Martin Kušej’s production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at Salzburg in 2023 came 20 years after he had last directed a Mozart opera at Salzburg. My reviews (and follow up pieces) of his productions of Don Giovanni (2002, revived 2006) and La clemenza di Tito (2002) are probably two of the most commented on on this blog. So I’m interested to see where this goes.
Puccini’s Tosca is a work that seems to turn the boldest directors conservative. Up until now the only one I had seen that wasn’t set in Rome in 1800 was Philip Himmelmann’s production in Baden-Baden. That starred Kristine Opolais and so does Martin Kušej’s 2022 production at the Theater an der Wien. And like the Baden-Baden work this sets the piece in some sort of Christofascist dystopia but a very different one from Himmelmann.
operaramblings 