Santa Fe Opera 1: The Balancing Act

The first proper collaboration between Strauss and von Hofmannsthal -after Elektra, which was the setting of an extant play- resulted in an improbable gem: if the situations in Der Rosenkavalier lean in the direction of comedy, its light mood and nostalgic comforts are underscored by a strain of melancholy that offsets its potential for saccharine sentimentality. The new production at this summer’s Santa Fe Opera, directed by Bruno Ravella, managed to capture much of the opera’s fine emotional balance, but was perhaps even more notable for the quality of its musical performances, especially the Marschallin of Rachel Willis-Sørensen and the taut musical direction of Karina Canellakis.

Since its foundation in the late 1950s the Santa Fe Opera has had a special relationship with the works of Strauss: it has been the site of no fewer than six…