Alban Berg’s Wozzeck is one of the ultimate opera masterpieces of the 20th century and is to this very day – more than 80 years since its world premiere – still extremely valid and hard-hitting in its social critique. The opera represents a milestone in the history of opera and has over the ages been labelled as provocative, propagandistic and degenerate but also hailed as an evocative masterpiece.
British director Keith Warner, who originally created his staging of Wozzeck for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, in London, for which he received an Oliver Award in 2003 for Best Opera Production, has previously lent his talent to the staging of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Royal Danish Theatre. For Keith Warner it is a dream to work with Wozzeck, which he considers to be one of the greatest operatic masterworks ever created.
Wozzeck will be conducted by one of Europe’s most sought-after conductors, Michael Boder, who has taken to the podium at such leading European opera houses as Wiener Staatsoper, Staatsoper Berlin, and Bayrische Staatsopera in Munich. He is a maestro of new music and has conducted a wide array of world premieres, most recently Henze’s Phaedra at Staatsoper in Berlin – a performance celebrated as Performance of the Year by the leading German opera magazine Opernwelt.
Baritone John Lundgren, who has recently received high acclaim for his rendition of the title role in Wagner’s Der fliegender Hollander with the Danish National Opera will experience the greatest challenge of his career in the role as the psychotic antihero Wozzeck, who subjects himself to abusive medical experiment in order to provide money for his girlfriend Marie and her little boy, but who finally ends up killing her in desperation over her humiliating infidelity. John Lundgren will draw on experiences from his former profession as a social counsellor for the extremely demanding role as Wozzeck. His work among young offenders and drug abusers has provided him with insight into the many complexities that haunt the human soul in trying circumstances.
Bengt-Ola Morgny will lend his talent to a character portrayal of the Captain in Wozzeck, a heartless monstrosity with no respect whatsoever for people of lower social standing. The part as the ambitions Doctor who abuses Wozzeck in a bizarre attempt to achieve fame and fortune will be rendered with dark humour by Sten Byriel. Alternating as Marie are Ylva Kihlberg and Tina Kiberg, who both offer a nuanced image of a woman desperately seeking to repress the poignant circumstances of her intolerable existence. Other cast members include Johnny van Hal, Gert Henning-Jensen, Hanne Fischer/Ingeborg S. Gillebo.
Set designer Stefanos Lazaridis has created the expressive and vivid onstage imagery in association with costume designer Marie-Jeanne Lecca and lighting designer Rick Fisher.
The performances will take place on 30, December 2008 and 03, 07, 12, 21, January 2009. -- www.kglteater.dk
Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
