Tea at Five with Wozzeck live from Bolshoi

This evening at 5 p.m. (cet), Mezzo-TV will broadcast Wozzeck, live from Bolshoi Theater in Moscow [dir- Dmitri Tcherniakov, cnd- Teodor Currentzis, Cast: Georg Nigl, Mardi Byers, Roman Muravitsky, ...]

 

Russian public discovered Wozzeck last year [first stage performance of Berg's Wozzeck in Moscow], and both the Russian cultural circles and the foreign critics loved it. Good news is that this live broadcast will be followed by a DVD release.

By far the best Wozzeck on DVD is the one by Bieito and Weigle. Too bad the Paris Opera did not invest in recording one of its best recent productions - Wozzeck with Simon Keenlyside and Angela Denoke, directed by Christoph Marthaler and with Sylvain Cambreling conducting.

Tcherniakov is one of my top-5 fave directors, Bolshoi invested big money [its generous sponsor!] to make this show happen -- so it should be good. Currentzis must be the most passionate and one of the most innovative conductors today, plus there's Georg Nigl in the title role, and we're ready to see and hear Mardi Byers singing... -- This one is a winner, I'm tellin ya :)

Bregenz Festival 2010: The Passenger you can never forget

The Passenger/Die Passagierin [opera by Mieczyslaw Weinberg], July 31 2010, Festspielhaus Bregenz

Musical director ...... Teodor Currentzis
Director ...... David Pountney
   
Martha, polish woman Prisoner in Auschwitz 19, on the ship 34 years old ...... Elena Kelessidi
Lisa, german woman in Auschwitz 22, on the ship 37 years old ...... Michelle Breedt
Walter, Lisa's husband, diplomat 50 ...... Roberto Saccà

Tadeusz, engaged with Martha Prisoner, 25 years old ...... Artur Rucinski
Katja, russian partisan Prisoner, 21 years old ...... Svetlana Doneva
Krzystina, polish woman Prisoner, 28 years old ...... Angelica Voje
Vlasta, czech woman Prisoner, 20 years old ...... Elzbieta Wróblewska
Hannah, Jew Prisoner, 18 years old ...... Agnieszka Rehlis
Yvette, french woman Prisoner, 15 years old ...... Talia Or
Old woman, Prisoner ...... Helen Field
Bronka older prisoner, 50 years old ...... Liuba Sokolova
1st SS-officer ...... Tobias Hächler
2nd SS-officer ...... Wilfried Staber
3rd SS-officer ...... David Danholt
Steward ...... Richard Angas
Boss ...... Heide Capovilla

   
Wiener Symphoniker, Chorus of the Prag Philharmonic

This July in Bregenz: The Passenger/Die Passagerin by Moisey Weinberg

Between the festivals in Munich and Salzburg/Bayreuth there will also be a popular festival in Bregenz. This year they will present a new David Pountney's production, this time of an opera by Mieczysław Weinberg called The Passenger/Die Passagerin.

A hugely talented young Teodor Currentzis will conduct the Wiener Symphoniker and a solid cast including  Elena Kalessidi, Roberto Sacca and Michelle Breedt.

On the Bregenz Festival web-site you find a succinct description of this opera that you most probably don't know much about:

Two young women, both voyaging by ship to a new and different life, are caught up by the history that links them to one another: The Passenger by the Polish composer Mieczysław Weinberg is the Festival Opera House production in summer 2010. The opera is based on a novel with the same title by the Polish Auschwitz survivor Zofia Posmysz. Completed in 1968, the opera was first performed in 2006 in a concert performance in Moscow.

The Passenger is regarded as a work of extraordinary originality and gigantic dimensions. Shostakovich praised it as a masterpiece and used all his influence to try and get it staged. But in spite of the fact that four Soviet opera houses expressed an interest in staging The Passenger, it was vetoed every time by the cultural authorities.

David Pountney insists and calls Moisey Weinberg a "Third Man" alongside Shostakovich and Prokofiev. Even though the composer died after the end of the Soviet era [he died in 1996], he didn't live to see a scenic performance of his opera.

Ed I learned that this production will travel to Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, Teatro Real in Madrid, and to  New York.

No, it's not about the premiere of Don Carlo - it's about Teodor Currentzis

Last night in Paris was premiered the revival of the Graham Vick's production of Don Carlo. I didn't go but I of course will. I liked this show very much in 2008 when a highly polarizing figure was the young conductor - Teodor Currentzis. Many people disliked him instantly because of his peculiar style, but we were as many who immediately recognized his passion, and saw a wonderful musician behind his peculiar style.

I already mentioned him in the post about the first ever production of Wozzeck in Moscow.

Yes, you guessed it right: he is Greek living in Russia. Other details: he's 37; he is very much appreciated in Russia; he was Temirkanov's assistant who now calls him a genius...

Воццек Курентзисa & Черняковa

You may want to check out these two videos to get a clue about the new [smashing-looking!] production of "Wozzeck" by Dmitri Tcherniakov  (pic) and Teodor Currentzis, very recently premiered in Bolshoi theater  in Moscow.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SZFscAS25A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf2qgyXxoUk

Moscow is too far and visa-fussy, so here is hoping this production soon travels westward and/or gets released on DVD ;)