Modified rapture: Tcherniakov's new Tristan

By Hugo Shirley, 13 February 2018

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“Barenboim... hovered constantly on the line between languorous and lugubrious”

Reviewed at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin on 11 February 2018

Wagner, Tristan und Isolde

Staatsoper Berlin

Daniel Barenboim, Conductor

Dmitri Tcherniakov, Director, Set Designer

Elena Zaytseva, Costume Designer

Anja Kampe, Isolde

Andreas Schager, Tristan

Stephen Milling, King Marke

Ekaterina Gubanova, Brangäne

Stephan Rügamer, Melot

Linard Vrielink, Shepherd, Young seaman

Adam Kutny, Helmsman

Boaz Daniel, Kurwenal

Gleb Filshtinsky, Lighting Designer

Martin Wright, Choirmaster / chorus director

Detlef Giese, Dramaturgy

Staatsopernchor Berlin

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.

Modified rapture: Tcherniakov's new Tristan und Isolde at the Staatsoper Berlin