25.06.2021

DAVID STEFFENS at the St. Gallen Festival

Before taking over the role of Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni at this year's Salzburg Festival, David Steffens dedicates himself to the role of Quasimodo in Franz Schmidts opera Notre Dame at the St. Galler Festspiele, which in recent years has progressively attracted international attention through the discovery of true opera rarities. Victor Hugo's 1831 novel "Notre-Dame de Paris", a fictional portrait of the Paris cathedral in the late Middle Ages, made the episcopal church of the French capital a national symbol and encouraged its restoration and regotization in the mid-19th century. The story of the hunchbacked bell ringer Quasimodo and his unhappy love for the beautiful Esmeralda has been filmed several times and staged as an opera and musical. The Austrian composer Franz Schmidt wrote a late romantic opera on this subject at the beginning of the 20th century, which, despite its opulent music, has rarely been performed outside of Vienna.

Cast

Michael Balke, conductor
Carlos Wagner, director
Rifail Ajdarpasic, stage designer
Christophe Ouvrard, costume designer
Guido Petzold, lighting designer
Benjamin Schultz & Stephan Linde, sounddesign
Alberto Franceschini, choreography
Michael Vogel, chorus master
Marius Bolten, dramaturgy

Anna Gabler, Esmeralda
Simon Neal, The Archdeacon
David Steffens, Quasimodus
Clay Hilley, Phoebus
Cameron Becker, Gringoire
Shea Owens, An Officer

Chor des Theaters St. Gallen
Opernchor St. Gallen
Prager Philharmonischer Chor
Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen