2 VII

Footage from the Salzburg Festival 2023

3 hrs.

Directed by – Martin Kušej
Conductor – Raphaël Pichon

Cast: Andrè Schuen – Count Almaviva, Adriana González – Countess Almaviva, Sabine Devieilhe – Susanna, Krzysztof Bączyk – Figaro, Lea Desandre – Cherubino, Kristina Hammarström – Marcelina, Peter Kálmán – Bartolo, Manuel Günther – Basilio, Andrew Morstein – Don Curzio, Serafina Starke – Barbarina, Rafał Pawnuk – Antonio.

Such a Marriage of Figaro as presented at last year’s Salzburg Festival – there has not been one yet!
Martin Kušej-ranked among the ten most important theater directors who appeared in the German-speaking world in the past millennium (!)-transferred the plot of Mozart’s famous opera to a mafia-like urban environment, where conflicts are resolved with guns.

The cast consists of young singers themselves, and among them are two Poles: Krzysztof Bączyk and Rafał Pawnuk. Krzysztof, gifted with a beautiful bass, was cast in one of the four main roles. This is another success for this young singer, who has already had an ennobling performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York at this point. Raphael will be seen in a minor role, but with Mozart there are no unimportant roles.

A reviewer for the Financial Times highlighted the rare synergy of Kušej’s direction with the musical direction of the young French conductor Raphaël Pichon, who stood on the conductor’s podium in Salzburg for the first time. According to this critic, the symbiosis of direction and music is breathtaking.