Reality wants augmenting in Daniel Kramer's Die tote Stadt

Nadja Stefanoff (Marietta), Corby Welch (Paul) and ensemble

Mara Guseynova (Marie) and Corby Welch (Paul)

Corby Welch (Paul)

Nadja Stefanoff (Marietta)

Corby Welch (Paul) and Nadja Stefanoff (Marietta)

By Eleanor Knight, 17 April 2023

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“a production with all its uncanniness and horror in inverted commas”

Reviewed at Opernhaus, Düsseldorf on 16 April 2023

Korngold, Die tote Stadt (The Dead City)

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Axel Kober, Conductor

Harry Ogg, Conductor

Daniel Kramer, Director

Marg Horwell, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Peter Mumford, Lighting Designer

Düsseldorfer Symphoniker

Chor der Deutschen Oper am Rhein

Corby Welch, Paul

Nadja Stefanoff, Marietta

Emmett O'Hanlon, Frank, Fritz

Anna Harvey, Brigitta

Anna Sophia Theil, Juliette

Alexandra Yangel, Lucienne

Valerie Eickhoff, Lucienne

TBC, Gaston

Florian Simson, Graf Albert

Stefan Cifolelli, Victorin

Mara Guseynova, Soprano

Duisburg’s Don Carlos rescued from a devastating deluge

Brian Angus, 17th May

What do you do when 80 tonnes of water flood your theatre, your sets and costumes? Rescue, reshape and present what you can. That’s what Deutsche Oper am Rhein have had to do in Duisburg.

***11

All the world's a stage: Xerxes as a comedy of backstage rivalry

Matthew Rye, 17th January

A revival of Stefan Herheim's production of Handel's Xerxes in Düsseldorf makes for a rip-roaring evening of theatrical comedy.

****1

Stars and the score shine in The Count of Luxembourg

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 25th December

Baritone Kay Stiefermann steals hearts at the eponymous Count of Luxembourg, in an operetta so charming that neither musical missteps nor a mixed-up staging can sink it.

***11

Between two worlds: Wozzeck in Düsseldorf

Matthew Rye, 20th October

Stefan Herheim's eagerly awaited production of Berg's Wozzeck distances us from the emotional heart of the tragedy by portraying the story as a hallucinatory death-room experience.

****1

Die Zauberflöte in Düsseldorf

Edward Sava-Segal, 27th May

Animated characters are the real stars of an imaginative production of The Magic Flute.

****1

Opera inside out: Ariadne auf Naxos

Matthew Rye, 3rd March

A well-sung revival of a witty and supremely theatrical production of Strauss’ operatic exposé.

****1

More reviews...

Eleanor Knight

Eleanor is a writer and librettist. Her work has appeared in all kinds of places from the Royal Opera House to the foot tunnels beneath the Elephant and Castle roundabout, and she has written arts reviews and features for British papers and magazines. Having begun her working life in theatre, she switched to publishing and later taught creative writing at the University of Brighton and Birkbeck. Currently based in the Netherlands, she teaches at the University of Utrecht. Eleanor plays violin and sings, though not usually at the same time, and has recently taken up speed-skating.

Reality wants augmenting in Daniel Kramer's Die tote Stadt for Deutsche Oper am Rhein