Description:

2022 Bregenz Music Festival at the Festival Theatre Giordano, "Siberia," an opera on the lake, a story of social decline and tragic love. The festival was started in 1946 in Bregenz, located on the western edge of Austria near the border between Germany and Switzerland, and was funded by the wealthy citizens of the city. This video shows Giordano's opera "Siberia" performed at the Bregenz Festival in August 2022. The composer, Umberto Giordano (1867-1948), is one of the leading composers of verismo opera. The script was written by Luigi Illica, a successful writer at the time who also wrote the scripts for Puccini's "La bohème" and "Tosca. The premiere was held at La Scala in Milan on December 19, 1903, in place of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly," and was a great success. It was also performed in Buenos Aires, New York, and Sao Paulo, and received high acclaim. Gabriel Fauré, who saw a performance in Paris in 1905, praised the second act as "the most attractive music that modern dramatic music can produce. On the other hand, "Madama Butterfly," premiered in February of the following year, was a disappointment. The Bregenz Festival in 2022 will present both works, offering a glimpse into a piece of history. Siberia" is a tragic love story set in Russia and Siberia in the first half of the 19th century, revolving around the decline of a society in which a woman rises to the top of the social ladder in St. Petersburg, only to die in a remote Siberian penal colony. Giordano's music is romantic and powerful, with Russian folk songs throughout and Russian-style musical motifs. The dramatic Stefana is played beautifully by Canadian soprano Amber Bride, who makes her Bregenz Festival debut with this production. The young officer Vasili, who falls in love with Stefana, is played by Aleksandr Mikhailov. He sings the aria, which requires a great deal of vocal ability, with great eloquence.Vasily Barkatov's staging also shows Stefana's desperate situation from the outset, thanks to the dark color scheme of the stage. King International