December 27, 2014: Luisa Miller in Zurich

2014-12-27 Luisa Miller (G. Verdi), Opernhaus Zurich

Graf von Walter = Vitalij Kowaljow

Rodolfo = Ivan Magri

Federica = Judith Schmid

Wurm = Wenwei Zhang

Miller = Leo Nucci

Luisa Miller = Elena Mosuc

Laura = Hamida Kristoffersen

Carlo Rizzi, conductor

Philharmonia Zürich

Chor der Oper Zürich​ 

Musikalische Leitung - Carlo Rizzi

Inszenierung - Damiano Michieletto

Bühnenbild - Paolo Fantin

Kostüme - Carla Teti

Lichtgestaltung - Hans-Rudolf Kunz

Choreinstudierung - Jürg Hämmerli

Carlo Rizzi conducted. He had now more gray hair but as most vigor as before. Last time, and first time I saw this opera was in 2000 (March 4th) also in Zurich and with the same soprano as Luisa Miller. Elena Mosuc was great as Luisa, even better than in 2000, and she was great in 2000 also. Ivan Magri was a just as wonderful as Rodolfo just like Elena Mosuc as Luisa. Such beautiful voices and acting beautifully too. Leo Nucci was a powerful Miller. The most surprisingly beautiful voice was the voice of Vitalij Kowaljow. Conte di Walter was just so pleasing dressed in beautiful white cloths and such a beautiful voice one could almost forget that he is one of the villains. Judith Schmid was Frederica and she was all and more that one could wish for as Frederica. 

The use of revolving stage was overused and the chorus was treated more like props. And then we had Wurm sung beautifully by Wenwei Zhang. Maybe I should call him Wormtongue. A villain is Wurm there is now doubt that it is true. So the director makes him look and act as a villain in all times. There is now need to make him move his neek and head in strange ways just to make him villainous the director should have been much more subtle. Other than the overuse of revolving stage, using chorus as props and setting Wurm up as just villainous it was a wonderful production of Luisa Miller.

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