Roland Geyer presents his penultimate season at the Theater an der Wien on Tuesday. He spoke to the “press” about the demarcation from Roščić’s state opera program, a “Tristan experiment” and the worst-case scenario.
What does the motto “Before sunset” mean for the 2020/21 season?
Roland Geyer: I relate my last four seasons to the times of the day, after “Im Morgengrau” and “Zu Mittagsblau” it is now evening. But it’s not just a motto, it’s literally about the atmosphere of the setting sun, from the burning embers towards the dark. Nothing worse than the title character of Leoncavallo’s “Zazà” can happen to you, namely being dropped by your loved one. It’s similar with “Porgy and Bess”: Bess left him, will he find her again? “Thais” or “Belisario” can also be seen against the background of such a missed, missing happy ending.
Coincidentally, this also fits the unlikely couple in Prokofiev’s “Fiery Angel”. . .
This year I had to cancel three pieces due to the corona crisis: the “Fiery Angel”, Bellini’s “Norma” and in the Gluck Chamber Opera “Orphée”. Of course I want to save what I can save. Next season we will replace Korngold’s planned “Dead City” with the “Fiery Angel”, because by luck, most of the participants can easily get back together, from Andrea Breth to Ausrine Stundyte to Bo Skovhus and others. The “Dead City”, a co-production, should come in my last season.
They did not want to be restricted by the size of the house and the orchestra pit when choosing a piece and had to play Berg’s “Wozzeck” and lastly Strauss’s “Salome” with reduced orchestras. Is that the case with Prokofiev again?
No, we play the original cast. We have no space problem with, for example, triple wood and corresponding strings, it only becomes difficult with a lot of drums, and that is only the case with Korngold. We have the permission of the heirs and the publisher to reduce the wind in one arrangement so that the balance is maintained. I love solving such problems in my job.
In addition to the novelties, there are also reruns of “Platée” and “Saul”.
At a subscription vote three years ago, out of around 120 productions by the Theater an der Wien, these two were chosen as the best, together with “Peter Grimes”, who will be back in 2021/22. All three are also among my personal top ten. How Robert Carsen played “Platée” in the vanities of the fashion world and Jupiter finally appeared as Karl Lagerfeld, or what the fantastic singer-actor Florian Boesch, incidentally as our artist in residence also experienced as a song interpreter, did in Claus Guth’s direction as Saul: Everything just worked out. But with us re-admissions are actually new classifications, even though the line-ups are coming back almost completely. Carsen and William Christie will rehearse for four weeks.
Peter Konwitschny stages “Thais”, Christof Loy “Zazà” – but how do cabaret artist Alfred Dorfer and singer Günther Groissböck also get directors’ honors?
As the director, I am also subject to the magic spell of constantly thinking about winning alongside established directors and people who may have a different view of the genre and do not share our blind spots. With this in mind, I also brought in great film directors, Waltz, Friedkin and Ruzowitzky. At Groissböck it is the directorial debut at all, with the Dorfer experienced in cabaret, theater and film when it comes to opera. The last thing I noticed about “Rusalka” was that the opera singer Groissböck always contributed as a source of ideas, so I asked him if he didn’t feel like staging himself. He didn’t want to go to the big stage right away, so it will be the chamber opera – with a Freudian view of “Tristan”, of all things, with 20 musicians, in just under three hours with a break, actually a world premiere. I am aware that some Wagnerians and critics will think this is insane, but it is part of my concept that one or two projects always go far beyond the ordinary. And at Dorfer, I think that “Le nozze di Figaro” fits him perfectly. I am sure that with the outstanding singing actors he will work out an acting-comedic performance – neither cabaret nor slapstick, but nevertheless with his special sarcastic tip.
Mozart’s “Figaro” is also on the program at the State Opera, like Rossini’s “Barbiere di Siviglia”, which comes to the Chamber Opera. Coordinate your game plans, what is the relationship with Bogdan Roščić like?
We have a good basis for discussion, but we only agreed on this season in detail for premier dates. The question of delimitation will rather concern my successor (Stefan Herheim, note). Roščić wants to renew repertoire pieces and therefore brings well-known productions to Vienna. With the exception of John Neumeier’s choreography by Beethoven’s Ninth, which premiered in Hamburg in December 2020, I’m not going to get any productions from the outside, but instead we want to promote the art of musical theater with ten new, exclusive premieres. Who has ever seen Donizetti’s “Belisario” on stage? “Thais” has recently been heard at most in concert. And the “barbers” in the chamber opera is part of a triad that combines Cavalli and Vivaldi, three of the most important Italian opera composers of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Christoph Zauner, who disclosed the audacity of Bernstein’s “Candide” last year, will approach the “barbers” with ironic severity. This has nothing to do with the ancient state opera “barbers”. And Mozart belongs to everyone. His “Figaro” is one of a handful of pieces that must be played in the Theater an der Wien. I don’t see any competition there.
To the inevitable question: Do you also have a plan B in corona times?
We have four months until the beginning of September, twice as much as the crisis is currently going through. One after the other, shopping centers, restaurants and swimming pools open, people travel in subways without a gap, airlines run again. If the number of infected people does not increase as a result, further restrictions for the theater would be absurd. In addition to a lot of optimism, my most important message in the directorate-general with State Secretary Ulrike Lunacek was not to make any hasty decisions, but to learn and react from the data over the next few weeks. What you are allowed to do in professional football cannot be denied to culture. Completed camps and accompanying measures are of course easier to implement in stagion operations than at any repertoire house. Our “Zazà” final rehearsals don’t start until early September, so I’m optimistic. Because the worst-case scenario of a second wave with a new lockdown would be a multi-year knockdown for the culture.
The Theater an der Wien has sent a letter to subscribers asking for donations. Former VBW director general Thomas Drozda criticized that, how do you see it?
The circular was initiated by VBW managing director Franz Patay. I see it as an appeal to loyalty, loyalty, friendship between subscribers and the public. If you want, you get your money back for canceled performances, others can use vouchers or even donate. We have set up a hardship fund with the works council, which directly benefits the artists.
–
