Organization

Stage director

Stage director (+1)

Vasily Barkhatov

Set designer

Set designer (+1)

Zinovy Margolin

Costume designer

Set designer (+2)

Olga Shaishmelashvili

Lighting designer

Lighting designer (+3)

Alexander Sivaev

Chorusmaster

Conductor (+2)

Jeremy Bines

Dramaturge

Sebastian Hanusa

Video

Martin Eidenberger

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Orchestra

Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Chorus

Choir of the Deutsche Oper Berlin

Conductor

Jader Bignamini

Baritone

George Petean

Simon Boccanegra

Tenor

Attilio Glaser

Gabriele Adorno

Baritone (+3)

Michael Bachtadze

Paolo Albiani

Bass-baritone (+4)

Padraic Rowan

Pietro

Soprano (+2)

Maria Motolygina

Amelia Grimaldi

Teacher (+5)

Liang Li

Jacopo Fiesco

Tenor (+3)

Kieran Carrel

Captain of the Crossbowmen

Mezzo-soprano (+2)

Karis Tucker

Amelia's maid

Bass (+2)

Ante Jerkunica

Tenor (+1)

Patrick Cook

Mezzo-soprano (+3)

Arianna Manganello

Bass-baritone (+2)

Ossian Huskinson

Soprano (+1)

Flurina Stucki

Joel Allison

Conductor (+1)

Yi-Chen Lin

Dong-Hwan Lee

Jorge Puerta

On the work
The Republic of Genoa is split into two camps headed by their respective arch rivals, Simon Boccanegra and Fiesco, who have been at loggerheads for decades. Yet the two men are connected by a long-dead woman – Fiesco’s daughter, the lover of Simon – who bore Simon a daughter named Amelia, who in turn vanished into care as an infant. When Amelia reappears 25 years later, she becomes a pawn in a power struggle that eventually claims Simon. The original version of SIMON BOCCANEGRA, which premiered in 1857, is one of Verdi’s explorations into the dichotomy between public actions and private urges. Here, the stark differences between the two old men, Simon and Fiesco, set the stage for suspicion, conspiracy and assassination – with little prospect of a happy end. And not even the victory of one side can guarantee a lasting peace.

This gloomy outlook, enhanced by Verdi in his reworked version of 1881 – our production -, is perhaps one of the reasons why SIMON BOCCANEGRA remains less of an audience favourite than the popular operas of the 1850s such as IL TROVATORE and UN BALLO IN MASCHERA – and this despite a portrayal of Simon and Fiesco as haunting and melodious as that of any of Verdi’s other main characters.

On the production
Russian director Vasily Barkhatov, who made his debut in the Bismarckstrasse in 2017 with a well-received world premiere of Aribert Reimann’s L’INVISIBLE, focuses here on the corrupting effect of power. His Simon Boccanegra has lost sight of the political ideals that had fired him decades earlier and is now only interested in protecting his position. And just as Verdi was fully cognizant of the political factions and intrigues in the burgeoning nation-state of Italy, so Barkhatov sees parallels between the drama of the Genoese Doge and power constellations that are still encountered today.

Grianghraif