Actor

In Michael Sturminger’s absurd and macabre production, multiple Academy Award nominee John Malkovich seduces, shocks, and appalls as the slithering real-life serial killer Jack Unterweger—back from the dead to plug his new autobiography. The one-man play-meets-chamber opera unfolds as a series of monologues, and the killer’s grisly deeds come alive through a consort of elegant sopranos who pose as women from Unterweger’s life as they sing opera arias by Mozart, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Haydn, and others. For this Berkeley appearance, Malkovich is joined onstage by guest vocalists supported by the acclaimed Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, the music providing both a sumptuous soundtrack and ironic commentary on Unterweger’s disturbing confessions. “Malkovich is captivating as the smarmy, clearly deranged madman, embodying the role with extra relish” (This Week in NY).

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John Malkovich in The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer

University of California, Berkeley

Schumann fancies himself a “composer”, while Brahms is a “gift-less bastard” and Claude Debussy is simply ugly. Aleksey Igudesman has created a sardonic mix of the most evil music critiques of the last centuries written about some of the greatest works of music. Equipped with a frivolous potpourri of musical insults, John Malkovich slips into the role of the evil critic who believes the music of Beethoven, Chopin, Prokofiev and the likes to be weary and dreary. Aleksey Igudesman, Hyung-ki Joo and other great musicians beg to differ and fight back. The grand finale is, The Malkovich Torment, a horrific review about Malkovich himself, which Igudesman has set to music in a uniquely sardonically humorous way.

“I have always loved the opportunity to collaborate on The Music Critic with Aleksey Igudesman, Hyung-ki Joo, and many other gifted and thoughtful young classical musicians. We are all happy to be back on the road, and for the first time also in the USA, participating in an evening which consists of some of the greatest compositions in the history of classical music, paired with the perhaps rather unexpected initial reactions those compositions elicited from some of the world’s renowned music critics, along with some other surprises.”

John Malkovich in The Music Critic

Long Center for the Performing Arts

Schumann fancies himself a “composer,” while Brahms is a “giftless bastard” and Claude Debussy is simply ugly. Aleksey Igudesman has created a sardonic mix of the most evil music critiques of the last centuries written about some of the greatest works of music. Equipped with a frivolous potpourri of musical insults, John Malkovich slips into the role of the evil critic who believes the music of Beethoven, Chopin, Prokofiev and the likes to be weary and dreary.

Actor

John Malkovich

Events

Past events

Feb 3, 2024

John Malkovich in The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer · Cal Performances

Oct 23, 2023

John Malkovich in The Music Critic · Long Center for the Performing Arts

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