Opera Director Randi Stene about Otello

Our opera house is situated along a cultural axis that, in recent years, has become a splendid museum trail – from MUNCH in Bjørvika, via the new National Museum, to Astrup Fearnley at Tjuvholmen. Some might think of opera as a museum for old works. In a way, that's true, but at the same time, it's entirely wrong. The works we present are not finished – they are recreated anew in the encounter between the stories they carry, us who bring them to the stage, and you who experience them. 

The operas we encounter – and the stories of how they have been interpreted and staged over time – often come with problematic baggage. Otello is one such work, in which the main character is different because of his skin color and ethnicity, Muslims are the enemies, and the woman is an idealized white beauty who sacrifices everything for her husband – even her life. 

Some may argue that such operas should remain in the archives. We do not agree. The challenges these works bring are a reason to study them more closely – not as pieces on display in a museum, but as encounters between people and their complexities. This requires us to step into the spaces they open, as we do in Georg Zlabinger's new production of Otello. 

When the curtain rises, we are met with something that may resemble a museum. Soon, it turns out to be more of an exploratorium, inviting us to examine some of the many layers that make up Verdi's Otello. 

This opera shines a spotlight on themes that remain urgently relevant: the consequences of war, religious conflicts, violence in close relationships, and the feeling of being an outsider. Not least, it depicts how jealousy – a feeling many recognize but few admit to having – can drive us to the limits of what is human. At the same time, we can view Otello as part of Western representations of the rest of the world, dating back long before Shakespeare’s play, on which the opera’s libretto is based. 

When we see Otello, it is possible to perceive notice several things at once. That is precisely what makes it a work that has withstood the test of time: it is told in new versions and continues to feel relevant. 

One thing is what we see, but what do we hear? With Otello, not only does Verdi’s magnificent career culminate, but so does a long-held Italian operatic tradition, which has demonstrated how music brings emotions to life – even the ones that are dark and taboo. 

Otello is a through-composed work, where the music closely follows the drama. Without warning, we are thrown into a violent wall of sound during a storm and embark on a detailed musical journey toward a tragedy – from which there is no escape. 

This intense experience is created by the Opera Orchestra, the Opera Chorus and the Children’s Chorus, under the direction of Julia Jones. She is a steady captain, who does not dwell in sentimentality, but follows the smallest movements in both the music and the drama – from the wild, syncopated opening chord, to the mournful English horn in the final act, with the most beautiful double bass part in music history, to the last cadence fading away with Otello's final breath. 

On stage, we present a string of soloists, primarily from our own ensemble: Astrid Nordstad, Eirik Grøtvedt, Magnus Staveland, Ludvig Lindström, Johannes Nikolai Aas, and Pietro Simone. At the center of it all are the three characters around whom the drama revolves: Daniel Johansson is a heroic and vulnerable Otello; Yngve Søberg as a Jago who is not only manipulative but also scarred by his history; and Marita Sølberg, whose fantastic voice reminds us how women in opera – despite stereotypical roles and brutal fates – survive, again and again, and move us deeply. 

Now, it is you who are invited into the opera space – to create this story together with us. What Otello will mean to you remains to be seen. 

Welcome! 

Randi Stene, 
Opera Director