The Royal Festival Hall in London witnessed a performance of Alban Berg’s opera “Wozzeck” that proved to be more intensely gripping than ever before. Under the baton of Edward Gardner, the London Philharmonic delivered a searing rendition, complemented by the riveting, and at times disturbing, video art of Ilya Shagalov. This production, part of the Southbank’s Multitudes festival, dared to add another layer to an already profound and harrowing work, achieving remarkable success.

Shagalov’s video installation, co-created with Nina Guseva, projected a narrative constructed from thousands of still photographs onto a large screen behind the orchestra. Set in a contemporary, bleak urban landscape, the visuals depicted Wozzeck as a member of the unseen, high-visibility vest-clad workforce. The German lyrics were subtitled at the bottom of the screen, with images transitioning at varying paces – sometimes rapidly, sometimes with deliberate slowness. The only instance of movement captured on film was a fleeting, yet spine-chilling, moment of Wozzeck’s face after the murder of Marie. This single visual element, synchronized with a terrifying, sustained note from the orchestra, created a profoundly unsettling and memorable effect.

The combined force of the London Philharmonic’s passionate playing and singing, a first-rate cast, and Gardner’s dynamic conducting, amplified by Shagalov’s striking visual storytelling, transformed Berg’s opera into an even more adrenaline-inducing experience, resonating powerfully with a modern sensibility.

English Translation:

Wozzeck: Wretches Like Us Review – Berg’s Harrowing Opera is More Adrenaline-Inducing Than Ever

Royal Festival Hall, London. The London Philharmonic, conducted by Edward Gardner, combined with video art by Ilya Shagalov, presented a performance that was riveting and, in places, not for the faint of heart. No one ever left a performance of “Wozzeck” thinking it needed an extra layer to make it even more harrowing. However, caution against excess is not a characteristic of the Southbank’s Multitudes festival – and gloriously so. With searing playing and singing from the London Philharmonic and a first-rate cast, led by conductor Edward Gardner, this production, combined with Ilya Shagalov’s video art (co-created with Nina Guseva), has made Berg’s opera even more adrenaline-inducing than ever.

Shagalov’s film, displayed on a large screen behind the musicians, narrated Wozzeck’s story through thousands of still photographs. The setting was contemporary, the location a grey city, and Wozzeck was depicted as part of the invisible workforce hidden by their hi-vis vests. With a translation of the sung German at the bottom of the screen, the images sped by or transitioned more slowly, consistently as stills – with one exception. Only in the moment after Marie’s murder did the orchestra join in a terrifying crescendo on a single note. At that precise moment, and only then, did we see Wozzeck’s face moving, and the effect was as spine-chilling as it was brief.