03.11.2019

IRIS VERMILLION with Ligeti at Semperoper Dresden

After dedicating herself to roles of the dramatic mezzo-soprano Fach such as Grandmother Buryja (Jenufa), Nurse (Ariane et Barbe-Bleu), Klytämnestra (Elektra) and Herodias (Salome), Iris Vermillion now embodies the role of Mescalina in Dresden’s premiere of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre.

First performed in 1978, the anti-anti-opera »Le Grand Macabre« by the Hungarian composer György Ligeti is today regarded as one of the most effective works of musical theatre of the last decades. In a highly entertaining mix of medieval mystery play, absurd slapstick and black humour, Ligeti’s musically allusive composition tells the story of the imaginary country of Breughelland as it faces destruction, which in fact does not happen but is simply forgotten in a fit of collective drunkenness.

Cast

Gepopo Hila Baggio, Venus
Katerina von Bennigsen, Amanda
Christina Bock, Amando
Christopher Ainslie, Go-Go
Frode Olsen, Astradamors
Iris Vermillion, Mescalina
Gerhard Siegel, Piet vom Faß
Markus Marquardt, Nekrotzar
Tilmann Rönnebeck, Ruffiak
Aaron Pegram, Weißer Minister
Matthias Henneberg, Schwarzer Minister

Omer Meir Wellber, conductor
Calixto Bieito, director
Rebecca Ringst, stage setting
Ingo Krügler, costume design
Michael Bauer, lighting design
Sarah Derendinger, video
Jörn Hinnerik Andresen, choir

Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden