David Pountney

Diktat is a tyrannical ruler unleashing chaos on the planet. But, as a band of unlikely heroes forms, launching a battle of biblical proportions, can a shattered world heal in time? Masque of Might is the world premiere of a witty and satirical new opera which sees Sir David Pountney skillfully assemble Henry Purcell’s music to create a fantastical and thoroughly modern tale of power, corruption and the gathering climate crisis.

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Victorious in battle, admired by his men, loved by his wife - fate seems to smile on Otello. Happy moments, however, pass imperceptibly when the hero’s mind begins to be gripped by suspicion and jealousy seeps into the heart. And doubts lead to destruction. Live from Poznań on the opening night of a new production, OperaVision brings you this great opera presented here in the hands of another distinguished artistic pairing; director David Pountney and conductor Jacek Kaspszyk. High drama and passionate music taking us into the darker corners of the human mind.

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Continuing its tradition of unearthing little-known 20th-century operas, the Bregenz Festival presented the first staged production of Polish-Russian composer Mieczysław Weinberg’s “The Passenger” in 2010. Written in 1967/68, the opera relates the chance meeting of a former concentration camp guard and one of her former inmates on an ocean liner years after the war.

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Opera on the Lake: “The Magic Flute” with an Enchanting Natural Backdrop One of the most frequently performed Mozart operas is the highlight of this year’s Bregenz Festival. “The Magic Flute” is performed on the world’s largest lake stage – with its impressive oversized stage setting with Lake Bodensee as a backdrop, it provides an enchanting frame for the love story between Tamino and Pamina.

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An unscrupulous arms dealer pulls a fast one on an imaginary Southern states island, where the cow belonging to the young farm hand Juan is pawned in exchange for a machine gun.

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Operetta in three acts / Sung in German Five years after Wagner's "Parsifal," Johann Strauss II presented "Simplicius" in the Theater an der Wien. Neither an opera nor an operetta, it was a work that did not fit into any of the pre-defined categories. On the 100th anniversary of the composer's death in 1999, the Zurich opera house presented a new production, the work's Swiss premiere. This production picked up on various impulses from the history of the work’s origin, using them to create a unique version of the piece. Here, for example, is the "Donauweibchen" incorporated shortly before the end. The Austrian-born chief conductor of the Zurich opera house, Franz Welser-Möst, has left his mark as a native speaker on this "Simplicius" production both here and elsewhere.

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Valery Gergiev leads the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in this production of Puccini's opera, recorded live at the Salzburger Festspiele in 2002. David Pountney's production features performances by Gabriele Schnaut, Paata Burchuladze, Johan Botha and Cristina Gallardo-Domas. This production uses Luciano Berio's 2001 completion of this unfinished opera.

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This hard-edged postmodern production of Giuseppe Verdi's haunting masterpiece brings the story of Shakespeare's bloody tragedy to vivid life, characterized by spine-tingling atmospherics and a triumphant debut by American baritone Thomas Hampson in the title role. This Zurich Opera House production also features a mesmerizing turn by Paoletta Marrocu as the beautiful, power-hungry Lady Macbeth, while striking sets and costumes further enhance the duality of the main character whose rise and fall mirror the darkest impulses of man. Replete with supernatural mystery, sexual tension, and violent power plays, this timeless story remains gripping and chilling for today's audiences and boasts some of the most astonishing music of Verdi's legendary body of work.

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Half-fae-half-mortal shepherd Strephon wants to wed shepherdress Phyllis, but, although she reciprocates his feelings, she has a dilemma — she is so beautiful that all of the House of Lords, as well as her guardian, the Lord Chancellor, are also desirous of marriage.

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