Kaufmann and Deutsch shine in Claus Guth's dramatized Schwanengesang

Jonas Kaufmann

Doppelgänger at Park Avenue Armory

Helmut Deutsch

Jonas Kaufmann

Doppelgänger at Park Avenue Armory

By Robert Levine, 28 September 2023

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“beds are shuffled and bedclothes strewn, a notion of battle”

Reviewed at Park Avenue Armory, New York City on 27 September 2023

Schubert, Schwanengesang, plus original sound composition by Mathis Nitschke

Claus Guth, Director

Michael Levine, Set Designer

Constance Hoffman, Costume Designer

Urs Schönebaum, Lighting Designer

Mark Grey, Sound Design

rocafilm, Video

Jonas Kaufmann, Tenor

Helmut Deutsch, Piano

Ramses Sigl, Movement Direction

Semele at Dutch National Opera: myth, desire and fantasy

Mengguang Huang, 23rd January

Guth’s Semele turns myth into a contemporary domestic drama, where desire becomes obsession and illusion consumes reality. Handel’s music remains the true engine, driven by a thrilling, physically intense ensemble.

****1

Claus Guth directs a tormented, harrowing new Salome at the Met

Robert Levine, 2nd May

Claus Guth's new production at the Metropolitan Opera, originally seen at the Bolshoi in 2021, moves the action from biblical Judea to the era of the opera's composition.

*****

Redemption Song: Jenůfa triumph signals a bright future for Hrůsa

Eleanor Knight, 15th January

Corinne Winters is phenomenal as the self-possessed Jenůfa in The Royal Opera's revival of Claus Guth's powerful staging.

*****

An historical affair: Khovanshchina at the Staatsoper Berlin

Elena Luporini, 2nd June

With Claus Guth directing and Simone Young on the podium, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden's new production of Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina proves that the past isn't really past.

****1

Davidsen and Stemme anchor an extraordinary Jenůfa in Chicago

Cameron Kelsall, 12th November

Claus Guth's production foregrounds the regimented, repressive world that drives the plot of Janáček’s tragic masterpiece.

*****

A game of light and darkness: Don Carlo in Riga

Richard Bratby, 5th October

Claus Guth's staging walks a line between atmosphere and audacity, in a powerful company achievement from Latvian National Opera.

****1

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Robert Levine

Robert T. Levine is a New York born-and-bred music writer with a particular interest in music for the voice. His work has appeared in many periodicals and newspapers. He is the author of many books, including The Story of the Orchestra, four volumes in the Black Dog & Leventhal Opera Library, and, most recently, Maria Callas: A Musical Biography.