Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier
André Heller (stage director), Zubin Mehta (conductor) — With Camilla Nylund (The Marschallin), Michèle Losier (Octavian), Günther Groissböck (Baron Ochs), Nadine Sierra (Sophie) ...
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Cast
André Heller — Stage director
Xenia Hausner — Set designer
Arthur Arbesser — Costume designer
Olaf Freese — Lighting
Camilla Nylund — The Marschallin
Günther Groissböck — Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau
Roman Trekel — Faninal
Michèle Losier — Octavian
Nadine Sierra — Sophie
Katharina Kammerloher — Annina
Chor der Staatsoper Berlin
Anna Milukova — Chorus Master
Staatskapelle Berlin
Zubin Mehta — Conductor
Program notes
The Knight of the Rose, or Der Rosenkavalier, is probably the best known and best loved opera by Richard Strauss, a crowd-pleasing success from the moment of its premiere in 1911. Qualified by the composer himself as a “Mozartean opera,” it arguably represents the high water mark of Strauss's creative output. Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s libretto follows two different stories set in an imagined Vienna: that of the Marschallin, who here breaks up voluntarily with her lover Octavian due to the passing of time and the flightiness of the heart; and that of Octavian, who vies for the hand of the young bourgeois Sophie—already promised to the rude and penniless Baron Ochs, cousin of the Marschallin herself.
This masterpiece of operatic theater, a hearty blend of joyful love and bittersweet melancholy, calls for a cast of singers unafraid to go for broke, as well as an orchestral ensemble able to embody the work's Viennese lightness even while interpreting some surprisingly modern passages—as when Strauss's score seems to almost palpably evoke the image of the silver rose through the polytonal stylings of flute, celesta, harp, and three solo violins.
Come discover unforgettable performances by Camilla Nylund and Günther Groissböck as the Marschallin and Baron Ochs, along with star turns by Nadine Sierra and Michèle Losier as Sophie and Octavian, in this André Heller production at the world-renowned Berlin State Opera—conducted by the great Zubin Mehta.
Photo © Ruth Walz
