Revised version of Brokeback Mountain debuts in Salzburg

Florian Plock as Ennis del Mar and Mark Omvlee as Jack Twist

American composer Charles Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain continues to get European performances, while awaiting its US premiere. The latest production in at the Salzburger Landestheater with Florian Plock as Ennis del Mar and Mark Omvlee as his lover Jack Twist. The piece was originally commissioned by Gerard Mortier for the New York City Opera before its demise. Mortier then had the piece premiered at the Teatro Real of Madrid on January 28, 2014.

The piece was subsequently performed in Aachen, Germany on December 7, 2014 in a new production directed by Ludger Englels, featuring German bass-barihunk Christian Tschelebiew as Ennis Del Mar and Dutch tenor Mark Omvlee as Jack Twist. In the world premiere, Ennis Del Mar was performed by Daniel Okulitch and Jack Twist by Tom Randle.

The Salzburger Landestheater production will premiere a new chamber version by the composer for 24 instruments and will be directed by Jacopo Spirei, and conducted by Adrian Kelly.

Wuorinen used Schoenberg's half-sung, half-spoken Sprechstimme as a way for the character of Ennis to express himself in the early part of the opera. He does not develop sung lines until the second act, as before that he cannot acknowledge who he really is. He associates the two leads with different musical pitches, "B-natural and C-sharp, a whole step apart, yet divided by a third tonal area associated with the mountain itself, based on a low C."

There are six more performances between now and April 21 and tickets are available online.

Aachen to revive Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain

Christian Tschelebiew and Mark Omvlee

Charles Wuorinen's operatic adaptation of Brokeback Mountain, based on the 1997 Annie Proulx's story of a cowboy love affair that became an Oscar-winning film is set for a revival on December 7th at Theater Aachen in Germany. German bass-barihunk Christian Tschelebiew will play the role of Ennis Del Mar, which was portrayed by Heath Ledger in the 2005 movie adaptation and Dutch tenor Mark Omvlee will will play the Jake Gyllenhaal role of Jack Twist. In the smaller role of Bill Jones is Stefan Hagendorn, who we've featured on this site twice before.

Brokeback Mountain was originally commissioned for a 2013 premiere by Gerard Mortier while he was at the embattled New York City Opera. When he became the head of the Teatro Real, Mortier decided to revive the work and present it there in 2014. Annie Proulx wrote the libretto.

Christian Tschelebiew and Mark Omvlee

Christian Tschelebiew trained at Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik Stuttgart. He has been a resident artist in Mainz, Augsburg, Erfurt und Gießen and at the Komishce Oper Berlin. He has also been a regular at the Bayreuth Festival where he has performed in Parsifal and Lohengrin.

In the world premiere, Ennis Del Mar was performed by Daniel Okulitch and Jack Twist by Tom Randle.

Performances in Aachen will run through January 22 and tickets and additional cast information are available online.

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