Seven at one blow
Saison 2024/2025 |
Otto Schenk was more than just an opera director for the Vienna State Opera. He was an institution. Countless experiences, encounters and great theatrical moments connected him with the opera house on the Ring; his love for the profession, his passion, his knowledge and his artistic honesty were legendary. He gave the theater more than 30 premieres, from Mozart to modernism. In memory of this great man of the theater, the Vienna State Opera is broadcasting free streams of his work for seven days: A new opera every day, from Fidelio to Die Meistersinger.
»Ich bin ein Detaillist: eine Haltung, ein Gang, die Art, wie sich einer hinsetzt, alles verrät von seiner Biografie mehr als ein Gerede von drei Stunden über das Thema, was er für ein Mensch ist und wo er herkommt. Einer, der in der Nase bohrt, wird keine gute Erziehung genossen haben – das muss man nicht ausführlich besprechen. Die Biografie vermittelt sich im Detail!«
Otto Schenks Inszenierungen
vom 24. bis 31. Jänner im Stream
Otto Schenk bathes his production of "Liebestrank" in a warm, southern light: It tells the touching love story of Adina and Nemorino, which has always been one of Donizetti's greatest successes. The production has been a hit with audiences since its premiere, with Otto Schenk lovingly recreating the cheerful plot. A performance from 2022 can be seen, with Maria Nazarova, Bogdan Volkov, Davide Luciano and Alex Esposito among the singers. Conductor: Gianluca Capuano.
It is the most famous operetta in the world, and has been an international hit since its premiere in Vienna in 1874: Die Fledermaus. Wit and lies are mixed brilliantly and lightly, bourgeois facades are brought crashing down. And musically, one catchy tune chases the next. Otto Schenk's production has been a Viennese New Year's Eve tradition since its premiere in 1979: lively, witty, always to the point - and always with a sharp look into the soul of the characters. The 2024 performance brought a new, sensational frog: Michael Niavarani. Also performing: Georg Nigl, Hulkar Sabirova, Wolfgang Bankl, Daria Sushkova, Jörg Schneider, Clemens Unterreiner; conductor: Bertrand de Billy.
Many see Fidelio - with its apotheotic final jubilation that glorifies the ideals of freedom, equality and brotherhood - as the quintessential freedom opera. In a visionary way, Beethoven shows that faith, love and hope can have an effect from the small to the large - and can even shake political systems. Otto Schenk's production from 1970 depicts the exuberant happiness of liberation from oppression through the simple but incredibly effective image of an opening drawbridge. "It is a jubilation that hardly exists in opera literature in this length and intensity. At the premiere, all the choir members had tears of emotion in their eyes," the director later recounted. The broadcast recording dates from 2016, with Klaus Florian Vogt, Anja Kampe, Evgeny Nikitin and Stephen Milling, among others, singing under Peter Schneider.
There are exemplary productions that capture the magic, the essence and the basic tone of a work down to the last detail. Otto Schenk's Rosenkavalier is one such production. He lovingly explores the heartfelt emotions of the characters, allowing them to be completely human, completely three-dimensional. No black and white images, but an infinite number of colors, between melancholy, stormy infatuation and racy humor. And with Carlos Kleiber, one of the greatest conductors in the history of opera, as well as an extraordinary cast, this is a great moment! The 1994 recording features Felicity Lott, Kurt Moll, Anne Sofie von Otter, Gottfried Hornik, Barbara Bonney, Heinz Zednik and Waldemar Kmentt, among others.
France, around the time of the French Revolution: the revolutionary-minded poet Andrea Chénier falls into the clutches of Robespierre's reign of terror and is suspected of being a counter-revolutionary. His fate is closely intertwined with that of the young noblewoman Maddalena Coigny and that of the former valet de chambre Gérard: both men love Maddalena, she in turn loves Chénier. In the end, death awaits: Andrea Chénier and Maddalena Coigny climb the scaffold together. In the recording from 2018, Jonas Kaufmann sings the role of the poet and follows in the tradition of great names such as Bergonzi, Bonisolli, Corelli, Di Stefano, Domingo, Carreras, Pavarotti and Botha: the work has always been a "tenor opera". At his side are Anja Harteros as Maddalena and Roberto Frontali as his adversary Carlo Gérard. Marco Armiliato conducts.
"I heard this opera for the first time when I was twelve years old and it captivated me and almost put me in a trance. Suddenly I knew what theater with music is all about: that you understand the concerns of the people who sing." This is how Otto Schenk described his first encounter with Die Meistersinger. The work stayed with him for many years, and in 1975 he staged the Wagner opera at the Haus am Ring, performing the production almost 80 times. The new musical production in 2008 under Christian Thielemann was a resounding success, with names such as Johan Botha, Falk Struckmann, Ricarda Merbeth, Adrian Eröd and Michael Schade making the hearts of opera lovers beat faster.
Otto Schenk returned to the Vienna State Opera after more than 25 years as director of a new production of Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen in 2014. He was in love with the piece, he said again and again - and everyone involved has fond memories of the small acting moments in the rehearsal process, in which Otto Schenk vividly sketched the animals in the plot. It tells the story of a little vixen who grows up with humans, flees to freedom, finds happiness in the forest - and has to give up her life. In playful images, Schenk shows life in the forest and draws lively animal characters. The recording from 2016 features Chen Reiss, Roman Trekel and Hyuna Ko, among others, under conductor Tomáš Netopil.