Dhe Bregenz Festival has for some time always opened with a box-office hit from the music theater on the lake stage and the next day with a rarity from the opera in the Festspielhaus. Due to the pandemic, the production of Giacomo Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly”, which was already planned for last summer, had to be postponed. So it came about that Andreas Homoki’s open-air production of this “Japanese tragedy” premiered just one day before the piece that had been premiered in 1903 at La Scala in Milan instead of the planned premiere of “Butterfly”. Because Puccini was not able to complete his score in time, the opera “Siberia” (“Siberia”) by his colleague Umberto Giordano (1867 to 1948), who was nine years his junior, was staged as a substitute. The libretto was by Luigi Illica, who, together with Giuseppe Giacosa, had also written the verses for Puccini’s novelty, which was not presented until 1904.
In Bregenz, the young Russian director Vasily Barkhatov was entrusted with the production of Giordano’s rarely performed work. Conductor Valentin Uryupin, lighting designer Alexander Sivaev, film producer Pavel Kapinos, cameraman Sergey Ivanov and tenor Alexander Mikhailov are also from Russia. In contrast to some colleagues in Germany and Switzerland, director Elisabeth Sobotka does not see this as a problem in view of the Russian war against Ukraine. She saw no reason to exchange numerous works by Russian composers that are on the program for other events at her festival this summer. As Conductor in Residence, Enrique Mazzola, who alternates musical direction with Yi-Chen Lin, will conduct Peter Tchaikovsky’s fantasy “The Tempest” and Dmitri Shostakovich’s tenth symphony in the first orchestral concert. Sobotka relies on long-term planning and the freedom of art, which should not be taken hostage. In addition, they spoke to all the Russian interpreters performing in Bregenz. None of them defended Putin’s attack. It’s important to keep one hand outstretched.
Giordano’s “Siberia” varies the topos of the development of an opera character from whore to saint, popular since Verdi’s “Traviata”. As a naive girl, Stephana was seduced by Gleby. Both were born “at the bottom” and strive “up”. Trained as a courtesan, Gleby hired out the young woman to Prince Alexis in St. Petersburg, which enabled him to lead a luxurious life. When Stephana falls in love with the young lieutenant Vassili, she hides her double life from him. Before the latter is to go to war, however, he finds out about the matter with Alexis, kills the opponent and is sentenced to forced labor in a Siberian penal camp. Stephana is tired of her boring everyday life and follows her lover into exile. Later, Gleby, who also has a criminal record, appears there. Stephana refuses to flee with him. Instead, she would like to use the escape route he experienced together with Vassili. Gleby betrays her to the guards pursuing the couple in revenge. Stephana is shot, Vassili is brought back to the camp.
