Baden-Baden (dpa/lsw) - The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is about to stage the most elaborate opera production in its history. This was announced by director Benedikt Stampa on Thursday evening at a press conference for the tenth Easter Festival in the spa town. They begin on April 1 (6 p.m.) with the new production of the opera "Die Frau ohne Schatten" with the Berliner Philharmoniker and their chief conductor Kirill Petrenko.
The Richard Strauss Opera is directed by Lydia Steier. Elza van den Heever (The Empress), Clay Hilley (Emperor), Michaela Schuster (The Nurse), Miina-Liisa Värelä (The Dyer) and Wolfgang Koch (Barak the Dyer) will be in the lead roles.
"Die Frau ohne Schatten" is considered one of Richard Strauss's most enigmatic and fascinating operas: it's about the wife of an emperor who needs a shadow to save her husband from petrification and to be able to have children. For this she has to buy shade and fertility from a poor dyer.
The staging of the fairy tale is a "monster task" for the award-winning director. An exciting story is to be told to the audience, while the full range of the orchestra is challenged. At the same time, the opera roles have to be coordinated perfectly. "It's a mammoth challenge for everyone," said chief conductor Petrenko, who is already accompanying the scenic rehearsals in Baden-Baden. "The chance to experience an orchestra like the Berlin Philharmonic, which can exploit the entire range of sounds, in the orchestra pit does not come a second time," says Petrenko.
