During
a two-week interval of optimism sometime in mid-March of this year,
the concert halls and opera houses of Berlin attempted a cautious
reopening with strict entry requirements and ample space between
occupied seats. The ‘pilot project,’ as it was known, was
cancelled about a week before it was due to start, and the
Staatsoper’s contribution, a new production of Mozart’s Le
Nozze di Figaro,
was performed to an empty house and streamed live to computer screens
across Europe. On the strength of that broadcast, the new Figaro
seemed thoroughly dismal, not only lacking in energy, but completely
bereft of the caustic spark that has kept the opera at the centre of
the repertoire for more than two centuries.
For
its first run of live performances, the production benefitted from
both the buzz of a real audience and a generally superior cast…
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