Tcherniakov: War and Peace

Year: 2023
Country: Germany
Composer: Sergei Prokofiev
Stage Director and Stage Designer: Dmitri Tcherniakov
Conductor: Vladimir Jurowski
Costume designer: Elena Zaiceva
Lighting designer: Gleb Filshtinsky
Cast: Andrei Zhilikhovsky, Olga Kulchynska, Arsen Soghomonyan, Dmitry Ulyanov, Tómas Tómasson, Violeta Urmana
Genre: opera
Runtime: 231 min.
Age: 18+
This ‘War and Peace’ will go down as a milestone in Jurowski’s tenure at the State Opera, and in Tcherniakov’s often divisive career. Prokofiev’s opera War and Peace is one of the monumental works in opera history and rarely performed because of its sheer violence and complexity: More than 70 characters are cast for this four-hour opera, which is based on Tolstoy's masterpiece. With the appropriate preparation time, the Bayerische Staatsoper, one of the world’s top opera houses, has taken on this major work under the baton of its general music director Vladimir Jurowski and staged by Dmitri Tcherniakov, one of the most celebrated directors and born and raised in Russia – at the same time an expert on the subject.

“This War and Peace is a monumental achievement. See it if you can.” (Financial Times)

“The stomach-churning violence and bittersweet lyricism of [Jurowski’s] approach to the score get under your skin and stay there” (Financial Times)