DVD:
Hans Werner Henze / The Bassarids

Exclusive DVD pre-release in Salzburg and Vienna due to the Salzburg Festival 2019.

52 years after their premiere, Hans Werner Henze’s The Bassarids return, with Kent Nagano at the helm, to the Salzburg Festival for a rare revival of this modern classic in a highly dramatic psychological staging by Krzysztof Warlikowski. Aware of the story’s up-to-dateness, the director showcases the stark conctrast between Dionysus, who preaches intoxicating excesses and sensuality, and his cousin King Pentheus, who leads a life marked by purity and asceticism. The personified battle between the two protagonists leads the royal family at least into disaster.

Star conductor Kent Nagano, who was close to Henze, includes “The Judgment of Calliope” in the festival Bassarids, a 20-minute section included in the original score, which adds a new dimension to the opera’s presentation of the Dionysian cult. The performance at the Felsenreitschule had without exception an outstanding cast with the young US tenor Sean Panikkar in the role of Dionysus, Russel Braun as his opponent Pentheus but also Tanja Ariane Baumgartner and Vera-Lotte Böcker who has been singing at the highest level. To sum up: “A completely gripping new production” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

Cat. No.: 109422

Worldwide release on DVD and Blu-ray in September 2019.
Cat. No.: 109412 (DVD) | 109413 (Blu-ray)

Genre Opera
Recording location Salzburg Festival
Production year 2018
Duration 165 mins
Video format DVD / NTSC
Audio format PCM Stereo, Dolby Stereo
Composer Hans Werner Henze
Orchestra / Band Wiener Philharmoniker
Conductor Kent Nagano
Choir Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor
Stage Director Krzysztof Warlikowski
Soloist Sean Panikkar, Russell Braun, Williard White, Nikolai Schukoff, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner