2013 Salzburg Festival:
Comedy by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Incidental music by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847)
Translation and edition by Henry Mason
Theseus has defeated the Amazon queen Hippolyta in battle; now their wedding is imminent. In the flurry of activity of the last preparations for the feast, a father turns up whose daughter loves the wrong man. Hence Theseus is supposed to sentence the unruly young woman – her name is Hermia – to death. But she escapes to find her lover, Lysander, at night in the woods where he is furiously pursued both by his jilted rival and that young man’s erstwhile lover.
Meanwhile a group of artisans are rehearsing a play that they want to perform on the occasion of their Duke’s wedding. Added to which, Oberon and Titania, the fairy King and Queen, are quarrelling and wily Puck haunts the place with his anarchic mischief...
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare masterfully ties together these complex layers of action to form an organic whole. But even if the comedy at first seems simple and plausible enough – on closer scrutiny it displays the complexity and ambiguity inherent only in dreams.
Michael Rotschopf, Theseus / Oberon
Karoline Eichhorn, Hippolyta / Titania
Christian Higer, Egeus / Old Fairy
Tanja Raunig, Hermia
Daniel Jeroma, Lysander
Claudius von Stolzmann, Demetrius
Eva Maria Sommersberg, Helena
Markus Meyer, Puck
Raphael Clamer, Quince
Paul Herwig, Bottom (Pyramus)
Barbara Spitz, Snouz (Wall) / Mustardseed
Christian Graf, Flute (Thisbe) / Cobweb
Mathias Schlung, Snug (Lion) / Peaseblossom
Reinhold G. Moritz, Starveling (Moon)/Moth
Luke Giacomin, Joaquín Fernández, Dancer
Chiara Skerath, Sophie Rennert, Fairies / Ladies in Waiting
Henry Mason,
director
Jan Meier,
dets and costumes
Mario Ilsanker,
lighting
Francesc Abós,
choreography
Matt McKenzie for Autograph,
sound
Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg
Ivor Bolton,
conductor