Jules Massenet: Thaïs

About this event

The delicate and pompous Méditation for solo violin and orchestra from Thaïs is known all over the world. With its new, shortened production, stage director Peter Konwitschny succeeds in saving the honour of this turgid fin-de-siècle drama and proves that this opera has much more to offer than this hit of the promenade concerts: it is one of Massenet’s masterpieces next to Manon and Werther. The director removes all the oriental pomp from the play about a luxury prostitute who is set on the path of virtue by a monastic brother and relies on reduction: the stage is mostly almost empty, the obligatory ballet as well as whole scenes are cut. The staging is entirely focused on the ideological and emotional duel between the title character Thaïs and the monk Athanaël. If the seductive woman stands symptomatically for a superficial upper class and money, the man represents deep religiousness and renunciation of the world. The moralist Konwitschny deeply distrusts both spheres… 

Featuring

Leo Hussain: Conductor

Peter Konwitschny: Stage Director

Nicole Chevalier: Thaïs

Josef Wagner: Athanaël

Roberto Saccà: Nicias

Carolina Lippo: Crobyle

Sofia Vinnik: Myrtale / Albine

Güneş Gürle: Palémon

Samuel Wegleitner: Amor

Erwin Ortner, Roger Díaz-Cajamarca, Viktor Mitrevski: Chorus Masters

Arnold Schoenberg Chor

ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien

Repertoire

1. Jules Massenet: Thaïs

Duration: approx. 111 minutes.

Subtitles available in English and German.

This video is provided free of charge as a teaser video as part of a cooperation with UNITEL in connection with the relaunch of myfidelio.

Dieses Video wird im Rahmen einer Kooperation mit UNITEL im Zusammenhang mit dem Relaunch von myfidelio als Teaser-Video kostenlos zur Verfügung gestellt.