The Emperor: Stephen Gould
The Empress: Anne Schwanewilms
The Nurse: Michaela Schuster
Barak, the Dyer: Wolfgang Koch
Barak’s Wife: Evelyn Herlitzius

Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus
Salzburg Festival Children's Choir
Vienna Philharmonic

Stage Director: Christof Loy
Conductor: Christian Thielemann

Recorded live at the Salzburg Festival, July 2011

Already brimming with symbols and transformations, the epic fairytale recounted by Strauss and his librettist Hofmannsthal in Die Frau ohne Schatten acquires a further allegorical dimension in Christoph Loy’s inventive production for the Salzburg Festival. The central character, the Empress – half-spirit, half-human, and unable to bear children until she finds a shadow – here becomes a young soprano who makes a voyage of personal and professional discovery as she records the opera. A superb cast fulfils the complex vocal and dramatic demands of the piece while Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic rise gloriously to the challenges of Strauss’s most ambitious and splendid operatic score.

Running Time: 220 minutes
Region Code: 0