Josef Greindl

Beethoven's opera Fidelio, conducted by Karl Böhm, featuring Gwyneth Jones as Leonore and James King as Florestan

The production by Deutsche Oper Berlin achieves a beautiful balance between the stage drama and the music. It proves that there are still singers who can perform Verdi's melodies at the highest level and that it is also possible to bring them together into an ensemble. The production fulfills all one's expectations of the modern city of Berlin in terms of stylishness and performance.

Of the five premieres produced during a four-month period, Mozart's "Don Giovanni" on the first night attracted an illustrious audience. In addition to the President of the Federal Republic of Germany and a selection of diplomats and politicians, high-ranking guests included theatrical directors from West Germany and other Western European countries, composers, conductors, actors, writers, painters and sculptors, not to mention rectors and lecturers from Berlin's universities and the world's leading music critics. [...] The success was commensurate with the significance of the occasion. All involved in the performance received countless ovations in front of the magnificent yellow curtain. The new building - and the new stage with its state-of-the-art technology - had shown itself to be more than capable of handling Mozart's most demanding work.

Staged by Sellner, conducted by Maazel with costumes by Sanjust and performed by the six soloists with consummate vocal elegance, Cimarosa's "Secret Marriage" offers unadulterated pleasure and triggers a kind of ecstasy with its combination of delicacy and opulence as well as its sophisticated humor. It brings Cimarosa's musical mastery to the fore - but also the visual impact of the opera. The stage is no longer a place of intellectual barrenness, but once again a playground, a sparkling showcase of wit and intellect.

On stage, Christa Ludwig's Leonore puts all others in the shade. In this role, she achieves something rare: a perfect unity of stage character and singer. Her male disguise is believable; this Fidelio is a slender, lanky young man with whom it is easy to imagine the silly Marzelline falling in love.