Click bait: an effective new Traviata at the Komische Oper

By Hugo Shirley, 03 December 2019

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“there’s an undeniable power in the final scene as Violetta... is gradually abandoned”

Reviewed at Komische Oper Berlin, Berlin on 1 December 2019

Verdi, La traviata

Komische Oper Berlin

Ainārs Rubiķis, Conductor

Jordan de Souza, Conductor

Nicola Raab, Director

Madeleine Boyd, Set Designer

Annemarie Woods, Costume Designer

Natalya Pavlova, Violetta Valéry

Vera-Lotte Boecker, Violetta Valéry

Ivan Magrì, Alfredo Germont

Günter Papendell, Giorgio Germont

Caren van Oijen, Annina

Maria Fiselier, Flora Bervoix

Ivan Turšić, Gastone de Letorières

Dániel Foki, Baron Douphol

Changdai Park, Commissioner

Philipp Meierhöfer, Dr Grenvil

Carsten Sabrowski, Marquis d'Obigny

Simon Berger, Dramaturgy

David Cavelius, Choirmaster / chorus director

Linus Fellbom, Lighting Designer

Chor der Komischen Oper Berlin

Orchester der Komischen Oper Berlin

Handel’s Belshazzar at Komische Oper Berlin

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The Baroque confectionery of Herbert Fritsch's production of Handel's oratorio belies a serious core which is all too close to today's headlines.

****1

Barrie Kosky directs a ferocious new Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Zenaida des Aubris, 31st January

Shostakovich's opera is laid bare in Berlin, to devastating effect, with a distinguished cast led by Ambur Braid.

****1

Masks and obsessions: Evgeny Titov’s Salome at Komische Oper Berlin

Zenaida des Aubris, 22nd November

Salome is faceless and the Dance of the Seven Veils becomes a sardonic commentary on seduction in Komische Oper Berlin's austere new staging.

****1

Opulent minimalism: Kosky directs a new staging of Akhnaten

Zenaida des Aubris, 23rd March

Barrie Kosky's new production of Philip Glass' Akhnaten for Komische Oper at the Schillertheater removes any egyptological references.

****1

A blade too dull: Kosky directs Sweeney Todd at Komische Oper

Elena Luporini, 17th November

With a brand new production by Barrie Kosky, Komische Oper Berlin's first venture into the Sondheim repertoire mostly falls flat.

**111

Kirill Serebrennikov’s Marriage of Figaro challenges Edinburgh

David Smythe, 16th August

Komische Oper Berlin's The Marriage of Figaro is staged at the Edinburgh International Festival with a strong cast headed by Penny Sofroniadou and Peter Kellner.

****1

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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.