High on Cherubino: Kušej’s drugged-up Figaro in Salzburg

Adriana González (Countess), Sabine Devieilhe (Susanna) and Lea Desandre (Cherubino)

Sabine Devieilhe (Susanna) and Krzysztof Bączyk (Figaro)

Andrè Schuen (Count Almaviva) and Sabine Devieilhe (Susanna)

Sabine Devieilhe (Susanna) and Andrè Schuen (Count Almaviva)

The cast of Figaro during the overture

By Mark Pullinger, 06 August 2023

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“Are Kušej’s characters real or just playing at gangsters?”

Reviewed at Haus für Mozart, Salzburg on 5 August 2023

Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) (new production)

Raphaël Pichon, Conductor

Martin Kušej, Director

Raimund Orfeo Voigt, Set Designer

Alan Hranitelj, Costume Designer

Friedrich Rom, Lighting Designer

Vienna Philharmonic

Concert Association Vienna State Opera Chorus

Olaf Schmitt, Dramaturgy

Andrè Schuen, Count Almaviva

Adriana González, Countess Almaviva

Krzysztof Bączyk, Figaro

Sabine Devieilhe, Susanna

Lea Desandre, Cherubino

Peter Kálmán, Doctor Bartolo

Kristina Hammarström, Marcellina

Manuel Günther, Don Basilio

Andrew Morstein, Don Curzio

Rafał Pawnuk, Antonio

Serafina Starke, Barbarina

No fairy tale: Kušej’s Rusalka works with devastating force in Munich

Orsolya Gyárfás, 26th July

Asmik Grigorian leads a searing performance in Martin Kušej’s 15-year-old, yet ever-fresh, outstanding production of Dvořák's opera.

****1

A study in black and terror in Naples

Lorenzo Fiorito, 15th April

Many scenes could risk to be particularly disturbing, but their overt brutality appeared functional, to the structure of the drama. A dark, gloomy story as unambiguously told as it should be.

****1

Kušej's new Entführung disappointingly toothless

Mark Valencia, 3rd July

An updating of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail to the post-World War One era in a desert fails to inspire in Aix.

**111

An anti-clerical Forza del destino in Munich

David Karlin, 7th May

Martin Kušej's production of La forza del destino is hard hitting and intelligent: an imperfect orchestral performance is more than compensated for by an outstanding cast of singers.

****1

Martin Kušej's Idomeneo as political power struggle

Mark Pullinger, 3rd November

“Here be dragons!” warned seafaring maps of yore, denoting uncharted territories. Martin Kušej, undertaking his first Royal Opera exploration, excised the sea monster from his vision of Mozart’s Idomeneo.

****1

Harteros and Kaufmann shine in Munich Forza

Ako Imamura, 28th July

Martin Kušej’s modern production of La forza del destino emphasizes that familial and religious oppressions can be one and the same, destroying the love of free spirits.

****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.