Oct. 10 – After the great success of his La Bohème at the Salzburg Festival earlier this year, the 37 year old Italian director Damiano Michieletto will present another Puccini masterpiece, il Trittico, at the Vienna Theater an der Wien. Tonight, for the three pieces, Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi, ORF Radio-Sumphonierochester Wien and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor will be directed by the Israeli Rani Calderon, taking over for Kirill Petrenko, who is unwell. Michieletto declares, “these three unique pieces by Puccini deal with homicide, suicide and a dark comedy situation. I tried to deepen this darker aspect, so that the violence and cynicism of human nature would emerge. In Tabarro, set in an industrial port, the world’s sufferance is exposed, with oppressed slaves who express their desire for freedom through sexual acts. Instead, Suor Angelica is a prisoner in a penitent environment – she didn’t choose her vocation, she is there to be punished for her past sins. Finally, Gianni Schicchi portrays the struggle for money between the heirs of a rich man – it’s a funny, yet vicious story.
