Luisa Miller at Staatsoper Munich - Stoyanova/Lucic - 26.07.2009

......Luisa Miller, an early Verdi opera based on Friedrich Schiller’s play Kabale und Liebe (Intrigue and Love). To this day, one of the most underestimated masterworks of the great Italian composer.was a premiere for me too. Same as Otello. It was also a modern production but this time it was soooo different. It had an idea, everything on stage made sense. The story is simple. She loves him, he loves her, but the fathers don't agree. The boy and the girl have to marry somebody else. So they're sad and tourmented. And this state of mind allowed the director to make an interesting thing. There were several people for the same character. That Wurm character seemed to be the alter ego of the others. It's strange to explain.

......The sets were interesting too. There was a turning stage. A big circle split in four. And it was turning all the time, according to the story. Sometimes it looked like there was a mirror instead of the wall. See that picture of the lily. It's not a mirror.

......All was fine, except for the young tenor Giancarlo Monsalve. Ramon Vargas was supposed to sing, but he cancelled. We were sooooo sorry. But we gave him a chance to prove he's good. I googled him before going to Munich. He seemed fine on Youtube. Well.... he did his best, I guess. He was aware that the audience was there to see Mr Vargas. Even if he tried, he was not part of the same story. Bad acting and hesitating voice. He got booed twice. At the end, at curtain call there were a lot of boos coming from the audience. He smiled and rose his hands like saying "what can I do now? I did my best".

......First I thought that I won't enjoy this opera. But it caught me from the beginning to the end. The ingenious direction and the great music made the evening perfect. This time only Mrs Stoyanova came to sign autographs. She's Bulgarian. remember what I told in some other posts about the artists' reaction when they hear somebody speaking in their native tongue? It happened again. There were about 15 people left. And among them there was a lady who was also Bulgarian. If before she came Mrs Stoyanova smiled and signed only, the discussion with this particular lady was long and intense. She was oviously pleased to have this conversation.

Cast

Conductor Massimo Zanetti
Production Claus Guth
Set and Costumes Christian Schmidt
Lighting Michael Bauer
Chorus Andrés Máspero
Dramaturgy Sophie Becker

Il Conte di Walter Michele Pertusi
Rodolfo Giancarlo Monsalve
Federica Elena Maximova
Wurm Steven Humes
Miller Zeljko Lucic
Luisa Miller Krassimira Stoyanova
Laura Tara Erraught
Un Contadino Ho-Chul Lee

The Bavarian State Orchestra
The Chorus of the Bavarian State Opera

Bayerische Staatsoper by night

View from rang 2, tor II, links (left)



After the first act

Here you can see part of the stage. Only a quarter of the circle








4 Luisas, 4 Millers and 1 Rodolfo













Krassimira Stoyanova



.....Great Luisa Miller. As I said in the Otello post, I'd like to see also the traditional production.

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