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A production by the Salzburg Festival, directed by Krzystof Warlikowski
52 years after the premiere, Hans Werner Henze's work The Bassarids returns to the Salzburg Festival. Under the direction of Kent Nagano, 2018 saw a revival of the modern classic in a highly psychological production by Krysztof Warlikowski. Aware of the topicality of the story, the director highlights the stark contrast between Dionysus, who preaches exhilarating excess and sensuality, and his cousin King Pentheus, who lives a life characterized by purity and asceticism. A personified battle that ultimately leads the royal family to disaster. Star conductor Kent Nagano, who was very close to Henze, included the approximately 20-minute excerpt of “The Judgment of Calliope” from the original score for the festival performance of The Bassarids in order to give the Dionysian cult in opera a new dimension. The performance at the Felsenreitschule had an invariably outstanding cast with the young US tenor Sean Panikkar in the role of Dionysus, Russel Braun as his opponent Pentheus, but also Tanja Ariane Baumgartner and Vera-Lotte Böcker, who sang at the highest level.
