(Credit: Stephan Rabold)

This week, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin is set to present Bernard Foccroulle’s “Cassandra” for the first time. The work combines the figures of the ancient prophetess Cassandra and the popular researcher Sandra. The opera premiered in 2023 to rave reviews and now brings back some of the cast that created the work, including Katarina Bradić, who originated the role.

In a statement regarding the work, Bradić said, “‘Cassandra’ tells a story that feels incredibly close to the world we inhabit today. Though its subject is ecological, its implications go much deeper. It forces us to reckon with how society responds to inconvenient truths. Cassandra is an extraordinary figure: intelligent, perceptive, and isolated. After rejecting Apollo’s advances, she is cursed to be disbelieved forever. Haunted by visions of her city’s destruction, she becomes a deeply tragic character. Foccroulle captures this inner turmoil in the music itself: the role stretches across extremes, from irregular, low-register passages that suggest grief and paralysis, to high, jagged leaps that feel like cries of anguish. It’s an emotionally and vocally demanding role.”

She concluded, “I’m very happy to return to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and to sing on its historic stage. When I first performed with the company in 2016, in Steffani’s ‘Amor vien dal destino,’ conducted by René Jacobs and directed by Ingo Kerkhof, we were at the Schiller Theater due to renovations. Returning now to the original house makes this experience all the more meaningful.”

Bradić is known for her diverse repertoire in Baroque and contemporary music and has performed at many of the great stages in the world including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Hamburg, Opernhaus Zurich, Theater Basel, Grand Théâtre in Genève, Theater an der Wien, Teatro Real Madrid, Dutch National Opera, and La Monnaie in Brussels, among others.

For those not in Berlin, the mezzo returns to the Champs-Elysse in the fall for “Alcina.”

Recordings 

For those who want to see more of Bradić, you can check out her recordings of “Alcina” from the Festival Aix-en-Provence, “Béatrice et Bénédict” from the Glyndebourne, and ‘Die Liebe der Danae” from the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Here she is as “Cassandra:”