Switzerland Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier: Soloists, Chorus, Children’s Chorus and Extras Association of Zurich Opera / Joana Mallwitz (conductor). Zurich Opera, 21.9.2025. (MF)
Matthias Schulz, Zurich Opera’s new General Director, starts his tenure and the season with a musically brilliant and spectacularly colourful Der Rosenkavalier.
The opera, composed by Richard Strauss to a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, triumphantly premiered at the Königliches Opernhaus in Dresden in 1911. It is a loose adaptation of the eigteenth-century novel Les Aventures du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. Hofmannsthal sets the richly textured story in a Maria Theresia-period Vienna. It revolves around the aging Marschallin, her young lover Octavian, the boorish Baron Ochs and the virtuous Sophie von Faninal, whom Ochs intends to marry, trading his aristocratic heritage for a sizeable dowry. The plot intertwines humour with weighty themes such as the transience of time and love, infidelity and selflessness.
Following their more intense Elektra, Strauss and Hofmannsthal sought to compose a lighter, more comedic work. The opera was celebrated for its elegant, witty and bittersweet portrayal of the passing of time and the shift in social mores among the aristocracy. One of the work’s distinctive features is its focus on female roles, namely the Marschallin, Octavian (a trouser role for mezzo-soprano) and Sophie.
This Zurich production is very much a female one, with Joana Mallwitz conducting and Lydia Steier directing. In addition, a team of seven women assists artist Gottfried Helnwein, who devised the overall set and costume concept.
The staging is a true feast for the eyes, occasionally bordering on the overwhelming. The costumes and colour design chart the characters’ emotional journey. In contrast to their raucous lovemaking on the Marschallin’s elevated pedestal bed, she and Octavian begin the evening visually drained. The characters’ attire, their faces, the windowless room and the lighting are all muted in pale blue.
As the story develops, so does Octavian’s vibrancy. In the second act alongside Sophie he glimmers with hints of radiant silver and blazes into a commanding wine-red glow in the finale. The three acts resemble a passage through Indian Holi celebrations with set and cast drowned in coloured powder. The second act in Faninal’s palace is dominated by shrieking yellow. The third and final act takes place in a red industrial hall that doubles as Ochs’s torture chamber. Octavian appears toward the end, clad in red like Ochs. Are we witnessing a new generation of misogynists in the making?
Director Lydia Steier’s staging is direct, action-packed, even violent at times. Still, there is room for moments of introspection. She brings to life the questions the piece addresses. What happens when one is no longer loved? When one no longer has any value? When one is no longer beautiful or, like Faninal, afraid of losing one’s social status? The characters speak to each other endlessly, but ultimately, they are only concerned with themselves and remain solitary. Steier’s staging skilfully brings to life the Rosenkavalier‘s central theme, life’s transitoriness.
The cast is grand. Diana Damrau’s rich and tender soprano voice and physical presence embody the Marschallin’s dignity tinged with a poignant vulnerability. Her introspective arias are deeply touching. Angela Brower as Octavian captures his youthful ardour and impulsive passion with luminous tone and dramatic intensity. Her acting is infectious. Emily Pogorelc’s portrayal of the youthful Sophie was marked by fresh innocence and captivating charm. Her Sophie undertakes an impressive journey from the objectified girl to becoming a young lady who grabs destiny by the horns, both musically and in her acting. Lydia Steier is no fan of Ochs. Günther Groissböck delivered the lecherous old libertine as no doubt he was intended to be by director Steier. The chemistry among the leads was palpable. A strong cast of supporting roles, not least Bo Skovhus as Faninal, enriched the complex emotional layers of desire, regret and hope.
Conductor Joana Mallwitz and the Zurich Opera Orchestra unleash the score’s full breadth and depth. Mallwitz’s conducting brought out the lushness and delicate textures of Strauss’s music with radiant clarity, fuelling both the grandeur and the intimate, dreamlike moments. The Zurich Opera orchestra responded with nuance and vitality, perfectly complementing the vocal performances.
Even if some might feel overwhelmed by the action on the stage, this Rosenkavalier was a thoroughly engaging and outstandingly performed production that honours the enduring allure of Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s masterpiece with artistic sophistication and heartfelt immediacy.
The Zurich Rosenkavalier is available on arte.tv until 20 January 2026 and in-house performances run until 26 October 2025.
Michael Fischer
Featured Image: [right] Angela Brower (Octavian) and Emily Pogorelc (Sophie) © Matthias Baus
Production:
Director and Set designer – Gottfried Helnwein
Set assistant – Dieter Eisenmann, Rosa Maria Presta
Costume assistant – Louise-Fee Nitschke
Lighting – Dieter Eisenmann, Rosa Maria Presta
Video – Tabea Rothfuchs, Ruth Stofer
Choreography – Tabatha McFadyen
Chorus director – Klaas-Jan de Groot
Dramaturgy – Kathrin Brunner
Cast:
Marschallin – Diana Damrau
Baron Ochs – Günther Groissböck
Octavian – Angela Brower
Herr von Faninal – Bo Skovhus
Sophie – Emily Pogorelc
Marianne Leitmetzerin – Christiane Kohl
Valzacchi – Nathan Haller
Annina – Irène Friedli
A Police inspector – Stanislav Vorbyov
The Marschallin’s Major-Domo – Johan Krogius
Faninal’s Major-Domo – Daniel Norman
A Notary – Max Bell
An Innkeeper – Johan Krogius
A Singer – Omer Kobiljak
A Milliner – Rebeca Olvera
Leopold – Sandro Howald
Three Noble orphans – Sylwia Salamonska-Baczyk, Thalia Cook-Hansen, Cashlin Oostindië
A Cattle dealer – Salvador Villanueva Zuzuarregui
Four Lackeys – Ping Zhang, Jürgen Appel, Gerhard Nennemann, Wojciech Rasiak
Four Waiters – Utku Kuzuluk, Uwe Kosser, Kristof Dohms, Kai Florian Bischoff
Mohammed – Sebastian Künzler