Event

BENVENUTO CELLINI (Berlioz)

Performed at the Salzburg Festival
Conducted by Valery Gergiev
Directed by Philipp Stolzl
Cast: Burkhard Fritz, Laurent Naouri, Brindley Sherratt, Kate Aldrich
Running Time: 164 minutes plus intermission

"Maija Kovalevska's Teresa is absolute star material: exuberant, charismatic, and musically assured. As Cellini, Burkhard Fritz, sings with meaty heroism. Laurent Naouri makes a hilariously villainous Fieramosca, without compromising on detail or beauty of tone, and Kate Aldrich, as Cellini's faithful assistant Ascanio, sings with silvery perfection." Shirley Apthrop - Bloomberg News
Hector Berlioz's "Benvenuto Cellini, a French opera written in the 1830s, is so complex, richly detailed and prolifically imaginative that Berlioz's contemporaries often considered it unplayable. However, this is resoundingly proven false in the 2007 Salzburg Festival production of director Philipp Stlzl (with conductor Valery Gergiev and a high-caliber cast accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic and its chorus).