Christian Thielemann conducts this Staatskapelle Dresden production of Richard Strauss' chamber opera. The opera follows events at the home of the wealthiest man in Vienna, who has booked both a comedy burlesque act and a serious opera group for entertainment. When the dinner runs long he declares that both forms of entertainment must take place at the same time - much to the chagrin of the opera's proud young composer. Filmed live in Baden-Baden on Feb. 25 by the veteran director Brian Large, Renée Fleming makes her debut in the role of Ariadne together with fellow key Strauss interpreters Sophie Koch and Christian Thielemann, following on from their Rosenkavalier triumph. Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden, the orchestra to whom Strauss dedicated his Alpine Symphony and which premiered Feuersnot, Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier and Daphne.
Christian Thielemann
as Conductor
Renée Fleming
as Ariadne/Prima Donna
Eike Wilm Schulte
as Musiklehrer
Sophie Koch
as Komponist
Robert Dean Smith
as Bacchus/The Tenor
Jane Archibald
as Zerbinetta
René Kollo
as Haushofmeister
Kevin Conners
as Brighella
Steven Humes
as Truffaldino
Lenneke Ruiten
as Echo
Christina Landshamer
as Naiad
Rachel Frenkel
as Dryad
