On June 1, a new production by Nikolaus Lehnhoff of the opera L’Upupa and the triumph of filial love by Hans Werner Henze will be given its premiere at Semperoper Dresden. It will be the third production of the opera which was premiered in summer 2003 at Salzburg Festival to great acclaim.
The production, conducted by Stefan Lano, will continue a fruitful relationship between Nikolaus Lehnhoff and Henze and adds a third opera to the list following Boulevard Solitude (Grand teatre de Liceau, Barcelona and Royal Opera House London) and Der Prinz von Homburg (Bayerische Staatsoper München).
To read more information about the upcoming production, visit the
Semperoper website
“… Much of the score is sumptuously beautiful. Densely harmonised and orchestrated, its style owes much to Berg, yet stops short of atonality to wallow in a dreamy romanticism. Henze’s compositional craft is everywhere evident. Colours rich yet delicate, with shimmers of orientalism; speech is tellingly used; and natural sounds, such as the hoopoe’s fluttering wings are recorded on tape. …
Still, one can forgive everything for the magnificent final scene, which concludes with an orchestral postlude of positively Mahlerian ecstasy. Salzburg Festival has done the opera’s first performance proud. Markus Stenz, substituting for Christian Thielemann, conducted the Vienna Philharmonic on angelically immaculate form, and Dieter Dorn played the drama refreshingly straight, in Jürgen Rose’s picture-book designs.”
Rupert Christiansen, Daily Telegraph, 16/08/2003
