{"id":93258,"date":"2018-07-21T23:39:53","date_gmt":"2018-07-21T21:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gbopera.it\/?p=93258"},"modified":"2018-07-23T23:40:30","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T21:40:30","slug":"komische-oper-berlin-nos-the-nose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/komische-oper-berlin-nos-the-nose\/","title":{"rendered":"Komische Oper Berlin: “Nos” (The Nose)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Komische Oper Berlin, season 2017\/2018<\/em>
\n\u201cNOS\u201d (The Nose)
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/span>Opera in three acts based on Nikolai Gogol\u2019s story of the same name. L<\/span><\/span>ibretto by <\/span>Dmitri Shostakovich, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Georgy Ionin, Alexander Preis.
\n<\/span><\/span>Music by <\/span>Dmitri Shostakovich
\n<\/b><\/span><\/span>Platon <\/i><\/span>Kuzmich Kovalyov<\/i> <\/i>G\u00dcNTER PAPENDELL
\n<\/span>The Nose <\/i><\/span>MAREK WINKELMANN
\n<\/span>Ivan Yakovlevich\/Clerk in a Newspaper Office\/Doctor<\/i><\/span> JENS LARSEN
\n<\/span>Praskovya Ossipovna\/Bread-Seller\/TV presenter<\/i><\/span> <\/i>ROSIE ALDRIDGE
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Police Inspector\/Eunuch <\/i><\/span>ALEXANDER KRAVETS
\n<\/span>Angry Man in the Cathedral\/Yarizhkin\/Eunuch <\/i><\/span>ALEXANDER LEWIS
\n<\/span>Ivan, Kovalyov\u2019s valet\/Doorman of the Police Inspector\/Eunuch <\/i><\/span>IVAN TURSIC
\n<\/span>Pelagia Grigorievna Podtochina\/Tour Guide<\/i> URSULA HESSE VON DEN STEINEN
\nMourning Women in the Cathedral\/<\/i><\/span>Podtochina\u2019s daugther<\/i><\/span> <\/i>MIRKA WAGNER
\n<\/span>The Old Countess <\/i><\/span>CAREN VAN OIJEN
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Servant of the Old Countess\/Ivan Ivanovich <\/i><\/span>TOM ERIK LIE
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Balalaika player <\/i><\/span>INGO KROLL
\n<\/span>Chorus soloists and supernumeraries of the Komischen Oper Berlin
\n<\/span>Orchester der Komischen Oper Berlin
\nConductor <\/span>Ain\u0101rs Rubi\u0137is
\n<\/b>Chorus<\/span> David Cavelius
\n<\/strong><\/span>Production <\/span>Barrie Kosky
\n<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>Choreography <\/span>Otto Pichler
\n<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>S<\/span>tage and Light <\/span>Klaus Gr\u00fcnberg
\n<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>Co-Stage<\/span> <\/b>Anne Kuhn
\n<\/b><\/span>Costumes <\/span>Buki Shiff
\n<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>Berlin, 14th July 2018
\n<\/span><\/em>Barrie Kosky<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/b>has staged his 2016 Covent Garden debut production of <\/span>Dmitri <\/i><\/span>Shostakovich<\/i><\/span>\u2019s opera <\/span>\u201eThe Nose\u201c<\/i><\/span> in Sydney and now at the <\/span>Komische Oper Berlin<\/b><\/span> where his tenure as the artistic director has been lasting since 2012. He takes full advantage of Nikolai Gogol\u2019s absurd short story which the libretto is based on: the civil servant Kovalyov wakes up one morning to find his nose missing. Enjoying its new found freedom, the nose rampages through St Petersburg while Kovalyov realises at once what problems he is in for in a society which is strongly affected by outward appearances. So he spends the rest of the opera \u2013 three acts played without an interval \u2013 chasing all around the city trying to locate his \"\"<\/a>missing appendage. Kosky tells the story thoroughly from the main character\u2019s point of view and we do not know in the end whether all has happened in reality or in Kovalyov\u2019s fantasy only like a nightmare. According to Kosky, the surrealistic plot is not only about a missing body part but also fear of loss, paranoia, inferiority complexes and fear of castration. <\/span>Klaus Gr\u00fcnberg<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/b>has consequently designed a rather claustrophobic stage framed by a grey-panelled circle which widens or contracts like a camera lens. There is a dark semi-circular wall in the background and the abstract scenery is dominated by a large round platform in the middle of the stage. Grey tables of <\/span>varying sizes and numbers also provide desks or performing platforms, some of them ingeniously powered by cycling singers<\/span>. Sparse props such as a chair, a bed, a coffin illustrate a scene, which is contrasted by <\/span>Buki Shiff<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u2019s <\/b><\/span>fantastic costumes, a sheer riot of colour and styles. Kovalyov wears a red velvet suit which he is stripped off by the crowd after all in search of his nose all over the city. Kosky shows what he is made of and feeds off the absurdism and surrealism of the plot that also reveals frustration with bureaucracy and officialdom in the Tsarist Russian society. A great idea: everybody but Kovalyov has an oversize nose to make him feel inferior per se. The inevitable<\/span> cross-dressing dancers<\/span> are not missing and the director carries things so far that not only Kovalyov\u2019s nose has a life of its own but also another nine of human size with naked hairy legs that join in for a hilarious tap-dance. That is no doubt the highlight of the production, a superb celebration of the weird and grotesque choreographed by <\/span>Otto Pichler<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>. The designated musical director of the Komische Oper Berlin, <\/span>Ain\u0101rs Rubi\u0137is <\/b><\/span>does a good job with a relatively small <\/span>Orchester der Komischen Oper<\/b><\/span> including nine percussionists and a balalaika played by <\/span>Ingo Kroll <\/b><\/span>who appears cross-dressed on stage. <\/span>Dmitri <\/span>Shostakovich was in his early twenties only when he composed <\/span>\u201cThe Nose\u201d<\/i><\/span> and <\/span>Russian artists were still free to embrace the avant-garde. The score <\/span>reveals the bizarre in lean, sometimes scattered textures with fleeting references to an eclectic range of styles and popular genres such as marches and folk songs but <\/span>Shostakovich\u2019s<\/span> musical integrity holds everything together. <\/span>There are about eighty named solo roles for the singers with partly enormous vocal requirements. <\/span>Voices are stretched at the top and bottom of their range and even squealing, shouting, snoring and grunting are required. It is almost a miracle that <\/span>G\u00fcnter Papendell<\/b><\/span> can still breathe to sing the college assessor <\/span>Kovalyov<\/i><\/span> while he keeps chasing around in tireless search of his nose. He is a great baritone and actor in nearly athletic condition and his performance extraordinary. <\/span>Jens Larsen<\/b><\/span> is certainly having fun tripling up as the <\/span>Barber Ivan Yakovlevich<\/i><\/span>, the <\/span>Newspaper Office Clerk<\/i><\/span> and the <\/span>Doctor<\/i><\/span>. <\/span>Rosie Aldridge<\/b><\/span> is simply great in her three contrasting roles of <\/span>Praskovya Ossipovna<\/i><\/span>, the <\/span>Bread-Seller<\/i><\/span> and <\/span>TV presenter<\/i><\/span>. The tenor <\/span>Ivan Tur\u0161i\u0107<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span> can show his comic qualities above all <\/span>as <\/span>Kovalyov\u2019s valet Ivan<\/i><\/span> and <\/span>Alexander Lewis<\/b><\/span> is worth mentioning<\/span> for additionally taking on the musical part of <\/span>the Nose<\/i><\/span> played and danced by <\/span>Marek Winkelmann<\/b><\/span>. After several productions in original languages, the Komische Oper is back to the roots of Walter Felsenstein\u2019s tradition to play the opera in a new German translation by <\/span>Ulrich W. Lenz<\/i><\/span>. Altogether Barrie Kosky has brought the festival season of the 70<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup> anniversary of the Komische Oper Berlin to a highly successful end with this stunning production.
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