For the first time, we are visiting the Bregenzer Festspiele, Austria. From Saturday, July 22 until Sunday 23 you are warmly invited to join us for two outstanding operas: Giacomo Puccini’s ‘Madama Butterfly’ and Giuseppe Verdi’s rarely performed ‘Ernani’.
GRAND OPERA BY THE LAKE
Sophisticated music theatre, top-quality entertainment for large audiences, and a memorable open-air event – a winning combination that is to be found at Bregenzer Festspiele. The world’s largest lake stage is the main magnet of the summer festival, which attracts over 200.000 visitors every July and August. As the sun slowly sets over Lake Constance and the lights begin to sparkle along the shoreline, an audience of nearly 7.000 people is treated to spectacular opera productions in extraordinary, award-winning stage settings. Staging opera on the lake began in Bregenz back in 1946. Now it is the centerpiece of an internationally acclaimed festival that also includes among others an opera at the Festspielhaus, concerts by the Wiener Symphoniker and the Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg, and contemporary works staged at the Werkstattbühne.
Whilst the performances at the Seebühne are dedicated to the popular operatic repertoire, the production at the Festspielhaus presents little-known and rarely performed operas, like Umberto Giordano’s “Siberia” (2022), Arrigo Boito’s “Nerone” (2021) and Franco Faccio’s “Amleto” (2016). In 2010, Bregenzer Festspiele directed the spotlight on the Polish-Russian composer Mieczysław Weinberg’s “The Passenger” – and obtained an unparalleled success with this rediscovery.
»Festivals like this are an ideal gateway drug«, wrote the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. And ZDF heute journal, an evening news magazine on German TV, ran a feature captioned: »For a couple of weeks in summer, Bregenz is always a little bit Hollywood.«
MADAMA BUTTERFLY
With a fine Japanese-looking piece of paper, stage designer Michael Levine created a magical platform on Lake Constance for Cio-Cio-San’s touching story.
Andreas Homoki, artistic director at the Zurich Opera House, uses atmospheric video projections and Antony McDonald’s colorful costumes to stage this heartbreaking opera in the beautiful lakeside scenery. Conductor Enrique Mazzola returns as musical director.
Cio-Cio-San Elena Guseva, Barno Ismatullaeva, Anna Princeva
Suzuki Fleuranne Brockway, Aytaj Shikhalizada, Annalisa Stroppa
B. F. Pinkerton Otar Jorjikia, Sergei Skorokhodov, Łukasz Załęski
Sharpless Domen Križaj, Brett Polegato, Yngve Søberg
Stage director Lotte de Beer and stage and costume designer Christof Hetzer work together on the fictional plot with references to the 16th century. The two have already demonstrated their creativity with historic material when they directed Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto in 2017. Once more, they work together with conductor Enrique Mazzola, who showed his passion for Verdi’s music when Rigoletto was staged on the Seebühne.
Ernani Saimir Pirgu
Don Carlo Igor Golovatenko
Don Ruy Gomez de Silva Goran Jurić
Elvira Guanqun Yu
Program:
Saturday, July 22
17.30 Aperitivo and Dinner in Bregenz
21.15-23.15 Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
Sunday, July 23
11.00-13:30 Giuseppe Verdi’s Ernani
13:30 Lunch and farewell
Optional afternoon program: Boat tour or hiking
Price details:
Madama Butterfly 25€ (Cat. 5)
Ernani 30€ (Cat. 3)
Accommodation:
As Bregenz is very busy during the festival period, Juvenilia put an option on double bedrooms in a 4-star hotel at Dornbirn (20 min by train to Bregenz) to share (or not), 120€ per Person, breakfast included:
https://www.dasflint.at/en/ Also check your travel plans since Bregenz can be hard to reach.
The deadline to register is June 16, 2023.
The confirmation that your request can be satisfied will come within a few days (at most a week) of your registration. The payment should be done within a week after receiving the confirmation email. Please be aware that ticket numbers are limited.
We are looking forward to seeing you soon in Bregenz!
The Juvenilia Board
PS: The performance of “Madama Butterfly” depends on the weather conditions. An alternative program will be proposed in case the performance cannot take place. Take binoculars with you in any case!
