The world premiere of Dionysos, which opened the 2010 Salzburg Festival, was also the outstanding highlight of the festival that year, tellingly presented in a production staged by Pierre Audi with settings designed by Jonathan Meese and conducted by Ingo Metzmacher. Composer Wolfgang Rihm had written an artist's opera, inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's late poetic work. Dionysos follows the figure of "N.", a combination of Dionysos, Marsyas and Nietzsche himself, unfolding a kaleidoscope of images -- and almost Dionysian mysteries. The documentary film reveals the creative process that resulted in the opera and follows Nietzsche's traces into the mountainous world of the Engadin, where he had once developed his philosophy.

Be the first to comment