BelAir Media

A myth, a heroic epic, a family saga - perhaps all of these together – make up Richard Wagner’s Ring tetralogy. This epic production of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden sees a remarkable collaboration between Christian Thielemann, one of the most distinguished Wagner conductors of our time, and Dmitri Tcherniakov, one of the great, internationally celebrated opera directors of our time.

A dramatic, energetic adaptation of Heinz Spoerli's ballet based on Grieg's Peer Gynt by the Zurich ballet. Marijn Rademaker is excellent as the title character, clearly telegraphing the emotional range required. Each of the characters and the dramatic scenes are supported by the orchestral passages and songs provided by Grieg; some spoken word passages extracted from the Ibsen play.

The work of Fernand Pouillon, "France's most wanted" architect after being imprisoned and mysteriously escaping in the 1960s, now seems to have faded into the background. However, in 50 years he has built more than 5 million square meters, mainly between France and Algeria, at a frantic pace, traveling tens of thousands of kilometers per week, by propeller plane, to go to construction sites. at night or at dawn between Marseille, Paris, Algiers or in the middle of the desert, until you burn your wings. Among others, Fernand Pouillon decided to build houses for the most modest.

The reopening show of the historical stage of the Bolshoi Theatre by Jurowski and Tcherniakov. "Ruslan and Lyudmila", opera by Mikhail Glinka, has particular relation with the Bolshoï Theater, it held more than 700 representations throughout the history and nine different productions. Logically the fable of Mikhail Glinka (from a poem of Pushkin), symbol of the Russian opera, opened the season 2011-2012 of the majestic Moscow s opera, after its long renovation. This reopening inspired the director Dmitri Tcherniakov, who signed the direction of this new production. The new devices of the Bolshoi Theatre and its two giant screens are fully exploited in a spectacular staging. Tcherniakov transposes Glinka s opera at the 21th century with contemporary ambitions because of the "modernity of the subject", trying there to put forward "the deep feelings of the characters , exposing the protagonists to very modern temptations: a "harem" for Ruslan, a Thai massage for Lyudmila.

Siegfried's love story transposed to a high-tech hell... A fascinating re-reading of the third opera in Wagner's tetralogy, served up by Dmitri Tcherniakov's daring staging and Christian Thielemann's virtuoso musical direction.