Event Calendar
Offenbach’s Les Contes D’Hoffmann
Saturday, October 05, 2024, 12:55 pm
The Live in HD season opens with Offenbach’s fantastical final work, which takes inspiration from the successful play based on the stories of visionary German writer E. T. A. Hoffmann.
Following his celebrated performance in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette (2024), French tenor Benjamin Bernheim stars as the tormented poet. Among the ensemble of leading artists is Hoffmann’s trio of lovers, sung by soprano Erin Morley as the mechanical doll Olympia, soprano Pretty Yende as the diva Antonia, and mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine as the Venetian seductress Giulietta. Bass-baritone Christian Van Horn appears as the Four Villains, and mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya makes an important company debut as Hoffmann’s friend Nicklausse.
Marco Armiliato conducts Tony Award–winning director Bartlett Sher’s evocative production, which conjures a world of magic and delusion, aspiring romance and thwarted love, hope and deceit.
Offenbach’s music is diverse, ranging seamlessly from refined lyricism to a broader sort of vaudeville, with the extreme and whimsical moods of the story reflected in the eclectic score. The composer’s operetta background is apparent throughout.