Lulu

Composer: Berg, Alban

Librettist/Text Author: Berg, Alban

Conductor: Albrecht, Marc

Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

A Fifteen-year-old Girl: Pictet, Emilie

A Groom: Burggraaf, Cora

A High-School Boy: Burggraaf, Cora

A Negro: Breslik, Pavol

A Theatrical Dresser: Burggraaf, Cora

Alwa: Piffka, Thomas

An Animal Tamer: Mayer, Thomas Johannes

An Athlete: Mayer, Thomas Johannes

Countess Geschwitz: Baumgartner, Tanja Ariane

Dr. Schon: Volle, Michael

Her Mother: Wulkopf, Cornelia

Jack the Ripper: Volle, Michael

Lulu: Petibon, Patricia

Schigolch: Grundheber, Franz

The Banker: Tzonev, Martin

The Manservant: Zednik, Heinz

The Marquis: Conrad, Andreas

The Painter: Breslik, Pavol

The Prince: Zednik, Heinz

The Theatre Manager: Tzonev, Martin

Stage Director: Nemirova, Vera

Television Director: Large, Brian

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Festival: Salzburg Festival

Venue: Felsenreitschule, Salzburg

Playing Time: 03:01:29

Catalogue Number: A04001537

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Alban Berg's Lulu is a rarely performed work that calls for a very large orchestra as well as a large cast of vocal soloists. Written in the 1930s, Lulu is the story of a lower-class girl who uses men as stepping-stones on her path to fame and fortune and who ultimately meets her own fate at the hands of Jack the Ripper. Lulu, a tragic creature and femme fatale - nobody could allegorize such a role better then Patricia Petibon. As a sensual, ethereally beautiful Lulu, she commands the public's attention in every scene.

Leading the Wiener Philharmoniker, conductor Marc Albrecht treats the rich sonorities of Berg's music as a natural extension of Wagner, Brahms and Strauss. He thus provides an ideal support for the two main protagonists of the work, which is next to Patricia Petibon's Lulu Michael Volle's Dr. Schon. She is complemented by Volle's powerful baritone as well as tenor Pavol Breslik, bass-baritone Franz Grundheber and Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as a heartrending Countess Geschwitz.

A particularly stunning feature of this production are the painted backdrops by Daniel Richter, one of the most internationally prized German painters of today. Whether depicting Lulu herself, a horde of menacing, grimacing faces or an eerie, stylized winter landscape, the gigantic backdrops dominate the stage and set the tone for the story.

Since the work was left incomplete at Berg's death, the missing third act was completed on the basis of Berg's sketches by Austrian composer Friedrich Cerha, who was awarded the renowned "Salzburg Music Award" in 2010.