In addition to his career as a filmmaker, Philipp
Stölzl has directed numerous operas in Berlin (and elsewhere), and in each
production he has revealed himself to be an uncommonly good architect of
memorable, large-scale stage imagery; his visual mastery is often married to
clever readings of the text that can shift our understanding of the scenario
while remaining essentially accessible as works of narrative drama. If his
interpretations shy away from excess revisionism, they are also usually free of
obscurity.
The new production of Turandot at the
Staatsoper Unter den Linden – which was also live-streamed to an open air
audience in Bebelplatz as part of the annual 'Staatsoper für Alle' event
– displayed many of Mr Stölzl’s familiar virtues: it was a grandly-scaled
spectacle, a well-crafted entertainment, and a reasonably astute critique…
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