(Above: Laura Aikin and Stephen West as Lulu and Dr. Schoen)
Opening tonight at Vienna's Theater an der Wien as part of the Wiener Festwochen, American soprano Laura Aikin shows off her athletic Lulu, just as she did for the Milanese a couple months ago at La Scala with her energetic femme fatale in Peter Stein's Tamara de Lempicka-esque, Art Deco production. Laura Aikin was fierce & ferosh as Berg's tragic heroine in her black bob, secure from already singing the lead in half a dozen Lulu productions. Daniele Gatti manipulates Berg with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.