Neuenfels' bloodless Salome in Berlin

By Hugo Shirley, 10 March 2018

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“the production resolutely undercuts the visceral power that oozes from every note of the score”

Reviewed at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin on 8 March 2018

Strauss R., Salome

Staatsoper Berlin

Thomas Guggeis, Conductor

Hans Neuenfels, Director

Reinhard von der Thannen, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Aušrinė Stundytė, Salome

Marina Prudenskaya, Herodias

Gerhard Siegel, Herodes

Nikolai Schukoff, Narraboth

Thomas Johannes Mayer, Jochanaan

Annika Schlicht, Herodias' Page

Dietmar Kerschbaum, 1st Jew

Michael Smallwood, 2nd Jew

Linard Vrielink, 3rd Jew

Andrés Moreno García, 4th Jew

David Oštrek, 5th Jew

Adam Kutny, 1st Nazarene

Ulf Dirk Mädler, 2nd Nazarene

Arttu Kataja, 1st Soldier

Dominic Barberi, 2nd Soldier

Christian Natter, Actor

Sommer Ulrickson, Choreography

Stefan Bolliger, Lighting Designer

Henry Arnold, Dramaturgy

Roman Reeger, Dramaturgy

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.

The silvery light of the moon: Neuenfels' bloodless Salome at the Berliner Staatsoper