New Wozzeck at the Salzburg Theatre

Aspekte Festival 2012

From 11 May the Salzburg Theatre is staging a new production of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck in the scaled-down version by Canadian composer John Rea. As numerous successful performances internationally since the 1955 première have already proven, Rea has succeeded perfectly in reworking Berg’s masterpiece as a compact and more concentrated version for 21 musicians, which forfeits none of the original’s timbral riches.

He notes that “Berg’s instrumental colours, as well as the actual registers used in the score, should be preserved as far as possible”.

Alban Berg: Wozzeck
opera in 3 acts
revised version for 21 instruments
arranged by John Rea (1995)
1 2 3 2 - 2 1 1 0 - perc(2), hp, pno, str
P: 11/05/2012 @ Salzburg Theatre, Aspekte Festival
Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, cond. Leo Hussain
Production: Amélie Niermeyer

further performances: 13/05, 19/05, 22/05, 24/05 and 01/06