Martinů's The Greek Passion . . . Christ Recrucified in Salzburg

I have for decades loved the score of Bohuslav Martinů's opera The Greek Passion, but until the current production by Simon Stone at the 2023 Salzburg Festival, have never had opportunity to see it.  Well, the reviews are in and they are - predictably for such an essentially little know opera - all over the place. There are reviews that praise the revised (1961) score and trash Stone's production, reviews that take a dim view of the opera - flawed, unimportant, overreaching, preachy - but praise Stone's production, and some that seemed to hate both.

Having just finished, I'm going to agree with the audience at the Felsenreitschule who heartily cheered for over ten minutes, the broadcast stopping while the ovation was still in full bore. 

 The opera calls for an enormous cast of soloists,some with very short roles, several different choruses, and a large orchestra. 

I won't go into many details, but will single out tenor Sebastian Kohlhepp in the role of Manilios/Christ, Sara Jakubiak as Katerina, Gabor Bretz as the Priest Grigoris, Lucasz Golinski as the Refugee Priest, as well as the exemplary work of Conductor Maxime Pascal who kept the entire thing moving forward, while lingering in just the right places to point up the spiritual aspects of the work.  The multiple choruses were all thrillingly involved.

For those unfamiliar with it, The Greek Passion, is based on the powerful novel Christ Recrucified by Nikos Kazantzakis (Zorba, the Greek, The Last Temptation of Christ, etc.) about a small village putting on their annual Easter Passion Play.  The villagers begin to "become" their characters, one more so than Maniliios who undergoes a spiritual transformation (and a huge epiphany near the end), all while refugees begin arriving in desperate need of help.  

The opera plays out much like Christ's own passion, with the Church's authority seeing Manaliios' message of peace, love and brotherhood and embracing of the refugees as threat enough to kill him, more ill will directed at the refugees.  It's a timeless work emphasizing how little the world has changed regarding who should hold the wealth, the power and control over the people.

Stone's production is one some may complain of - an enormous back wall painted white runs the length of the stage, but with "pop out" windows and panels on the floor, with the top of the wall, a series of Greek arches high above that comes into play.  A pair of painters on scaffolding paint in bright orange a message, that begins looking like the letters "J" and "C" but ultimately reveal the two words "REFUGEES OUT." Again, while some may complain there were no boos, but instead a wall of cheers as Mr. Stone came out to take a well earned bow.

It's currently only available for streaming on MediciTV, but however you can get your hands on it, I recommend you do so.  A powerful, timely work that demands to be seen.