Prokofiev's Betrothal in a Monastery

The support group for opera addicts is in session, and its participants perform Prokofiev's Betrothal in a Monastery. Rarely performed outside Russia, and consigned to oblivion by Andrei Zhdanov's anti-formalist policies after the Second World War, the work is transformed by Dmitri Tcherniakov's extravagant staging. Under the baton of Daniel Barenboim, an all-star cast featuring Aida Garifullina and Violeta Urmana bring the characters to life on stage at Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

In adapting the English-language comic opera The Duenna by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Prokofiev offered a satire of Western society in the grand comic tradition, in keeping with the Soviet anticlerical tradition advocated by Stalin. Louisa is promised to wealthy fishmonger Mendoza but loves the humble Antonio; Louisa's brother Ferdinand loves Louisa's friend Clara, but she has run off to seek sanctuary in a nunnery. Through clever disguises and identity swaps, the young people find a way to write their own destiny and let love triumph. In Tcherniakov's staging, two levels of narration intertwine, as new characters — the members of the opera addicts' group — take on the roles from Betrothal in a Monastery, a multilayered mise en scène that transforms the story into a clever and thought-provoking pastiche of the opera world.