Description
Requiring 38 soloists, chorus and large orchestra, \Palestrina, Pfitzner's "most important" work (Suddeutsche Zeitung), is a challenging opera to stage. Christian Stuckl's lively and colorful interpretation at the Bavarian State Opera is wonderfully served by conductor Simone Young, who cultivates a silky, organic orchestral texture. Heading the many outstanding soloists are the imposing Christopher Ventris as Palestrina, the mighty Bayreuth regular Falk Struckmann, the velvety-smooth baritone Michael Volle and the most promising young singer of 2009 (survey held by Opernwelt) Christiane Karg.Christian Stuckl is well versed with the ecclesiastical subject because of his productions of the Passion Play in Oberammergau. His worldwide reputation is based on his annual restaging of the Jedermann in Salzburg since 2003. Together with Andre Heller, Stuckl was responsible for the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2006. "The music flows blissfully hour after hour..." Suddeutsche Zeitung"The vocal-quality was on a very high level!" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 2009"The Bavarian State Orchestra presents itself very well in connection with Simone Young" Neue Zuricher Zeitung, 2009""