Metamorphosis: A New Season at The Bayerische Staatsoper
Edited by Jennifer L. Price
 The
Bayerische Staatsoper, the opera house in Munich, Germany, has long been an
important venue for opera lovers all over the world. The house recently
announced their line-up for the 2007-8 season. It offers more than 180
performances of 34 operas in 42 weeks, including world-renowned music director
Kent Nagano conducting three of seven premiers, the reopening of Cuvilliés
Theater with Mozart’s Idomeneo, where it was originally premiered, theme nights,
Strauss Week, Russian Nights, and a Verdi Festival.
 For the
second time, the new season will be inaugurated by Music Director Kent Nagano
with the OktoberMusikFest. From 9/24 – 10/9, works by Bernd Alois Zimmermann,
Ludwig van Beethoven, Günter Bialas, Wilhelm Killmayer, Paul Ben-Haim, Erwin
Schulhoff, Viktor Ullmann, Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky and others will
be performed.
The theme of this season is “Metamorphosis.” The principle
of "metamorphosis" as an expression of ongoing exterior change marks the current
season; it will determine the dramaturgic content line of the 2007/2008 season:
"Ich bin ein anderer als ich war" ("I have become someone other than I was")
sings Bacchus in Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos". The protagonists of all the
works to be premièred undergo an inner transformation process, triggered by a
watershed experience or a stroke of fate.
 The
program line inaugurated in the current season will be carried over in the seven
new operatic productions scheduled for 2007/2008. First staged Munich
productions of two great 20th century operas continue the line of world
premières and performances of modern works: Hans Werner Henze's "The Bassarids"
and Ferruccio Busoni's "Doktor Faust". Joining "Khovanshchina" in the
continuing series of works from the Slavic repertoire will be "Eugene Onegin"
by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky. The third point of emphasis, the performance of
Giuseppe Verdi's early works will be accentuated with a new production of "Nabucco".
Two further new productions are dedicated to the creativity
of the opera house’s “deities:” Richard Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos" and
Mozart's "Idomeneo". With Handel's "Tamerlano", albeit with a
different aesthetic approach to the staging, the Bavarian State Opera will carry
on its internationally regarded baroque opera renaissance.
To commemorate the re-opening of the Cuvilliés-Theatre,
the Bavarian State Opera will be putting on Cuvilliés Weeks from 6/18 – 7/6,
2008 with Mozart's "Idomeneo". Russian Nights will be hosted 2/21 - 2/29, 2008
with "Eugene Onegin", John Cranko's ballet "Onegin" and "Khovanshchina" Verdi
Festival Weeks, held 3/29 – 4/11, 2008, will include "La traviata", "Luisa
Miller", "Un ballo in maschera", "Nabucco"
For the first time since 1988, a Richard Strauss Week will
take place from 7/20 – 7/29, 2008. The program will include "Der
Rosenkavalier", "Arabella", "Elektra," “Das Gehege"/ "Salome" as well as the
Festival Concert.
For more information on purchasing tickets, performing
singers, conductors, and stage directors, visit
www.bayerischestaatsoper.de |
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