Disturbing scenes: Staatsoper reopens with a messy Faustian hybrid

By Hugo Shirley, 04 October 2017

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“it's a messy, often ugly affair, non-committal about its tone and time”

Reviewed at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin on 3 October 2017

Schumann, Szenen aus Goethes Faust

Staatsoper Berlin

Daniel Barenboim, Conductor

Vinzenz Weissenburger, Conductor

Jürgen Flimm, Director

Markus Lüpertz, Set Designer

Ursula Kudrna, Costume Designer

Elsa Dreisig, Gretchen

Katharina Kammerloher, Marthe

Stephan Rügamer, Ariel

Roman Trekel, Faust

René Pape, Mephistopheles

Gail Skrela, Choreography

Olaf Freese, Lighting Designer

Martin Wright, Choirmaster / chorus director

Detlef Giese, Dramaturgy

Staatskapelle Berlin

Staatsopernchor Berlin

Kinderchor der Staatsoper 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.