OTELLO
opera by Giuseppe Verdi
WORLD PREMIERE April 2025
Conductor Sasha Yankevych
Director Frank Hilbrich
Stage Sebastian Hannak
Costumes Lara Duymus
Stage Sebastian Hannak
Costumes Lara Duymus
Lightdesign Christian Kemmetmüller
Dramaturgy Brigitte Heusinger
As a raging storm breaks on Cyprus, the governor Otello returns victorious from battle. But there is another storm brewing. Iago leads his chief to believe his wife Desdemona is unfaithful. As these manipulations decay Otello’s trust in those he loves, he has to confront his most fatal enemy: his own jealousy. Verdi’s monumental retelling of Shakespeare’s masterpiece offers to explore good and evil as well as the downfall of a celebrated leader.
Although Otello’s character is a originally described a person of color, opera producers of today tend to cast a singer first and foremost according to the specific sound of their voice rather than the similarity of their racial identity to a character. This means the tenor cast as Otello is not always a person of color—a fact that has certain implications in terms of representation and diversity within our current cultural climate.
We tried to find our own way in this question of racial identity. In the beginning we see a young boy of color running into the vast darkness- implying a relation to the following story of isolation, marginalization, and suspicion.
The space i created is an abstract, stark white box with a huge lighting disk of 8m diameter with LED Lines in RGBWW that represents different things: a huge Spotlight that shines on the hero Otello, a warm sun for Otello and Desdemonas´ love,
a midnight moon under which the conspiracy unfolds....It being flown away, we are left with a black hole that shows us different scenarios- from a realistic kitchen to a festive red curtain. The sublime mechanical movement of the disc gives a feeling of a machinery set in motion that the characters cannot escape. The chorus that plays a crucial role as society is positioned near the audience- in the beginning they occupy the first two rows, then move between stage and auditorium evoking a feeling of closeness to the unfolding tragedy and creating a massive sound effect. In the end, we see a perplexed society, unable to grasp all that has happend. A great tragedy and a great piece of musical drama that leaves us with a call for action in our own lives.
