A superb new Otello from the Salzburg Easter Festival: “Cura is a commanding Otello with his richly coloured tenor and both fragile delicacy and fiery ardour” (Südwestpresse). “Röschmann as Desdemona guarantees effortless perfection” (Neue Musikzeitung). “Álvarez as Iago would be hard to surpass” (Abendzeitung). “Thielemann has discovered an impressively modern sound for Verdi” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
This Salzburg production – featuring “a cast worthy of any festival” (Südwestpresse) – is conducted by Christian Thielemann, who displays a command of Verdian tragedy to match his celebrated sovereignty in Wagner. He and his great Dresden Staatskapelle, a consummate opera ensemble, “achieve wonders” (Die Presse), “generating Italian ‘Musikdrama’ with their incandescence and precise nuances” (Abendzeitung). As the tragic hero, José Cura “deploys his treasurable timbre and intensity” (Der Standard), while Dorothea Röschmann’s Desdemona “enchants with her dramatic lyricism, delicate phrases and internalized clarity” (Wiener Zeitung). Utilizing “elegant parlando and seductive bel canto, Carlos Álvarez’s Iago is a philosopher executing a socio-psychological experiment” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).
In his fascinating staging, director Vincent Broussard integrates video with set and lighting design to create an idealized visual context for what he calls Otello’s “conflict of ancient and modern, of 2D and 3D”.