ARABELLA – DEUTSCHE OPER BERLIN (REZENSIONEN)

ConcertoNet von Ossama el Naggar

The apotheosis of Zdenko

…German bass-baritone Thomas Johannes Mayer was splendidly convincing as Mandryka. His dark timbre and imposing physique conveyed his boorish and unpolished provincial origins. Thanks to his nuanced acting, he portrayed Mandryka at turns noble, naive, impetuous and amiable, and he succeeded magnificently, his virile bass perfectly blending with Davis’s lyric soprano…

Opera Diary von Vinicius

ARABELLA | Deutsche Oper Berlin

…Even Thomas Johannes Mayer’s Mandryka suffers the effects of this inescapable transformation, albeit in a more subdued way: the moderately savage (rather a natural authority than a primitive force), somewhat unearthly, slightly monochromatic vigour that he exudes remains present, but wrapped up in an allure as refined as the meticulous care that the baritone brings to each of his interventions; we can easily do without the subtitles, intelligibility assured even at the end of Act 2 when he begins his feverish recitative with Halt! Du irgendeiner oder wer du bist! without faltering at any moment...

Planet Hugill von Tony Cooper

Richard Strauss in Berlin: Arabella at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Jennifer Davis & Heidi Stober

…while the role of Mandryka was handsomely sung and acted by Thomas Johannes Mayer whose notable and urgent recitative ‘Halt! Du irgendeiner oder wer du bist!’ (‘Stop! You, anyone, or whoever you are’) suitably ended the second act. ..