Salzburg Festival's BENVENUTO CELLINI

Performed at the Salzburg Festival

Conducted by Valery Gergiev

Directed by Philipp Stolzl

Cast: Burkhard Fritz, Laurent Naouri, Brindley Sherratt, Kate Aldrich

Running Time: 164 minutes plus intermission



Hector Berlioz's "Benvenuto Cellini, a French opera written in the 1830s, is so complex, richly detailed and prolifically imaginative that Berlioz's contemporaries often considered it unplayable. However, this is resoundingly proven false in the 2007 Salzburg Festival production of director Philipp Stölzl, conductor Valery Gergiev ("the wild man of music") and a high-caliber cast accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic and its chorus.

"Maija Kovalevska's Teresa is absolute star material, exuberant, charismatic, and musically assured, her Cellini, Burkhard Fritz, sings with meaty heroism. Laurent Naouri makes a hilariously villainous Fieramosca, without compromising on detail or beauty of tone, and Kate Aldrich, as Cellini's faithful assistant Ascanio, sings with silvery perfection."

Shirley Apthrop - Bloomberg News