Tchaikovsky: The Queen of Spades *****
Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam, 9th June 2016
“Wept terribly when Hermann gave up the ghost,” wrote Tchaikovsky in his diary. What was it that drove the composer to identify so closely with such an anti-hero, whose addiction to gambling in The Queen of Spades costs the lives of his mistress and the countess, her elderly grandmother? The role of the outsider struck a chord with Tchaikovsky, whose homosexuality alienated him from society. Stefan Herheim takes that identification as the central idea in his remarkable new production at Dutch National Opera that places the composer centre-stage, trapped by his circumstances like a caged bird.
Vladimir Stoyanov (Yeletsky)
© Monika Forster | Dutch National Opera
Read the full review on Bachtrack.
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