Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Season 2025/26
“L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI”
Dramma giocoso in two acts, libretto by Angelo Anelli
Music by Gioachino Rossini
Mustafà TOMMASO BAREA
Haly ARTUR GARBAS
Lindoro JONAH HOSKINS
Taddeo MISHA KIRIA
Elvira HYE-YOUNG MOON
Zulma ARIANNA MANGANELLO
Isabella NADEZHDA KARYAZINA
Orchestra & Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Conductor Alessandro De Marchi
Chorus Master Jeremy Bines
Stage Director Rolando Villazón
Scenery Harald Thor
Costumes Brigitte Reiffenstuehl
Berlin, 8 March 2026
The myth of the ‘dumb tenor’ – the singer with resonance where his brains should be – should be laid to rest by Rolando Villazón’s new production of Rossini’s early masterpiece, L’Italiana in Algeri at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Villazón has cleverly reimagined Rossini’s somewhat embarrassing 1813 opera in Mexico City’s macho wrestling scene. Perhaps taking a cue from the German film director Werner Herzog, who likened opera’s athletic spectacle to wrestling’s popular drama, Villazón has set this opera in a milieu which legitimately mirrors the mythic macho and silliness of Mustafà without the baggage of social and political prejudice which the opera now carries. All of this is a production which is as exotically entertaining as Rossini doubtless originally intended. Villazón explains all this during the overture with an enjoyable projection on the curtain and the audience is welcomed into a well designed operatic version of a Mexico City wrestling palace where Mustafà holds court as a wrestling Don/Impresario. The languishing tenor Lindoro is a slave, not to a foreign civilization but to a lost wager and wrestling match. Isabella is indeed an Italian woman, but owns one of the few wrestling venues not controlled by Mustafà. This is rooted in the geography of Mexico City, which does have a ‘Little Italy’, and also serves to endow Isabella with both power and beauty, which she uses to good effect on the susceptible Mustafa. The opera, thus transformed, opens to a large operatic version of a Mexican wrestling hall, complete with a ring. Mustafa holds court and two professional wrestlers even compete in the ring, including loud body slams. Harald Thor’s sets, well served by Stefan Bolliger’s excellent lighting are inspired as well by classic Hollywood studios which include sets, cafeterias and offices, represented here by the ring, a bar, and Mustafà’s office. These change seamlessly on a rotating stage. They are operatically large yet do not dwarf the performers, and contain attractive and entertaining details such as a large wrestling mask which is often worn by wrestlers during matches. Mustafa’s over-muscular body suit got a laugh and served to accentuate Mustafa’s silly vanity, and Brigitte Reiffenstuel’s costumes nicely balanced local color with the opera’s dramatic needs. Villazon handled the men’s chorus and the many extras well. He displays remarkable stagecraft but occasionally overdoes it, for example in the Act I Finale, when he seeks to outdo even Rossini’s music with loud and frenetic action. The choreography of Ramses Sigl and the authentic wrestling coaching of the German Wrestling Federation’s Ahmed Chaer added a welcome degree of authenticity. The music from both the orchestra and soloists was pure Rossini, and conductor Alessandro De Marchi got a post romantic orchestra to play the quietest of tones to rousing Rossini climaxes without ever being bombastic. De Marchi masterfully managed the crescendi and sudden tempo changes so integral to authentic Rossini style. He inspired modern string sections to play with well balanced restraint and ensemble and elicited beautiful woodwind solos, especially before Isabella’s Act II aria, Per lui che adoro. However, the continuo for the recitatives, consisting of violoncello, contrabass and Hammerklavier, which should have added musical authenticity, was not as successful. Rossini himself did not write the recitatives, but the Hammerklavier did serve the very useful purpose of improvising while Mustafa was late for his entrance to the famous ‘Pappataci’ ensemble. The men’s chorus, led by Jeremy Bines, was by contrast spectacular, tenors ringing and basses blending. The singers, many of them still at the early stages of their careers, handled Rossini’s vocal demands with accuracy, clarity and even character. Tommaso Barea’s Mustafà was remarkable for both vocal prowess and comedic bent. A bass voice which so accurately handles Rossini is unusual enough, Barea managed to be silly, pompous and sympathetic. The Isabella of the young rising mezzo Nadezhda Karyazina was absolutely accurate with all of Rossini’s fioratura. She has a clean powerful top and an impressive chest voice when she chooses. Tenor Josh Hoskins also handled the vocal demands unproblematically. Impressive especially in the very top register, it is a lighter voice lacking vocal intensity or ravishing musicality in the legato middle voice phrases. As Taddeo Misha Kiria possessed the most luxurious voice onstage, which made for a strong character all by itself. Mustafà’s wife, Elvira, sung by Hye-Young Moon, was adequate to the part. Villazón appears to fully appreciate and utilize his performers gifts, and special kudos should be given to Arianna Manganello and Artur Garbas whose lively stage presence and good singing made the small roles of Zulma and Haly much more important than usual. One should mention the presence of the two wrestlers, both stars in their own right: El Comandante Rambo, and Pascal Spalter. Their presence turned an evening of rather archaic culture into an evening of cultural entertainment. No small trick for a (not so) dumb tenor. Photo ©Eike Walkenhorst