Admin

Organization

Singer

Baritone

Christian Gerhaher

Wozzeck

Leigh Melrose

Tenor

Brandon Jovanovich

Drum Major

Mauro Peter

Andres

Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke

Captain

Bass

Lars Woldt

Doctor

Pavel Daniluk

First apprentice

Cheyne Davidson

Second apprentice

Martin Zysset

The madman

Soprano

Gun-Brit Barkmin

Marie

Contralto

Irène Friedli

Margret

Conductor

Fabio Luisi

Stage director

Andreas Homoki

Costume designer

Yulia Levin

Set designer

Lighting designer

Franck Evin

Chorus master

Jürg Hämmerli

Dramaturge

Kathrin Brunner

Tae-Jin Park

Apprentices

Opernhaus Zürich

Others

Kinderchor der Oper Zürich

Chor der Oper Zürich

Orchestra

Philharmonia Zürich

Statistenverein am Opernhaus Zürich

German

Zurich

Switzerland

The soldier Wozzeck (Christian Gerhaher) flits through a world that he is unable to decipher. The doctor torments him with absurd medical experiments; the captain humiliates and ridicules him. And Wozzeck’s lover, Marie (Gun-Brit Barkmin), with whom he has a child, cuckolds him with the drum major. Wozzeck becomes a murderer, stabbing Marie to death. Georg Büchner’s drama fragment, on which Alban Berg based his first opera, is an unflinching case study of social injustice and human suffering. But it is also a grotesque piece that thrives on exaggeration – and in which only a fine line separates the unfathomable from the ridiculous. Accordingly, director Andreas Homoki forgoes all realism.

His nightmarishly radical production is inspired by puppet theatre. Christian Gerhaher’s role debut as Wozzeck can only be described as sensational: his capacity for vocal and dramatic subtlety is simply breath-taking. At the rostrum of the Philharmonia Zurich, Fabio Luisi explores both the expressionistic and the more intimate aspects, reminiscent of chamber music, in Berg’s seminal score.

Opernhaus

Studiobühne

“This Wozzeck, even more spectacular than Tcherniakov’s powerful vision, was one of the strongest artistic gestures of 2015. You should see it on film as soon as possible, a production that from now on is considered the touchstone performance of one of opera history's seminal works.” (Tutti Magazine) What higher praise can there be for this production of Berg’s celebrated opera? The masterpiece of 20th-century musical drama, Wozzeck is adapted from Büchner’s unfinished 1837 play, a dark tale inspired by a true story. The poor Wozzeck—a simple soldier whose only joy in life is his devotion to his lover Marie—progressively sinks into madness and commits the ultimate and unthinkable act...

Deeply moved by the destiny of the real Woyzeck, an old soldier condemned for having stabbed his mistress, Büchner wanted to use his play to condemn society as bearing the true responsibility for the soldier’s “criminality”. Berg builds on this vision, opening his opera with the captain’s admonishing his subordinate for having fathered a child outside of wedlock. Wozzeck responds that it is easier to be honest when one has money. To illustrate this tragic social determinism, Andreas Homoki recasts the opera’s protagonists as marionettes, each playing his role and perceiving his social status as an unavoidable destiny. A true story and unforgettable drama transformed into a fable musical for the ages.

Winner of the 2017 International Classical Music Award and BBC's Music Magazine Award. Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck” is an indispensable work in the repertoire of any opera house. In Zurich, critics and audience celebrated director Andreas Homoki, General Music Director Fabio Luisi and baritone Christian Gerhaher for their intriguing interpretation of this masterpiece of operatic history.

Wozzeck Berg

Public

English

Approved

Photos