Earlier this season, the hypnotic if saturnine German bass René Pape sang his first Falstaff in Nicolai’s Merry Wives of Windsor, a sparkler too seldom exported beyond German-speaking regions. Now, in the same house, he adds the skirt-chasing fortune-hunter Baron Ochs of Der Rosenkavalier, an opulent Strauss confection beloved all over the world. He’s a long way from signature roles like Mozart’s Sarastro, in The Magic Flute; Verdi’s King Philip, in Don Carlos; Wagner’s Gurnemanz, in Parsifal. But the actor who can encompass parts as different as those should have no problem with comedy. As Pape surely knows, the secret is to play for high stakes, and never for a laugh. —M.G.
Der Rosenkavalier, by Richard Strauss
–
Staatsoper Unter den Linden / Berlin / Music
Buy tickets here
Staatsoper Unter den Linden / Berlin / Music
Staatsoper Unter den Linden
Unter den Linden 7, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Get Directions »
Start a New Search
Subscribers Only
Start your free trial to access the full Arts Intel Report
Subscribe to Air Mail to access every article
and search our entire Arts Intel Report.
Already a subscriber? Sign in here.