Kaufmann and de Billy Deliver a Triumphant Otello in Vienna

Jonas Kaufmann returned to the title role of Verdi's "Otello" at the Wiener Staatsoper in the 2026-27 season, leading a performance the review in OperaWire called "a triumph of musical drama" that left the audience breathless.

The production, staged by Adrian Noble in 2019, paired Kaufmann with soprano Nicole Car as Desdemona and baritone Luca Salsi as Iago. Bertrand de Billy conducted the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera.

Verdi's 1887 opera carries unusual weight in the late Italian canon. Arrigo Boito, the librettist and a poet affiliated with the Scapigliatura (Italy's bohemian literary movement), cut Shakespeare's entire first act in Venice. The action opens instead on the storm-swept shores of Cyprus, where Otello, commander-in-chief of the Venetian fleet, arrives after defeating Ottoman forces. The backstory of his romance with Desdemona is compressed into the love duet that closes Act one — widely counted among the most enchanting duets in the repertoire.

What did the orchestra bring?

Plenty. Under de Billy's incisive direction, the storm sequence opened with brass that "sliced through the dense orchestral texture like jagged flashes of lightning," timpani rumbling with foreboding, and strings combining razor-sharp precision with lush sonority. The ensemble kept its signature Viennese shimmer; even in the darkest passages, the orchestra "seemed to glow from within."

That glory had a cost. The review notes the sheer volume at times risked overwhelming the singers — a compromise the reviewer judged "well worth making."

How does Noble's staging work?

Quietly. Dick Bird's scenic design relies on clean, abstract spaces and minimal props to suggest the Cyprus shorefront, Otello's palace and its gardens. Act four renders Desdemona's bedchamber with candles, a prayer stool and a raked bed — an ideal setting for the fatal climax.

Noble shifts the action from the fifteenth century to the dawn of the twentieth, dressing Otello and his officers in crisp Belle Époque and Edwardian military uniforms. The review finds no obvious thematic justification for the update, but concedes it does no harm. In today's operatic landscape, an unobtrusive concept that lets the drama breathe counts as a success.

What does Kaufmann do with Otello?

The role suits his dark, sensual timbre. His offstage "Esultate!" was electrifying; his mezza-voce (half-voice, a soft singing technique) in the Act one love duet stayed hushed and suggestive, and "Venere splende" brought the auditorium to spellbound silence.

As Otello's psyche unravels under Iago's manipulation in Act two, Kaufmann's singing grew taut and visceral, charting the descent into paranoia. Time has shaved some acoustic volume from his instrument, and during "Dio! mi potevi scagliar" de Billy's affection for Verdi's delicate orchestration slightly threatened to drown out his softer inflections. The emotional impact held.

Who carried Act four?

Nicole Car. Her voice — rich, warm, golden, laced with bronze — diverges from the silvery lyric soprano traditionally cast as Desdemona, but it paid off where the tension peaks. She conveyed Desdemona's dread, the nostalgic "Willow Song" and the heartbreaking "Ave Maria" with intensity. Her "Emilia, addio!" echoed as a desperate cry for help. Crucially, in her final moments beneath Otello's grasp, Car's Desdemona fought for her life until her last breath.

How does Salsi play evil?

Through sheer vocal power. Boito's Iago departs from Shakespeare: instead of ambiguous motives, he is a nihilistic, demonic force. His Act two "Credo" lays out a worldview built on a vengeful God who created man in His corrupt image.

Salsi, one of today's foremost Verdian stylists, does not naturally possess a demonic timbre — his baritone is noble, rounded and supple. Yet he delivered a menacing, ruthless portrait, singing with "terrifying, almost possessed intensity" while keeping an impeccable Verdian line.

The supporting cast matched the standard. Mezzo-soprano Daria Sushkova gave Emilia assertive, vocally commanding presence and a fiercely scornful condemnation of Iago in the final scene. Tenor Botond Ódor brought youthful warmth and crisp nobility to Cassio. Dan Paul Dimitrescu conveyed formidable dignity as the ambassador Lodovico, with Carlos Osuna (Roderigo), Leonardo Neiva (Montano) and Ferdinand Pfeiffer (the Herald) rounding out the ensemble.

With Kaufmann still commanding the role and de Billy's orchestra in resplendent form, this "Otello" shows why the house remains a destination for late Verdi — and why Noble's 2019 staging has quietly endured.