Recorded earlier this season at the Hamburg Staatsoper, Daniele Finzi Pasca’s new production of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann is conducted by the Staatsoper’s Music Director Kent Nagano and stars DG artist Benjamin Bernheim in an acclaimed role and house debut as the poet Hoffmann. The French tenor is joined by Olga Peretyatko, who plays all four of the women in his life, and Luca Pisaroni as the four villains of the piece, while Angela Brower plays the dual role of Nicklausse and the Muse.
This opéra fantastique in five acts, setting a libretto by Barbier and Carré based on the tales of E.T.A. Hoffmann, was first staged in Paris in 1881. Framed by a prologue and epilogue dealing with the poet’s current relationship with the prima donna Stella, the central three acts tell the stories of Hoffmann’s past encounters with a mechanical doll, Olympia, the singer Antonia, and the courtesan Giulietta. Full of colour and spectacle, this new production captures all the magic, imagination, and light and shade of this portrait of an artist unlucky in love.
Jacques Offenbach Les Contes d’Hoffmann
Benjamin Bernheim Hoffmann Olga Peretyatko Olympia/Antonia/Giulietta/Stella Angela Brower The Muse/Nicklausse Luca Pisaroni Lindorf/Coppélius/Dr Miracle/Dapertutto Gideon Poppe Andrès/Cochenille/Frantz/Pitichinaccio Kristina Stanek The Mother Martin Summer Maître Luther/Crespel Dongwon Kang Nathanaël Jürgen Sacher Spalanzani Daniel Schliewa Wilhelm/Wolfram Han Kim Le Capitaine des sbirres Bernhard Hansky Schlémil/Hermann
Kent Nagano conductor Eberhard Friedrich chorus director Chor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
Daniele Finzi Pasca director Melissa Vettore co-director Hugo Gargiulo stage design Giovanna Buzzi costumes Daniele Finzi Pasca, Marzio Picchetti lighting Roberto Vitalini video design Maria Bonzanigo choreography Savina Kationi, Ralf Waldschmidt dramaturgy