Anita Hartig in Faust at Opernhaus Zurich

To be given another chance, to be young again, to abandon oneself to pleasure once more! That is Faust’s greatest wish. The devil appears to him and promises to give him all of this on the condition that Faust leave him his soul.
The pact is made, and Faust launches into a passionate affair with Marguerite. Her innocence and naïveté attract him as much as her lower-class background, which he finds exotic. However, when she becomes pregnant, he prefers to abandon her. The deserted girl kills her baby and is executed.
Charles Gounod had contemplated making an opera out of Goethe’s Faust since his youth. Gounod’s most successful opera has considerably more to offer than a trivial, sentimental love story. It is an enlightening and alarming look in the mirror.
In this revival at the Opernhaus Zurich, Charles Castronovo, Pavol Breslik and Sergey Romanovsky sing the title role. Mephistophélès is performed by Kyle Ketelsen. The soprano Anita Hartig is heard in Zurich for the first time in the role of Marguerite.
Faust will be conducted by Philippe Auguin, Music Director of Washington National Opera, who is a specialist in the French repertoire.
Faust opens at Opernhaus Zurich on September 20 with future performances on September 23, 25 (Opera House Day) and October 2, 7.