10.05.2025

NIKITA IVASECHKO as Britten's Demetrius in Graz

Benjamin Britten's adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream follows Shakespeare's dramaturgy in a cleverly abridged form and, with the exception of one movement added by Britten, adopts the language of the great master. Britten focuses on the fairy world of the forest, whose enchanting sound he pours into music, giving space to unusual instrumentation: a countertenor as Oberon, a colouratura soprano as Tytania, followed by the children's voices of the fairies.

The musical counterpart is provided by the theatre-playing craftsmen with coarser tones. The different sound worlds are also reflected in the orchestration, and so each world - that of the elves, the lovers and the troupe of craftsmen - has its own specific instruments.

Director Bernd Mottl focuses on the numerous varieties of love surrounding Hermia, Helena, Demetrius and Lysander, but also Oberon and Tytania, and accompanies the lovers' journey through their trials and tribulations to the final resolution.

After Wolfram in Tannhäuser and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Nikita Ivasechko can now be seen in his third new production of the current season in his first year as a permanent member of the Graz Opera ensemble, this time portraying the young Athenian nobleman Demetrius, torn between Hermia and Helena in his turmoil of love.
 

Cast

Rafał Tomkiewicz, Oberon
Ekaterina Solunya, Tytania
Fausto Israel, Puck
Daeho Kim, Theseus
Mareike Jankowski, Hippolyta
Ted Black, Lysander
Nikita Ivasechko, Demetrius
Sofia Vinnik, Hermia
Sieglinde Feldhofer, Helena
Ivan Oreščanin, Bottom
Will Frost, Quince
Martin Fournier, Flute
Wilfried Zelinka, Snug
Euiyoung Peter Oh, Snout
Markus Butter, Starveling

Johannes Braun, Musical Direction
Friedrich Eggert, Stage
Alfred Mayerhofer, Costumes
Friedrich Eggert, Lighting
Katharina Rückl, Dramaturgy
Andrea Fournier, Singing School