FULL SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS (Rufus Wainwright) Berlin 2009 Robert Wilson, Berliner Ensemble

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS   
• Composer: Wainwright Rufus, Bryan Senti  
• Libretto: William Shakespeare    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Berlin, Germany, Berliner Ensemble  
• Recorded: April 12, 2009
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Katharina Susewind, Anke Engelsmann, Ruth Glöss, Anna Graenzer, Ursula Höpfner-Tabori, Traute Hoess, Inge Keller, Krista Birkner, Dejan Bucin, Jürgen Holtz, Christopher Nell, Ulrich Brandhoff, Georgios Tsivanoglou, Georgette Dee, Winfried Goos.
• Conductor:   
• Orchestra: Isang Quartett  
• Stage Director: Robert Wilson  
• Stage Designer: Robert Wilson  
• Costume Designer: Jacques Reynaud  
• Lighting Designer: Andreas Fuchs  

Information about the Recording

• Published by: ZDF Theater  
• Date Published: 2010  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: yessubs, desubs, gensubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  The Bard is modern and alive than ever in Robert Wilson’s Shakespeare’s Sonnets, a contemporary take on 25 specially chosen sonnets from Shakespeare’s cannon. Set to a sweeping score composed by Rufus Wainwright, a genre-bending mix of medieval German Minnesang, classical, pop, and cabaret rock is performed by the actors of the Berliner Ensemble. The sonnets were pared down and selected by dramaturge Jutta Ferbers who deftly adapted these captivating poems that were originally unintended for the theater. The production was staged in 2009 for the fourth centennial of the publishing of the Sonnets. For this production, Wilson embraces the prevalence of subversive gender conventions embedded in Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets which move fluidly between male and female objects of desire. Several quintessential characters make an appearance; from boy to fool, from Cupid to the mysterious Dark Lady, from the Queen of England to Shakespeare himself. Wilson’s signature sculpting of time, light, and gesture combined with Wainwright’s romantic, sensitive, and at times disturbingly dark score transports audiences to a dreamlike place suspended in time.

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