Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle

Stage director Romeo Castellucci crafts an implacable, thrillingly dark mise en scène of Bartók's lone opera, Bluebeard's Castle, at the 2022 Salzburg Festival. Shadows constantly threaten to devour the title character (Mika Kares) and his wife Judith (Aušrinė Stundytė), newlyweds who have yet to confront the gargantuan secrets between them. Illuminated solely by flames blazing atop special structures upstage and their reflections on the lake of tears, the two lovers — at Judith's insistence — open every door of Bluebeard's castle one by one, plumbing the darkest depths of their condemned souls. In the pit, the fiery Teodor Currentzis and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester bring out all the brilliance of the Hungarian composer's evocative, bewitching orchestral writing, making this haunting Bluebeard one for the books.