Femme fatale
Program
-
Alban Berg
Lulu
Oper in drei Akten (unvollendete Fassung)
1928–35
Cast
-
Anu Komsi
soprano (Lulu)
-
Paula Murrihy
mezzo-soprano (Gräfin Geschwitz)
-
Susan Zarrabi
mezzo-soprano (Gymnasiast/Garderobiere/Diener)
-
Toby Spence
tenor (Alwa)
-
Mark Omvlee
tenor (Dr. Prinz/Kammerdiener)
-
Hubert Kowalczyk
bass (Tierbändiger/Athlet)
-
Lars Fosser
bass-baritone (Dr. Schön)
-
Sakari Oramo
conductor
Lust and desire, gracefulness and abandon, seduction and catastrophe: anyone who gets close to Lulu, who succumbs to the undertow of her charisma, is doomed to die. She seems innocent yet dangerous, an angel and a monster rolled into one. A woman portrayed with almost painfully realistic brushstrokes who is also a projection screen for subconscious fantasies and abysses. Lulu balks at nothing, and all her encounters are fatal – for those she meets. In the end, she herself has fallen, working as a prostitute whose last customer is the serial killer Jack the Ripper … Lulu is Alban Berg’s second opera. In 1928, he began composing it, but interrupted work multiple times, ultimately failing to complete the monumental project: in 1935, his death put a stop to his efforts, and Lulu remained a fragment. Based on texts by Frank Wedekind, the opera is one of the most important works of 20th-century musical drama, and the first to employ twelve-tone technique throughout. Its strict formal construction, however, is always in service to dramatic expression and the uncommonly subtle, colourful characterization of each of the numerous characters on stage – this is one of the secrets behind the success of this masterwork, so influential for 20th-century music.
Sakari Oramo and an exquisite ensemble of soloists take the gripping rollercoaster ride between beauty and feverish nightmares.
