Regieoper to be the most radically shocking to date. The inspiration for Mozart's opera was the overwhelming fascination of Europeans by all things Turkish. Orientalist elements abound in this story of a hero trying to rescue two girls from the clutches of an evil Pasha who has installed them in his harem, Seraglio. Instead of a genteel harem, Bieto has set this Abduction in a modern, garish bordello where men and women engage in extreme acts of sex and brutality. The sets consist mainly of whorehouse accoutrements, the lighting is colored and garish, and the costumes for the most part are
Kurt Rydl "The Abduction from the Seraglio". He debuted in 1976 at the Vienna State Opera as Ferrando ("Il trovatore"). From there he went on to sing Colline ("La Bohème"), Pimen ("Boris Godunov"), Grand Inquisitor ("Don Carlo"), Commendatore ("Don Giovanni"), Osmin ("The Abduction from the Seraglio"), Rocco ("Fidelio"), Daland ("The Flying Dutchman"), Roger ("Jérusalem"), King Henry ("Lohengrin"), Raimondo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Geronte ("Manon Lescaut"), Talbot ("Maria Stuarda"), Veit Pogner ("Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"), Bartolo ("Il Barbiere di Siviglia"), Titurel and Gurnemanz ("Parsifal"), Sparafucile ("Rigoletto"), Fasolt ("Das Rheingold"), Hunding ("Die Walküre"), Fafner ("Siegfried"), Hagen ("Götterdammerung"), Ochs ("Der Rosenkavalier") Morosus ("Die schweigsame Frau"), Landgraf