Tchaikovsky Pique Dame opera to a libretto by Modest Tchaikovsky. Directed 2018 by Hans Neuenfels at the Großes Festpielhaus as part of the Salzburg Festival. Stars Brandon Jovanovich (Hermann), Evgenia Muraveva (Lisa), Vladislav Sulimsky (Count Tomsky/Plutus), Igor Golovatenko (Prince Yeletsky), Hanna Schwarz (Countess), Alexander Kravets (Chekalinsky), Stanislav Trofimov (Surin), Gleb Peryazev (Narumov), Pavel Petrov (Chaplitsky), and Oksana Volkova (Polina/Daphnis). Mariss Jansons conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor (Chorus Master Ernst Raffelsberger), and the Salzburger Festspiele und Theater Kinderchor (Chorus Master Wolfgang Götz). Set design by Christian Schmidt; costume design by Reinhard von der Thannen; lighting design by Stefan Bolliger; video designs by Nicolas Humbert and Martin Otter. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in Russian. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
David Baker, writing in the March 2020 Opera News, pages 54-55, can muster only faint praise for this “bleak” production which is perhaps symbolic of the addicted gambler’s dark existence toiling from 8 pm to 8 am at the gaming tables. It seems the only bright elements to punctuate the gloom are the Countess’s bedroom and Gherman’s “flaming red military uniform”, both of which you see in the YouTube trailer below. Baker does approve of Mariss Janson’s conducting, but that’s about all.
Here's the trailer from the Salzburg Festival:
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