Berg's Wozzeck

Walk through the doors of Athens's brand new Greek National Opera (the ribbon was cut in 2017), a magnificent complex straight out of the mind of Italian architectural genius Renzo Piano. To mark its 80th year of existence, the opera company welcomes a new production of Berg's Wozzeck. Olivier Py's direction makes optimal use of a complex stage design by Pierre-André Weitz, where rooms and staircases tangle on a revolving stage, in a continuous cycle of doom... Vassilis Christopoulos directs a well-balanced performance of Berg's atonal score, while local superstar Tassis Christoyannis shines in the title role, along with Nadine Lehner and her delightfully rich tone.

Composed between 1912 and 1922, Wozzeck premiered in 1925 at the Berlin State Opera, with Erich Kleiber on the podium. Inspired by a Büchner play, the opera in three acts shows off Berg's genius in the development of musical structure, with each scene following a specific musical form: pavane, gavotte, passacaglia, polka, fugue... The opera uses Sprechgesang ("spoken song"), a technique popularized by Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire. Loosely based on real events, the work recounts the wicked tale of a young soldier’s descent into madness due to jealousy, among other things...