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JACQUES OFFENBACH
Les Contes
d’Hoffmann
Kerstin Avemo ∙ Mandy Fredrich ∙ Rachel Frenkel ∙ Daniel Johansson ∙ Michael Volle
Wiener Symphoniker ∙ conducted by Johannes Debus
staged by Stefan Herheim
LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN
(The Tales of Hoffmann – Hoffmanns Erzählungen)
Orchestra
Conductor
Chorus
Chorus Master
Stage Director
Olympia/Giulietta
Antonia/Giulietta
Muse/Nicklausse/Voice from the grave
Hoffmann
Lindorf/Coppélius/Luther/Miracle/Dapertutto
Spalanzani
Crespel
Andrès/Cochenille/Frantz/Pitichinaccio
Wiener Symphoniker
Johannes Debus
Prague Philharmonic Choir
Lukáš Vasilek
Stefan Herheim
Kerstin Avemo
Mandy Fredrich
Rachel Frenkel
Daniel Johansson
Michael Volle
Bengt-Ola Morgny
Ketil Hugaas
Christophe Mortagne
Video Director Felix Breisach
Length: 173'
Shot in HDTV 1080/50i
Cat. no. A 040 500 51
A co-production of ORF, tpc and UNITEL CLASSICA
in cooperation with Bregenz Festival
“The opera visit of the year – Bregenz is showing a Tales of Hoffmann
that makes you forget everything you saw before.” (FAZ)
Sparkling with creativity, Stefan Herheim’s new staging of Jacques
Offenbach’s opera Les contes d’Hoffmann (Tales of Hoffmann) at
the Bregenz Festival, was received by an enthusiastic audience
with standing ovation and frenetic applause. The international
press agreed wholeheartedly: The New York Times praised the
“thoughtfulness and creativity” of the new production, devised by
the director as a search for one’s own self in a sparkling drag show.
The story of Hoffmann the poet and philosopher, who cannot write
without alcohol and cannot live without love, tells of his past affairs
with various women and his search for love, which can never be
fulfilled.
Conductor Johannes Debus leads the Vienna Symphony through
the evening with verve. A “shining-toned” (NYT) Hoffmann
is embodied by tenor Daniel Johansson in the title role. He is
supported by a fantastic cast: “Rachel Frenkel is positively ideal
as Muse and Niklausse” (Kurier), Kerstin Avemo as Olympia
is “endowed with brilliant, cheekily extemporized coloraturas”
(Neue Zürcher Zeitung), Michael Volle sings the parts of Lindorf,
Coppelius, Dr. Miracle and Dappertutto, “the work’s four villains,
with warmth and intensity” (NYT) and Mandy Fredrich is a “finelyphrased Antonia” (Kurier).
Herheim risks a lot and wins everything, making this production into
a thoroughly accomplished and truly thrilling operatic experience,
which draws us in so strongly “that we hardly dare take breath until
the world of the drunken genius and desperate lover lies utterly in
ruins”, adds the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and the Süddeutsche Zeitung
joined in: “A stroke of genius, a milestone in the history of staging
this work”!
If you need proof, that Bregenz’s Opera Awards for “Festival of the
Year” is justified, don’t look any further.
World Sales:
Tel. +49.30.30306464
[email protected]
Unitel GmbH & Co. KG, Germany · Tel. +49.89.673469-630 · [email protected] www.unitelclassica.com
All rights reserved · credits not contractual · Different territories · Photos: © Karl Forster · Flyer: luebbeke.com
JACQUES OFFENBACH