Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier - Bayerische Staatsoper, Nationaltheater

Performance 17th July

The Rosenkavalier production of the Bavarian State Opera is already decades old but still has an enormous effect on the audience thanks to the high quality of the production. Based on a concept of Otto Schenk it puts most current directors to shame due to the great conduction of the characters and the impressively elegant stage. Jürgen Rose (stage & costumes) did a very good job with the impressive rokoko look of the production with wonderful costumes that could right out of a history book. The whole production simply gives the impression to totally catch the spirit of the piece and it was really a pleasure to see it.
But not only the production, also the musical performance was amazing thanks to Kirill Petrenko who was able to create the special Viennese atmosphere. He has a great sense for that style of music and he totally caught the Vienese spirit of Strauss' marvelous score. The Bayerisches Staatsorchester also played thrillingly and sounded brilliantly. The accuracy that Petrenko and the orchestra showed during the performance was exceptional and made me forget that I was in a theatre.
The many small roles were casted on a very high level and showed the quality level of the Bayerische Staatsoper. In the small but prestigious role of the Italian singer we heard Yosep Kang who did a very good job. His tenor is strong, has a very pleasant bright timbre and his singing shows great phrasing and passion. Heike Grötzinger and Ulrich Reß showed why they both are in the Ensemble of the operahouse for years now with a great performance. Grötzinger was a great suductive Annina and Reß' bright clear tenor voice sounded lovely as well.
Martin Ganter sounded very bright and clear with exceptional diction. His voice sometimes even sounded like a tenor because of the light timbre of his voice. However he filled the auditorium easily with his voice.
Hanna-Elisabeth Müller was one of the highlights with her beautiful bright lyric soprano voice. Her voice is light, clear but still has enough power to be heard over the orchestra easily. The only thing I was missing a bit was the Straussian silvery timbre in the upper register. However it was a brilliant performance by Müller and she totally earned the applause in the end.
In the role of Baron Ochs we heard Austrian bass Günther Groissböck, who definitely is the Ochs of our days. His strong flexible voice as well as his great acting skills seem really perfect for the role and it was simply amazing to see and hear him. He definitely was one of the many highlights of the evening.
As Octavian Daniela Sindram knew how to convince with a very strong balanced voice. From the lower parts of the role to the top she always sounded very beautifully with great passion and phrasing. For me she is one of the leading Octavians at the moment because she is portraying it so well, vocally and acting-wise.
However, the lady of the evening was Anja Harteros as Feldmarschallin. Not only vocally she knew how to touch the hearts in the audience with her powerful beautiful voice. Her parlando was really great and she gave an exceptionally touching performance, especially during the finale of the first act. The audience went crazy in the end and thanked her with much applause.
Alltogether it was a marvelous performance and I really loved every single minute of it. Therefor I give my full 10 stars to the Rosenkavalier of the Munich Opera Festival.
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Reviewed by Daniel Url