Premiere of "Iolanta"
Feature |
Jolanthe, as the German title suggests, was first performed at the Vienna Court Opera in 1900 under the musical direction of the then director Gustav Mahler. The production was only performed nine times, after which the work disappeared from the repertoire of today's Vienna State Opera. After a break of almost exactly 125 years, Iolanta is now back in the repertoire and will premiere on March 24, 2025 under the direction of house debutant Evgeny Titov and the musical direction of Tugan Sokhiev - who is conducting a new production for the first time.
Sonya Yoncheva sings the title role in her first state opera premiere. She will be joined in other roles by Boris Pinkhasovich as Robert, Dmytro Popov as Vaudémont and Ivo Stanchev in his role debut as René.
About the plant and production
The story, which the Tchaikovsky brothers Modest (libretto) and Piotr (music) based on the now forgotten drama King René's Daughter by the Danish writer Henrik Hertz, is full of mystery, haunting symbolism and overflowing with emotion. Attracted by the subject, Piotr I. Tchaikovsky took up the material to fulfill a commission for a one-act opera and ballet from St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre. Princess Iolanta made her stage debut in 1892 together with her dissimilar twin sister Clara - the protagonist of the ballet The Nutcracker.
Iolanta tells the story of the princess, blind from birth, the daughter of the Provençal King René, who grows up in the Vosges, surrounded by rose bushes and companions and hidden from the world. Her father hopes that she will be cured by the famous doctor Ibn-Hakia - only when she can see will Iolanta meet her fiancé Robert of Burgundy. But things turn out differently: Robert wants to break off the engagement because he loves another princess. His companion and friend Vaudemont, on the other hand, falls in love with Iolanta at first sight and she returns his love. Love becomes the key to treatment, the cure succeeds and Iolanta learns to see.
In preparation for Iolanta, director Evgeny Titov has intensively studied vision and its multiple meanings. He explains this in the introductory matinee to the production:
"When they say you become sighted, what does that mean? A lot is sung about light in opera, and I asked myself: how does light change the world? If there is so much light, then there must also be shadows. I also thought about these shadows, about this dark side and about what happens to us in life. We often deliberately blind ourselves and say "I don't want to see that now. I'd rather stay in my beautiful rose garden." That's why I thought: when Iolanta really says at the end that she perceives the world, how far does her gaze go? Does it only go as far as the fence, to where the roses end? Is there only beauty there or is there something else when you say you don't want to be blind and want to see it?"
About the leading team and the cast
Tugan Sokhiev conducts his first premiere at the Vienna State Opera with Iolanta. The internationally sought-after conductor regularly works with the most renowned orchestras such as the Vienna, Berlin and New York Philharmonics, the symphony orchestras of Boston, Chicago and NHK as well as the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, of which he was chief conductor. He has also worked at the New York Met and the Teatro Real in Madrid. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 2010 with Queen of Spades and also conducted performances of Boris Godunov.
Evgeny Titov is responsible for the direction. He began his career as an actor and then studied directing at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. Previous productions have taken him to the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, the Residenztheater Munich and the Salzburg Festival, among others. He has directed operas at the Komische Oper Berlin, in Zurich, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and at the Opéra Strasbourg, among others, and is now presenting his first production at the Vienna State Opera.
The leading team is completed by Rufus Didwiszus (stage), Annemarie Woods (costumes), Otto Pichler (choreography) and Martin Gebhardt (lighting).
| Iolanta | Sonya Yoncheva |
| King René | Ivo Stanchev |
| Robert | Boris Pinkhasovich |
| Count Vaudémont | Dmytro Popov |
| Ibn-Hakia | Attila Mokus |
| Almerik | Daniel Jenz |
| Bertrand | Simonas Strazdas |
| Marta | Monika Bohinec |
| Brigitta | Maria Nazarova |
| Laura | Daria Sushkova |
"For me, Iolanta is not a fairy tale. What we talk about can be quite real. Because sometimes we are blind without actually being blind."
"Iolanta" on stream, TV and radio
The performance of Iolanta on Sunday, April 6, 2025 will be streamed live from 7.30 pm and broadcast on ORF III from 8.15 pm.
The premiere can be heard on the radio on Monday, March 24, 2025 from 7.30 pm on Radio Ö1.