Triumphal Verdi Don Carlo Premiere at the Vienna State Opera
Verdi, A Composer For All Seasons, Triumphant At The Vienna State Opera Premiere In A New Staging of Don Carlo.
Giuseppe Verdi, Don Carlo. Opera in Four Acts, Milano Version (1884)
Vienna State Opera
September 26th, 2024, 7 p.m.
Musical Direction:? Philippe Jordan
Direction, Sets, Costumes: Kirill Srerebnikov
Cast:
Philipp II. Roberto Tagliavini
Don Carlo. Joshua Guerrero
Rodrigo, Marquis von Posa étienne Dupuis
Der Gro?inquisitor Dmitry Ulyanov
Elisabetta Asmik Grigorian
Eboli Eve-Maud Hubeaux
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Tebaldo Ilia Staple
Herald ? Hiroshi Amako
Voice from Heaven Ileana Tonca
An emotive and adjectival feast: exquisite (Eboli), fulminant (Philipp II), hypermodern (stage and design), exuberant (Elisabetta), opulent (Don Carlo), symbolic (sets), prescient (the monks), belligerent (the Grand Inquisitor), loyal (Rodrigo), reflective (Elisabetta at the confessional), quintessentially european, Kirill Srerebnikov’s new production of Don Carlo last night majestically honored Giuseppe Verdi’s? musical genius under the baton of conductor Philippe Jordan with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. Last night’s cast did more than honour Don Carlo, the king’s domains having once spread throughout the Mediterranean from North Africa to?Flanders.? With an all-new cast excepting Ileana Tonca as the voice from heaven, this new production is a musical, visual and contextual triumph in a world-class staging which, in keeping with Don Carlo’s words, says not to fear.
That Srerebnikov chooses to hyperproject Don Carlo, Elisabetta and Philipp II as mothballed museum figures without life or pneuma - as such, elegantly historicised figures from Spain’s Golden Age - comes to magnificent fruition in the contrast of their real-life doubles as casually dressed figures who literally breathe life into otherwords opulent characters at at exhibition - marking a brilliant transition from the past to the present onstage.? The figurines replete with descriptive panels and their heads covered with nylons, are dressed unmistakably in the same clothing as in their portraits.? At one point, the mannequins are taken offstage with yellow-black tape around their necks in a different response by the kingdom to the crisis in Flanders which the voiceless mannequins cannot resolve.
Resoluteness, like the response to Europe’s recent flooding, is evidenced by almost all of the characters excepting Elisabetta,(Asmik Grigorian), who with her wonderfully mellifluous voice chimes in that prayer is only answered in heaven leaving a tinge of doubt regarding the rescue of Flanders and taking to the confessional at the foot of a neon cross, a relic of the utmost modernity, to bewail her tears to the altars of the Lord.? Symbolically, she is suggestive of the Pietá except that following her prayer Don Carlo, the voiceless superbly elegant mannequin, lies his head on her lap and the two clasp hands, Don Carlo as Christ savior.
Whether Rodrigo Duke of Posa’s (étienne Dupuis) interventions on behalf of Don Carlo (Joshua Guerrero), of Philipp II’s (Roberto Tagliavini) entreaties to Elisabetta (Asmik Grigorian), the Grand Inquisitor’s (Dmitry Ulyanov) answer to Philipp II, or Eboli’s (Eve-Maud Hubeaux) profession of loyalty under all circumstances to the king, Don Carlo embodies the grandeur of the Golden Age while at the same time demonstrating throughout that each character’s role, notwithstanding the Grand Inquisitor, is about l'umanitá in the face of pressing change, and that character is defined by both inner and outer response, of one’s ability to act in this world and at the present time in a virtuous and convincing manner without falsity.
Don Carlo is, in keeping with Kirill Srerebnikov’s mannequins and real-life singers, about the depth which history and character give rise to, from museum figures to their contemporary interpreters.? Don Carlo is wonderfully performed in a transition to the present which the Vienna State Opera premiere does full justice to, character as role and conviction, as model and entity.
Hats off to a marvellous premiere, Libertá echoing in everyone’s ears beginning to end.
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5 个月and yet two devastating reviews in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the NZZ provide an insight into what was going on at the venue: ‘One must not forget: the Vienna State Opera is a Gesamtkunstwerkstatt with an enormously high production capacity of currently 45 different musical theatre works per season – the Zurich Opera House only manages a little more than half that and La Scala, Milan, a third. There are almost 150 productions (plus 50 ballets) in the fund. Kirill Serebrennikov has now turned the Vienna State Opera into a madhouse.’ https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/kampf-um-des-koenigs-alte-kleider-kirill-serebrennikow-macht-verdis-don-carlo-zum-kostuemfest-ld.1849945 and "Serebrennikov's idea... What is usually the safest stopgap in the theatre – having everyone constantly dress and undress – becomes a principle here. ... and that makes up a large part of the action here, in all layers, except for the undergarments, which are laboriously put on and taken off." The conductor had to wave a white cloth on the baton to get the last aria over without further noisy disputes with the audience.