Szymanowski: Król Roger (The Royal Opera)

Mariusz Kwiecień (Roger II); Saimir Pirgu (Shepherd); Georgia Jarman (Roxana); Kim Begley (Edrisi); Alan Ewing (Archbishop); Agnes Zwierko (Deaconess);

Kasper Holten’s production (The Royal Opera’s first) of Król Roger (King Roger) brought the opera back to the London stage after an absence of almost 40 years. Karol Szymanowski’s masterpiece powerfully presents the dilemmas of culture versus nature and man versus beast, and movingly depicts King Roger’s inner struggles as he moves from an impossible life of repressed desires to the other extreme, giving in to his own demons. Meanwhile Roger’s people, seduced by the promises of the mysterious Shepherd, are drawn towards totalitarianism and repression. Antonio Pappano conducts Szymanowksi’s opulent and beautiful score, with a cast including Mariusz Kwiecien as Roger (one of the greatest interpreters of the role today), Saimir Pirgu as the Shepherd, and Georgia Jarman in her Royal Opera debut as Roger’s loving queen Roxana.

Reviews

"... directed with flair, clarity and intelligence by Kasper Holten. Steffen Aarfing’s setting of a tiered arena dominated by a massive sculpted head is enormously impressive..." (The Daily Telegraph ★★★★★)

"... a musical treat ... What the performance confirms is the beauty of much of the music. Antonio Pappano shapes it unerringly, fusing its separate stylistic elements" (The Guardian ★★★★)

"The opening of Szymanowski’s rarely performed masterpiece Król Roger is one of the most stirring in the entire repertoire. The hieratic choral chanting of the Byzantine Mass is exhilaratingly matched, in Kasper Holten’s probing production of this psychodrama, by the gradual revelation of a monumental head" (The Evening Standard ★★★★)

"an operatic experience that leaves you breathless in the moment, but with plenty still to ponder the next day." (Arts Desk ★★★★★)