Costume Designer

Otello, black, a stranger and yet having risen to the top of Venetian society through military merit and eloquence, marries the beautiful Desdemona. Naturally, this disturbs those around him. His closest confidant, Iago, instigates a jealous intrigue that leads to Otello killing first his bride and then himself. Arrigo Boito, Verdi's congenial librettist, places Jago's commitment to evil at the center as an equal element to virtue. With recourse to Otello's socially agreed otherness, Iago succeeds in bending the circumstances back into a supposed order by relegating Otello to the bottom of the racialized hierarchy. In collaboration with the renowned British video artist John Akomfrah, Silvia Costa scrutinises the underlying social constructions: Who actually defines from where what is foreign and what is their own, who is worthy and who is discarded?

Otello

Stuttgart Opera

“Having escaped the storm of the elements, Otello will succumb to the storms of his own self.”
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What an opening to an opera! Amid an apocalyptic storm, a naval battle rages off the coast of Venice. Without warning, Giuseppe Verdi transports us into the action with thunder, lightning, and cannon shots; we can almost feel the storm and spray on our skin. The situation seems hopeless for the Venetian fleet—then their general, Otello, appears unscathed and victorious at the harbor. He has defeated not only his enemies, but also the forces of nature. But how will this war hero cope in civilian life? Traumatic memories haunt him; an all-encompassing mistrust has taken hold of him; he feels isolated from society; no one can get through to him. In this atmosphere, his relationship with his wife crumbles before our eyes and ears. Desdemona was once the only person with whom Otello could be completely himself; now he eyes her suspiciously and threatens her. Verdi's music depicts Othello's journey from celebrated soldier to murderer of his wife, whose love he simultaneously longs for.

Staatstheater Hannover

During times of historical upheaval, the victors are filled with euphoric jubilation while fear spreads on the side of the losers. When cheerfulness grips the figures in Mozart’s piece, it is the swan song, full of schadenfreude, of dying structures, ancient privileges and traditional manners – including those between man and woman. Mozart (and Beaumarchais) hold the balance on the threshold between eras – as artists en route to self-marketing, as portraitists of their times, by precisely rendering a society whose balance is shifting, making Almaviva a ridiculous figure. His class is losing political power, and he compensates for this loss by becoming a slave to his sexual desire. The wind is blowing from the past, giving wing to Walter Benjamin’s angel of history. It is a storm for the winners, and for the losers a mere melancholy breeze. The angel sees nothing but ruins.

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Le Nozze di Figaro

Staatsoper Hamburg

Attractive because repulsive - that’s one way to describe the contradictory fascination potential of William Shakespeare’s most enigmatic character, Othello. He probably could not have existed at the time of his creation: Black, a stranger, yet risen to the top of Venetian society through merit and spectacular eloquence, he marries the beautiful Desdemona.

Otello 

The Staatstheater Stuttgart

Lucia Ashton falls in love with her family’s mortal enemy, Edgardo, and the young couple pledge eternal fidelity. However, Lucia’s brother Enrico is intent on marrying her off to a rich heir. When Lucia finally believes herself entirely abandoned and alone, with even her beloved Edgardo scorning and insulting her, she murders her unwanted husband on their wedding night. With her family grieving at her perceived insanity, Lucia sees this terrible act as a form of liberation, believing herself close to achieving happiness with her lover. Based on the bestselling novel by Sir Walter Scott, »Lucia di Lammermoor« pearl of bel canto opera. Composed by Gaetano Donizetti in 1835, it is a huge challenge for every singer, both musically and dramatically. In his staging for Dresden, Dietrich W. Hilsdorf illuminates the psychological states of the protagonists by focusing on the central human relationships. The ghostly sounds of the glass harmonica underscore the sensitive inner world of an oppressed woman in her fight against the rest of the world.

Lucia di Lammermoor

Semperoper Dresden

Your own daughter’s hand as a prize in a singing competition – imagine that! There could hardly be a stronger sign of the belief in the systemic relevance of art. And indeed, goldsmith Veit Pogner, who offers his daughter Eva as a prize, is just one of many masters from Nuremberg for whom their art is more than just a nice-sounding sideline: it is no less than a community-building and society-improving force. In the Meistersinger, we encounter a group of utopians who are not interested in their origins or money, but in innovation and the future. Eva’s own attitude to the whole thing is, as so often, of secondary importance. She already knows who she would like to be sung by and who she would rather not. Wagner initially conceived Die Meistersinger as a comic opera, and so everything ends on a superficially happy note: at the end, Eva’s crush Stolzing wins the competition and the bride – an impoverished squire, of all people. The future comes from the past, not only in terms of the son-in-law’s origins, but also with regard to the end of the utopia: the whole thing culminates in the Meistersinger Hans Sachs, who mentored the Junker Stolzing to victory, being crowned King of Art: “Heil Sachs!” and glory to the holy German art. In Wagner’s works, the monstrous often peeps through the tiniest of cracks. With the Meistersinger, Elisabeth Stöppler and Cornelius Meister also tell a piece of German history and mentality between awakening and restoration and, in this German Midsummer Night's Dream (Elisabeth Stöppler), focus on the relationship between the generations and the question of why what was is perhaps also what will be.

The Mastersingers of Nuremberg

The famous chansonnière Sylva is not allowed to marry her noble lover Edwin. His parents arrange for him to be drafted into the army and arrange an engagement to a countess. At the engagement party, the chansonnière suddenly turns up. When it becomes clear that Edwin’s mother also used to be a varieté artist, nothing stands in the way of a marriage between the lovers.

The Csárdásfürstin

Volksoper Wien

Hostility, hatred and religious wars, power, helplessness and desire: in the Hebrew struggle for freedom, Samson, as God’s chosen one, rebukes the hostile Philistines. Samson seems invincible until his love for the Philistine Dalila exposes him. She finds out the secret of his extraordinary strength. The loss of his identity is at stake, and a race against time begins.

Costume Designer

Gesine Völlm

Events

Upcoming events

Feb 7 - Mar 22, 2026

The Mastersingers of Nuremberg · Staatsoper Stuttgart

May 31 - Jun 21, 2026

The Csárdásfürstin · Volksoper Wien

4 - 12 Jul, 2026

Samson et Dalila · Staatsoper Berlin

Past events

Oct 11 - Nov 19, 2025

Otello · Staatsoper Stuttgart

Sep 24 - Oct 10, 2025

Otello · Staatstheater Hannover

About

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