Kirill Serebrennikov's Don Carlos Booed In Vienna

Verdi's Don Carlos, directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, premiered in the Austrian capital on September 26. European press reports indicate that the performance was in danger of being disrupted as the audience began whistling their discontent. By the fourth act, conductor Philippe Jordan had to show a homemade white flag from the orchestra pit to call the angry audience to order.

“Serebrennikov places the action of the opera Don Carlos in a sterile institute for the study of historical costumes, which is merely an excuse for the paralyzing boredom expressed in exclamations of discontent. From act to act, the noise in the auditorium grew and eventually erupted into a protest whistle. It is hard to remember the last time a new production was so categorically rejected by the audience,” writes Online Merker.

The same publication notes the dignified, almost “heroic” work of Jordan, who made Herculean efforts to prevent the show from stopping.

The author of the Austrian Press Agency also focuses his review on the reaction of the Vienna Opera's audience: “Kirill Serebrennikov's interpretation of a play about power, freedom, and lost love made many people present at the opening of the theatre's season succumb to irritation. This could not be prevented even by the outstanding cast and the brilliant Philippe Jordan in the orchestra pit.”