William Relton and Michael Balke to lead Verdi’s Macbeth at Opera på Skäret in 2027
The British director returns for his third Verdi opera at the festival, and Michael Balke makes his fourth appearance, conducting the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.
Giuseppe Verdi‘s Macbeth is to be staged at Opera på Skäret in the summer of 2027, with British director William Relton and German conductor Michael Balke leading the production. It will run from 31 July to 29 August, with opening performances on Saturday 31 July and Sunday 1 August. Tickets for both opening nights are now on sale.
The festival is housed in a former timber warehouse outside Kopparberg in Bergslagen, where singers and musicians from Sweden and abroad gather each summer. As in previous productions, the principal roles will be shared between two casts, which is why there are two opening performances.
A dream production
Macbeth, based on Shakespeare’s tragedy of power, ambition, guilt and human downfall, is one of Verdi’s most dramatic operas, with powerful choral passages and intense theatrical expression.
Alexander Niclasson, the festival’s artistic director, says of the production:
William Shakespeare‘s timeless masterpiece about the abuse of power, greed and human downfall is brought to new life through Giuseppe Verdi’s brilliant interpretation. We look forward to bringing together a team of outstanding artists for the production! Macbeth has long been a dream production for Opera på Skäret, and we are convinced that it will be particularly well suited to the old timber warehouse, with its distinctive industrial atmosphere, nestled among the forests of Bergslagen.
Relton: from Shakespeare to Verdi
Relton directed Verdi’s Otello at Skäret in 2014 and Don Carlo in 2018, making Macbeth his third Verdi opera there. His stage career began in 1971, when he made his professional acting debut in London’s West End at the age of 14. A few years later he discovered opera and began training his tenor voice, working as both singer and actor before moving into directing. As an actor his roles included Shakespeare’s Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Relton says:
Verdi loved Shakespeare and knew his works well. He created three masterpieces based on Shakespeare’s works, and Macbeth was the first. He created two fascinating, compelling leading roles and wrote magnificent music for the ensemble. I can’t wait to ‘raise the roof’ at Skäret with this great work. And talking of threes, this will be my third production there. That bodes well.
Balke returns to Skäret
Balke will lead the Swedish Chamber Orchestra in his fourth production at the festival, following Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer, Verdi’s Don Carlo and Bellini’s Norma.
After Der fliegende Holländer, Don Carlo and Norma, I am so delighted to be back at Skäret! What fascinates me most about Macbeth is how radically Verdi places dramatic expression and theatrical intensity above mere beauty of sound. It is a score of unsettling colours and psychological precision, and the 1865 version sharpens that profile even further. I very much look forward to exploring it together with the whole team at Skäret and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.
Balke has been principal guest conductor at Munich’s Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz since the 2023/24 season, having made his debut there in 2022. He was previously principal guest conductor at Theater St. Gallen in Switzerland and deputy general music director at Theater Magdeburg in Germany. As a guest he has worked at opera houses in Verona, Copenhagen, Dresden, Sofia and Nancy, and has conducted orchestras across Europe, the United States and Asia, including the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Copenhagen Philharmonic and Swedish Chamber Orchestra. His concert venues include the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, KKL Luzern and Alte Oper Frankfurt. In 2020 he was nominated for ‘Conductor of the Year’ and ‘Emerging Artist of the Year’ at the Opus Klassik Awards for his complete recording of Verdi’s La traviata.
A long international career
Relton’s career as an opera director began in 1993, when he took over a production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte at short notice. The experience proved decisive, and the following year he began working as a freelance director.
In more than 25 years he has directed productions in the UK, Sweden, Germany, France, Denmark and Norway. His repertoire includes The Barber of Seville, La Bohème, Turandot and Don Giovanni, and he has worked with English National Opera. In Sweden, besides Opera på Skäret, he has directed at Drottningholm Palace Theatre, Läckö Castle Opera and Vadstena-Akademien. He has also worked extensively on the training of young singers at conservatoires and opera schools across Scandinavia and the UK.
Tickets and further details are available at the Opera på Skäret website.
