Die Tote Stadt

“Unashamedly emotion-packed. The score is rich in melody, kaleidoscopic sonorities, and atmospheric theatricality. George Manahan conducts the score with remarkable and commendable tenacity.” — The New York Times

“A stunningly beautiful production.” — Newsday

“Imaginative.” — New York Magazine

How faithful must we be to memory? The great Austrian-American composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold wrestles with this question in his Freudian thriller about a young widower’s unhealthy obsession with his dead wife’s double. This City Opera signature piece is a pioneering multimedia experience. Ronald Chase interlaces film, drama, sensational music, and images from the great Belgian artist James Ensor into a haunting experience reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock.

Puccini called Die tote Stadt “the strongest hope of new German music.” The then 23-year-old Korngold’s sumptuously orchestrated score evokes all the bittersweet romance and psychological ferment of turn-of-the-century Vienna. Pouring out lush melodies like “Marietta’s Lied” and the “Tanzlied,” the young Korngold would soon make a short leap from Viennese prodigy to seminal Hollywood film composer.

Schedule

Sunday, September 24 @ 1:30PM
Wednesday, September 27 @ 7:30PM
Friday, September 29 @ 8:00PM
Thursday, October 5 @ 7:30PM
Sunday, October 8 @ 1:30PM
Saturday, October 14 @ 1:30PM