Berlioz's Damnation de Faust opens Rome opera season with multimedia staging

The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma commenced its season on December 12, 2017, with a presentation of Hector Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust, under the direction of Damiano Michieletto. This premiere drew a larger crowd of political and cultural figures compared to La Scala's December 7 debut of Andrea Chénier. The cutting-edge, multimedia production, created in collaboration with Turin and Valencia, featured conductor Daniele Gatti and a talented cast, including tenor Pavel Cernoch as Faust, bass Alex Esposito as Méphistophélès, mezzo-soprano Veronica Simeoni as Marguerite, and bass Goran Juric. The modern interpretation portrays Faust as a victimized student. Although the performance received a ten-minute standing ovation, it faced some criticism for its contemporary approach. The article also explores the Faust myth in relation to economics and contrasts Goethe's theme of redemption with Marlowe's notion of damnation.