Staged by the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp in 2009, Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah—a story of doomed love set against the backdrop of cultural conflict between Hebrews and Philistines—is relocated to the contemporary Middle East. Directors Omri Nitzan and Amir Nizar Zuabi explore the tensions between different nations and religions, and the complex oppressor-oppressed relationship. "We tried to move away from the quasi-biblical interpretation,” say Nitzan and Zuabi, “and to place the story in today's world to explain its political aspects better.... Acts of terror by a state will lead to acts of terror against a state, which in turn will lead to more terror by the state and this completes the vicious circle."
Read moreVerbier Festival 2012
Jean-François Zygel's Keys to the Orchestra
2003 St. Petersburg Gala, celebrating the 300th...