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

©Photos: Monika Ritterhaus
Published by Michael Kaye und Jean-Christophe Keck