Dionysos, Szenen und Dithyramben - Eine Opernphantasie

Dionysos- An Opera Fantasy was another new discovery, and while it won't be a personal favourite anytime soon it's a very cleverly constructed, narratively riveting and musically powerful opera. This production is an outstanding one in all areas and one of the best that Salzburg has done in recent years.

Visually, it just captivates. The set design is stunning and always appropriate to the mood of every scene and the art work and lighting is both beautiful and harrowing. The production's videography is fine and unobtrusive and the sound quality is clear so it is easy to get engrossed with the music. Pierre Audi's stage direction is some of the best he's ever done, there's a real tragic essence that is most moving while he balances morbid wit and stylised violence adeptly, there's never too much of the other and neither are done to distaste. If you are left exhausted by the end of the opera, the production did its job well and this is meant in a very good way as it is an emotionally exhausting story. The orchestral playing is carefully balanced and the playing is truly exceptional both tonally and dramatically, filled with beautiful tone and passion, while Ingo Metzmacher conducts in a way that suggests that his life really depended on it. There's nothing to fault with the singing either, Johannes Martin Kränzle sings with both sonority and character and his acting's outstanding while Mojca Erdmann gives the best performance I've seen from her, her acting is passionate and heartfelt and her voice rarely becomes harsh under pressure but has an appropriate amount of dramatic power.

Overall, mesmerising, recommended without any kind of hesitation. 10/10 Bethany Cox