Admin

Organization

Singer

Soprano

Marlis Petersen

Lulu

Mezzo-soprano

Daniela Sindram

Countess Geschwitz

Contralto

Rachael Wilson

A theatrical dresser

A high school student

A groom

Spoken

Christian Rieger

Professor of Medicine

Bass

The banker

Silent

The professor

Tenor

Rainer Trost

The painter

A black man

Bass-baritone

Bo Skovhus

Dr Schon

Jack the Ripper

Matthias Klink

Alwa

Martin Winkler

The animal tamer

Rodrigo

Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke

The prince

The valet

The marquis

Christoph Stephinger

The theatre manager

Elsa Benoit

A fifteen-year-old girl

Cornelia Wulkopf

Her mother

Heike Grötzinger

The woman artist

Baritone

John Carpenter

Ein Journalist

Leonard Bernad

Nicholas Reinke

The police commissioner

Pavlo Hunka

Schigolch

Conductor

Kirill Petrenko

Stage director

Dmitri Tcherniakov

Costume designer

Elena Zaitseva

Set designer

Bayerische Staatsoper

German

Munich

Germany

Nationaltheater

The new Bayerische Staatsoper production of Lulu, Alban Berg’s opera, describes the sometimes bright and often bestial intensity of human relations. Intoxicatingly enigmatic and deadly for those close to her, Lulu’s secret goes with her unto death. Frank Wedekind’s work provided fertile ground for the composer to create this striking opera, considered as one of the major works of the 20th century. Kirill Petrenko conducts this new production, staged by one of the greatest contemporary stage directors, Dmitri Tcherniakov, with Marlis Petersen and Bo Skovhus in the starring roles

At the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Kirill Petrenko conducts this new production of Alban Berg's Lulu, directed for stage by Dmitri Tcherniakov and starring the soprano Marlis Petersen (Lulu).

Lulu is a femme fatale, a maneater. She marries men and then kills them, one after another, or pushes them to commit suicide. This opera, which mixes forbidden love stories, crimes and decadence of the heroine, is one of the greatest operas of the 20th century. Alban Berg died before he had a chance to bring his third act to an end, and the opera was premiered at the Zurich Opera House in 1937, two years after the composer's death. The piece shocked the audience and was far from being acclaimed by the critics. In 1979, Friedrich Cerha achieved the orchestration of the third act.

Alban Berg used the themes from two of Frank Wedekind's plays, Pandora's Box and Earth Spirit, which both were forbidden in Germany. Lulu's philosophical and sociological significance seems to denounce the nonsense of a society in search for modernity, trying to deal with the confusion of the values and the search for the power.

The staging of this new production is by one of the greatest Russian stage directors of the moment, Dmitri Tcherniakov, who staged a beautiful Wozzeck at the Bolchoi a few years ago. The conductor, Kirill Petrenko, is the Bayerische Staatsoper's musical director, and Opera Magazine described him as "one of the most passionate [conductors] of his generation". The cast stars coloratura soprano Marlis Petersen, singing Lulu – one of the most important roles of her career – a role that she performed in the greatest opera theatres worldwide.

Lulu Berg

Approved

Production booklet

Further reading