Preview of the 2022 season
UMBERTO GIORDANO’S OPERA "SIBERIA" AT THE FESTSPIELHAUS
Bregenz, 9.6.21. Next week rehearsals begin for this year’s Bregenz Festival. Meanwhile planning for next year’s festival programme is well underway. In summer 2022, the opera at the Festspielhaus will be Siberia by Umberto Giordano. The opera, which was first staged at La Scala Milan in 1903, will premiere at Bregenz on 21 July 2022. There will be two further performances. The day before that, the 76th season of the Bregenz Festival will open with the lake stage production Madama Butterfly, of which 25 performances are currently scheduled.
It’s an extraordinary act of love when Stephana gives up her life as a mistress in the elegant palace in St Petersburg in order to follow her true love Vassili to a prison camp in Siberia. There in exile Stephana turns into a fearless heroine.
The dramatically charged and condensed plot, the passionate emotionality of the characters and the impressive chorus are worked into Umberto Giordano’s verismo-style, Italian opera Siberia.
From the imperial anthem to the traditional Song of the Volga Boatmen, the fascinating sounds of Russian music are embedded in the sweeping score. In spite of this local colour, Siberia was for Giordano, the composer of André Chénier and Fedora, a human drama of universal relevance: “Love and pain have no nationality.”
Director Vasily Barkhatov makes Bregenz debut
Two young artists from Moscow will be bringing the gripping opera to the Festspielhaus stage. Director Vasily Barkhatov, who is making a name for himself internationally, will be making his debut in Bregenz. He will be joined by Valentin Uryupin, who conducted Eugene Onegin in Bregenz. The stage will be designed by Christian Schmidt, the costumes by Nicole von Graevenitz.
Press conference on the 2022 festival on 10 November
The complete programme of the 2022 season will be presented at a Bregenz Festival press conference on 10 November 2021. The 2022 Bregenz Festival runs from 20 July to 21 August 2022.
Tickets available for the 2021 festival
The Bregenz Festival opens for its 75th season on 21 July 2021 with a performance of Nero at the Festspielhaus. The next day Rigoletto begins its second run on the lake stage. Tickets are still available: tel. 0043 5574 4076 and www.bregenzerfestspiele.com.
(lk/red)
