Digital Witchcraft

With so much attention currently being given to the thorny questions surrounding Artificial Intelligence, it was only a matter of time before the conversation spread to the opera house; and while Marie-Ève Signeyrole’s ambitious, accomplished new staging of Verdi’s Macbeth for the Deutsche Oper Berlin was concerned primarily with transplanting the tragedy into a nightmarish near-future of corporate intrigue, it also offered a critique of the shady algorithms that seem to play an increasing role in modern life. With reliably taut musical direction from Enrique Mazzola and a cast that gained in distinction as the evening progressed, the evening was a rewarding addition to the Deutsche Oper’s recent run of intelligent and provocative new Verdi productions.

Ms Signeyrole’s staging seemed determined to avail itself of every possible theatrical…