Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier

Soloists:

Adrianne Pieczonka, Angelika Kirchschlager, Miah Persson

Orchestra, choir:

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna State Opera Choir

Conductor:

Semyon Bychkov

Director:

Robert Carsen

Arthaus presents one of the most talked-about productions of recent years at the Salzburg Festival – the 2004 staging of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. Musical comedy is deeply rooted in the performance tradition of the Salzburg Festival, but Robert Carsen's new interpretation opened up a new perspective on this opera classic, while Semyon Bychkov conducted the Vienna Philharmonic and internationally renowned singers, who guaranteed a high musical standard. Semyon Bychkov conducts Strauss with flexible nuances and great energy, and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung praised the conductor's ability to "make the dense texture of the score transparent and bring out the subtleties of the instrumentation." The musical side of the performance was further supported by the experience and long Strauss tradition of the Vienna Philharmonic, which, according to the Münchner Merkur, is the only “orchestra in the world capable of such decadent excess and such brilliantly polished waltzes.” Carsen stamped the work with his unified vision, skillfully combining its three acts and nearly 200 stage characters. The spacious stage of the Großes Festspielhaus allowed him to keep the main action in the center of the stage, while the surrounding spaces were used for commentary on the action.