Organization

Singer

Mezzo-soprano

Kate Aldrich

Ascanio

Tenor

Xavier Mas

Francesco

Sung-Keun Park

Le Cabaretier

Costume designer

Kathi Maurer

Conductor

Valery Gergiev

Stage director

Philipp Stölzl

Set designer

Lighting designer

Duane Schuler

Choreographer

Mara Kurotschka

Dramaturge

Ronny Dietrich

Chorus master

Andreas Schüller

Burkhard Fritz

Benvenuto Cellini

Baritone

Laurent Naouri

Fieramosca

Bass

Brindley Sherratt

Balducci

Mikhail Petrenko

Pope Clement VII

Soprano

Maija Kovalevska

Teresa

Cellini’s apprentice

Roberto Tagliavini

Bernardino

Adam Plachetka

Pompeo

Innkeeper

Salzburger Festspiele

Wiener Staatsoper

Orchestra

Wiener Philharmoniker

French

German

Salzburg

Austria

Großes Festspielhaus

"A mixture of futurism à la Metropolis, fantasy à la Batman" and quotes from Piranesi's Carceri", presented in the form of photomontages enriched with .... robots, a helicopter, a shark and the winged vehicle of a pop star Pope" as the critic Marianne Zelger-Vogt (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) emphasized. The object of their enthusiasm is not a Broadway musical but a French opera from the 1830s, Hector Berlioz's "Benvenuto Cellini". The absence of the work in the operatic repertoire is certainly also due to its musical excesses: the work is so complex, rich in detail and imaginative that Berlioz's contemporaries considered it unplayable and unsingable.

In the production of the Salzburg Festival 2007 by director Philipp Stölzl, conductor Valery Gergiev ("the wild man of music") and a top-class cast with the Vienna Philharmonic and their choir, this proves to be wrong. Above all, Stölzl brought his experience as a director of music videos (eg for Madonna, Mick Jagger), commercials and films to this project, which was described as "science fiction for the grand opera" (Süddeutsche Zeitung), "breathtaking" (Der Standard) and "extremely successful" (FAZ).

Berlioz spurs the action forward by having his hero, the celebrated goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), disguised as a monk and having him elope with Teresa, the papal treasurer's daughter, on the night of carnival. A man is killed in the turmoil. Cellini is accused of murder and can only be saved if he finishes a statue for the Pope within a few hours. In a tremendous effort, he melts all of his other works into enough metal and completes the statue - saving his life and winning the hand of Teresa.

With its many vocal ensembles and mixed choirs, the music is sometimes reminiscent of Gounod and Offenbach. But the orchestration is typically Berliozian: sonic excesses, razor-sharp contours, jagged breaks. Conductor Valery Gergiev "pulled out all the stops. He drives the Vienna Philharmonic into a delirium similar to what may have gripped the composer. The result was an incessantly elevated atmosphere..." (Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich, Der Standard). Of crucial importance to this concept are the bravura performances of Burkhard Fritz as the lithe, spirited Cellini and the 26-year-old Latvian soprano Maja Kovalevska as Teresa, a "vocal pleasure" and "Salzburg discovery". However, Kovalevska is just one of countless discoveries

Benvenuto Cellini Berlioz

Public

English

Approved

Benvenuto Cellini by Berlioz, From (2007/2007), Directed by Philipp Stölzl,, Conductor Valery Gergiev, Großes Festspielhaus, Salzburg, Austria

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Co-Producer

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues