Performance Art: Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda" at Salzburg Festival
At the Grosses Festspielhaus, Ulrich Rasche's direction of Gaetano Donizetti's Maria Stuarda during the Salzburg Festival 2025 has been noted for its psychological intensity and focus on the emotional lives of the two queens, Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I.
The production, richly cast, features outstanding singing from Kate Lindsey as Mary Stuart and Lisette Oropesa as Elizabeth I. Conducted by Antonello Manacorda, the Vienna Philharmonic underscores the bel canto strengths of Donizetti's opera.
Rasche's conceptual framing presents the two queens as a "great world-historical antithesis," yet reveals their shared loneliness and the rigid power structures imprisoning them. The opera focuses less on political complexity and more on emotional and psychological depth, with Rasche's direction emphasising this through a symbolic "dance" between the two protagonists, underlining their vulnerability despite their royal status.
The Salzburg Festival's program notes elaborate on these themes, stating that the production offers a chilly classicism, elevating "Maria Stuarda" from a historical costume drama or semi-scenic elegant concert to a level accessible to the common man. The performance creates a chilly classicism, with Rasche's rotating fate wheels setting the singers in motion, creating a pleasant counterpoint to the musical impulse.
Although a detailed formal critical reception or mixed reviews are not explicitly provided, the available descriptions and the prominence of the production and cast imply a well-received and thought-provoking staging consistent with Rasche's known approach to contemporary opera direction. There is mention of Rasche being "well-known and notorious for his rotating discs," suggesting distinctive directorial choices that may have sparked discussion among audiences and critics alike, but no direct quotes or evaluations were found in the search results.
The opera's characters are reduced to puppet-like stereotypes, with Elizabeth portrayed as a black, glittering, and evil-waving shrew, and Mary Stuart as a white sacrificial lamb. The performance offers decorative festival luxury, making it a great fit for Salzburg. However, the chorus-choreography demands of "Maria Stuarda" cannot be met by a concert choir, with the Wiener Staatsopernchor singing from the rear darkness, leading to some shaky connections with the conductor.
The finale of "Maria Stuarda" is more impressive than moving, and the production interprets Donizetti's music in a manner that is a little too elegant and perfectly formed, resembling interpreting spiritual Baroque music. Compared to Donizetti's later, French-inspired operas, "Maria Stuarda" offers mainly musical convention. The limits of Rasch's music-theater style applied to "Maria Stuarda" were also clear.
The great diva battle in the park of Fotheringhay is an event, with Robert Wilson and Romeo Castellucci of the Societas Raffaello Sanzio involved in creating the production. The opera is strict in form and deals a knockout to Rasche's elemental theater, making it tasteful but commonplace.
Remaining tickets for this compelling and thought-provoking staging can be found at salzburgfestival.at. Don't miss out on this intense and emotionally charged interpretation of Gaetano Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda" at the Salzburg Festival 2025.
The production of Gaetano Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda" at the Salzburg Festival 2025, with its psychological intensity and focus on the emotional lives of the two queens, offers a unique blend of entertainment and music. The opera, richly cast and featuring outstanding singing, provides a chilly classicism that elevates it from a traditional costume drama, making it accessible to a broader audience.
Rasche's rotating fate wheels set the singers in motion, creating a counterpoint to the musical impulse, thus combining symbolism, music, and theatrical dance in a thought-provoking way, offering an entertaining and musically enriching experience.
