Company

Singer

Baritone

Lucio Gallo

Sir John Falstaff

Sergey Kaydalov

Ford

Soprano

Tara Erraught

Mrs. Alice Ford

Katharina Konradi

Nannette

Mezzo-soprano

Ida Aldrian

Mrs. Meg Page

Contralto

Nadezhda Karyazina

Mrs. Quickly

Judit Kutasi

Tenor

Miles Mykkanen

Fenton

Jürgen Sacher

Doctor Caius

Daniel Kluge

Bardolph

Bass

Hubert Kowalczyk

Pistol

Hamburg

Germany

Staatsoper Hamburg

Leo Hussain

Conductor

Stage director

Calixto Bieito

Set designer

Susanne Gschwender

Costume designer

Anja Rabes

Dramaturge

Bettina Auer

Lighting designer

Michael Bauer

Staatsoper

Großes Haus

Sir John Falstaff is vain and narcissistic, cowardly and cunning, in this opera by Giuseppe Verdi after
Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor and adapted by Arrigo Boito. This black comedy
performance, filmed at The Hamburg State Opera, follows Falstaff as he arrives in Windsor and sets out
to obtain financial advantage by courting two wealthy married women. His opportunistic and comically
unsuccessful seduction ploy begins to unfold, and even those trying to expose him fail to emerge
unruffled from all the confusion. This play compels the audience to keep track of all events, as chaos
ensues.

Choir of the Hamburg State Opera

Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg

Italian

Falstaff

Falstaff Verdi

Public

Opera

German

English

Approved

Sir John Falstaff is an anarchist who only bows to the dominion of his own pleasure, an egoist who only indulges in his absolutist abundance of power and body and would like to grind down the narrow-minded moral concepts of his fellow human beings like the city walls of a fortress by having two women parallel to each other to seduce. Of course that goes wrong, but those who want to unmask him lose a lot of feathers in the confusion they stage around him - and which the viewer just about sees through. "Tutto nel mondo è burla," but these antics are only funny because falling into the abyss poses quite a serious risk. The "Otello" librettist Arrigo Boito has distilled a linguistically ingenious libretto from Shakespeare's template with finesse, which Verdi drives to highly complex compositional heights. Staging: Calixto Bieito Stage design: Susanne Gschwender Costumes: Anja Rabes Dramaturgy: Bettina Auer Lighting: Michael Bauer

https://www.staatsoper-hamburg.de/

Sir John Falstaff is an anarchist who only bows to the dominion of his own pleasure, an egoist who only indulges in his absolutist abundance of power and body and would like to grind down the narrow-minded moral concepts of his fellow human beings like the city walls of a fortress by having two women parallel to each other to seduce. Of course that goes wrong, but those who want to unmask him lose a lot of feathers in the confusion they stage around him - and which the viewer just about sees through. "Tutto nel mondo è burla," but these antics are only funny because falling into the abyss poses quite a serious risk. The "Otello" librettist Arrigo Boito has distilled a linguistically ingenious libretto from Shakespeare's template with finesse,

Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi, From Staatsoper Hamburg (2023/2023), Directed by Calixto Bieito,, Conductor Leo Hussain

Credits (Cast & Crew)

Staatsoper Hamburg

Leo Hussain

Calixto Bieito

Cast

Lucio Gallo

Sergey Kaydalov

Tara Erraught

Katharina Konradi

Ida Aldrian

Nadezhda Karyazina

Judit Kutasi

Miles Mykkanen

Jürgen Sacher

Daniel Kluge

Hubert Kowalczyk

Crew

Susanne Gschwender

Anja Rabes

Bettina Auer

Michael Bauer

Ensemble

Choir of the Hamburg State Opera

Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg

Program, About & Synopsis

Videos 1

Photos 9

Further reading

Watch Options 1

Performance Dates & Venues 3