April 27, 2020
–
Ten premieres are scheduled for the first season of the Vienna State Opera under the direction of Bogdan Roscic. Given the corona crisis, it is not clear whether it can begin on September 6, as planned, but the program presented makes it clear that important pillars of the repertoire are to be exchanged in the first year.
Mozart, Wagner, Verdi, Puccini: At a house like the Vienna State Opera with 350 performances a year and around 130 productions in the quiver, they form the basis of the evening’s happenings. To get this amount, the new management relies heavily on acquisitions from other companies and co-productions.
–
–
According to the plan, the round is opened by the “Butterfly” played by Anthony Minghella, who died in 2008 and soprano star Asmik Grigorian, who had played with great success in London and New York since 2005, followed by Hans Neuenfels’ iconic version of the “Kidnapping” from the Stuttgart Opera (1998) and Dmitri Tcherniakov’s Moscow production of “Eugen Onegin”.
Calixto Bieito’s “Carmen” has been shown on 29 stages worldwide since 1999, Barrie Kosky originally directed “Macbeth” for Zurich. Both directors will then return with new works: Bieito will develop “Tristan und Isolde” on 21/22, Kosky will start a new Da Ponte trilogy with “Don Giovanni”. The productions now brought to Vienna will be adapted for the local conditions, rehearsed and transferred to the repertoire.
Large in-house productions
The first new in-house production is Hans Werner Henze’s “The Betrayed Sea” (from December 13th), a premiere on the Ring, Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito are directing, Simone Young is conducting, and Vera-Lotte Boecker is presenting a new addition to the soloist ensemble. The second major in-house production is a new “Parsifal”: Under the musical direction of General Music Director Philippe Jordan, Jonas Kaufmann and Elina Garanca, who made her debut as Kundry, will sing, directed by Kirill Serebrennikov.
“La Traviata” is a co-production with the Paris Opera and Simon Stone’s first work on the house, his “Wozzeck” will follow the next season. “Faust” directed by Frank Castorf is a co-production with the Stuttgart Opera, “L’incoronazione di Poppea” had its premiere in 2018 as a co-production directed by Jan Lauwers in Salzburg.
The salient revivals include “Elektra” in the production by Harry Kupfer and with the return of Franz Welser-Möst to the conductor’s desk, the original French version of “Don Carlos” with Ildar Abdrazakov and Jonas Kaufmann and “Le Nozze” in the production by Jean- Pierre Ponnelle. Otto Schenk’s “Rosenkavalier” is rehearsed musically.
With Martin Schläpfer, the ballet of the State and Volksoper now has not only a new director, but also a chief choreographer. In the big house, Schläpfer introduces himself with a world premiere: “4” for Mahler’s fourth symphony brings together all of the company’s dancers. Schläpfer also maintains the principle of three-part evenings, for example in “Dances Pictures Symphonies”, where works by Balanchine and Ratmansky stand alongside the premiere of his own creation for Shostakovich’s Fifth.
–
