Betrothal in a Monastery

Обручение в монастыре

At the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Dmitri Tcherniakov stages Prokofiev’s lyrical comic opera "Betrothal in a Monastery" under Daniel Barenboim’s baton. The Russian director recasts the complete opera as therapeutic role play for “Opera-Addict Anonymus”. Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin and “the uniformly excellent cast” (Financial Times), led by Aida Garifullina, Bogdan Volkov and Stephan Rügamer among others.

"Musically, this performance is a celebration in every respect", praises BR Klassik.

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Actors

Mendoza

Goran Jurić

Don Jerome

Stephan Rügamer

Luisa

Aida Garifullina

La Duenna

Violeta Urmana

Antonio

Bogdan Volkov

Ferdinand

Andrei Zhilikhovsky

Crew

Composer

Sergei Prokofiev

Stage Director

Dmitri Tcherniakov

Conductor

Daniel Barenboim

Costume designer

Elena Zaiceva

Lighting designer

Gleb Filshtinsky

About

"It’s like champagne! From this, I could make an opera in the style of Mozart or Rossini!" When Sergei Prokofiev became acquainted with the subject of a comedy of errors from the late 18th century in the spring of 1940, he was immediately inspired to turn it into a stage work: "The fine humour, enchanting lyricism, incisive characterisation of the figures, the dynamics of the plot, the suspenseful structure, in which the audience waits for every twist and turn with interest and impatience", were what attracted him to it.

His concise, witty and charming music testifies to the inspiration he received from this material. Several couples who, after many confusions and entanglements, finally find each other, and deceptive manipulators, who get caught in their own nooses, offer much comedic potential which Prokofiev fully exploits – in the form of an opera full of lyricism and theatricality.