lighting Designer

Thomas Reimer, Video

Martin Wright, Choirmaster / chorus director

Detlef Giese, Dramaturgy

Staatsopernchor Berlin

Staatskapelle Berlin

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****1

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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

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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.