Strauss: Ariadne on Naxos

For her new production of Strauss's opera "Ariadne auf Naxos", German director Katharina Thoma used Glyndebourne, the performance venue of this production, as a source of inspiration and set the action in an English country house in the war year 1940. This setting provides the perfect environment to move from the cheerful and humorous first part, which deals with the preparations for a private opera performance that is to be performed simultaneously with a comedy, to the serious tone of the second part. During the war, the country house is used as a home for evacuated children, and thus it is fundamental geopolitical matters that take their toll and force the artists to come to terms with reality. At the center of the lively cast is Ariadne, portrayed in a compelling way by the great Soile Isokoski, who, lonely and desperate, mourning her love Theseus, longs for death. Vladimir Jurowski conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra.