DVD + Blu-Ray:
Verdi: Otello from Salzburg Festival

A superb new Otello from the Salzburg Easter Festival.

“Cura is a commanding Otello with his richly coloured tenor and both fragile delicacy and fiery ardour” (Südwestpresse). “Röschmann as Desdemona guarantees effortless perfection” (Neue Musikzeitung). “Álvarez as Iago would be hard to surpass”. This Salzburg production – featuring “a cast worthy of any festival” (Abendzeitung) – is conducted by Christian Thielemann, who displays a command of Verdian tragedy to match his celebrated sovereignty in Wagner. He and his great Dresden Staatskapelle, a consummate opera ensemble, “achieve wonders” (Die Presse), “generating Italian ‘Musikdrama’ with their incandescence and precise nuances” (Abendzeitung). In his fascinating staging, director Vincent Boussard integrates video with set and lighting design to create an idealized visual context for what he calls Otello’s “conflict of ancient and modern, of 2D and 3D”.

Boussard’s Otello is above all: aesthetic. The nobly designed costumes are from the Parisian fashion designer Christian Lacroix, with whom Boussard has been cooperating for many years. Special attention is given to the handkerchief in this production, the leitmotiv object in which Otello proves the supposed deceit of his wife Desdemona.

Original title Verdi: Otello
Genre Opera
Recording location Osterfestspiele Salzburg, Großes Festspielhaus, March 2016
Duration 147 mins
Production Company A production of Unitel in co-production with ORF/3sat and in cooperation with the Salzburg Easter Festival
Composer Giuseppe Verdi
Orchestra / Band Staatskapelle Dresden
Conductor Christian Thielemann
Stage Director Vincent Boussard
Costumes Christian Lacroix
Soloist José Cura, Dorothea Röschmann, Carlos Álvarez, Benjamin Bernheim, Christa Mayer, Georg Zeppenfeld