Giacomo Puccini: La Fanciulla del West – Jonas Kaufmann & Nina Stemme

Critics called this performance of Puccini’s rarely performed opera “La Fanciulla de West” at the Vienna State Opera a “direct hit”. The work, originally composed for the MET in New York, was premiered there in October 1913 and could be heard for the first time in Vienna 100 years later, in October 2013, with world star Jonas Kaufmann and Nina Stemme in the leading roles (Dick Johnson and Winnie, respectively). The director was Marco Arturo Marelli and he created “one of the most fascinating new productions in a long time” (according to the critics), in which he transferred the plot from 1850, the climax of the gold rush in the Wild West, to modern times (to a container village). Jonas Kaufmann was celebrated as the ideal cast: He gave the Dick Johnson powerful, tomasz Konieczny was his opponent, Sheriff Jack Rance, Norbert Ernst sang the Nick, Boaz Daniel the Sonora. Conductor Franz Welser-Möst was enthusiastically celebrated by the audience and the press.