Mozart and Da Ponte's Le Nozze di Figaro at the Bayerische Staatsoper, by Michael Miller
Bayerische Staatsoper, Nationaltheater
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Mozart/Da Ponte, Le Nozze di Figaro
Conductor - Juraj Valcuha
Stage Director - Dieter Dorn
Set and Costumes - Jürgen Rose
Light - Max Keller
Dramaturg - Hans-Joachim Rückhäberle
Chorus Director - Andrés Máspero
Il Conte di Almaviva - Michael Volle
La Contessa di Almaviva - Barbara Frittoli
Cherubino - Kate Lindsey
Figaro - Erwin Schrott
Susanna - Laura Tatulescu
Bartolo - Christoph Stephinger
Marcellina - Heike Grötzinger
Basilio - Ulrich Reß
Don Curzio - Kevin Conners
Antonio - Alfred Kuhn
Barbarina - Elena Tsallagova
Bayerisches Staatsorchester
Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper
Many of my most memorable early operatic experiences came from the Bayerische Staatsoper, either from when I was a student or a somewhat underoccupied summer intern in public relations. It's been all too long since my last visit, not to mention my last look at the Aigina pediments or the great Dürers in the Alte Pinakothek. In operatic terms the work of the Staatsoper is very much on this level. Hence, I'll not soon forget this three-day orgy, which began with a fine Nozze di Figaro, continued with Donizetti's Roberto Devereux with none other than Edita Gruberova as Elisabetta, and concluded with an important premiere, Peter Eötvös' and Albert Ostermaier's Die Tragödie des Teufels, an impeccable performance in a spectacular staging.

