Misha Didyk (Alexei), Kristine Opolais (Polina), Vladimir Ognovenko (General), Stefania Toczyska (Babulenka), Stephan Rügamer (The Marquis), Sylvia de la Muela (Blanche), Viktor Rud (Mr Astley)
This production from 2009 is staged by young up-and-coming director Dmitri Tcherniakov, who worked at Bolshoi, Mariinsky, Opera de Bastille, La Scala, and various opera houses in Germany.
The opera is based on the famous novel “The Gambler” by Dostoyevsky
June 2010
*****
“Barenboim's crystal-clear pacing of the score is hard-hitting rather than quicksilvery, but the payoff in the last Act is terrific, and the blue-lit look of it all - Tcherniakov designed it, too - works well...No wonder Barenboim and Tcherniakov try to lift each other up in the wings at the end.”
July 2010
“Tcherniakov in Berlin has chosen to mirror the capitalist excesses of our day and does so with tireless attention to detail...Kristine Opolais as Polina and especially Misha Didyk as Alexei both look and sound well...[Barenboim] is here at his most obviously committed. He has found in the piece a depth and expressionist power that brings us close to the world of Wozzeck.”
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