Mozart & Salieri

“Villainy and genius can never be compatible?“ asks Salieri, as he bids Mozart farewell. The opera follows the apocryphal legend that Antonio Salieri poisoned Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart out of jealousy over his talent. Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) used the short play Mozart and Salieri by Alexander Pushkin as libretto for his opera, which also served Peter Shaffer as inspiration to his famous stage play and film Amadeus.

The opera takes place in the theatre bar of Broadway Theatre Catford and will be accompanied by piano. The immersive production uses the whole space as stage, the story unfolds around the audience. “I’m interested in exploring new spaces for opera and theatrical projects, hence the decision to set this opera in the bar rather than in a conventional theatre space, and to let the action take place amongst the audience“, says Schermann, who previously directed this opera at the prestigious Skybar Vienna in 2010.

In a new English translation and staged by an award-winning team around musical director Andrew Charity (MD of the OLIVIER-award winning La Boheme production in 2011) this take on the famous story of Mozart and Salieri captivates its audience, making them witnesses, if not conspirators of Salieri's plan to poison Mozart.