Based on Dostoyevsky's novel of the same name, the Gambler is a dark study of human failings and the corruptive power of money. In this work, everyone gambles: The hero Alexey, the General and even the wealthy aunt Babulenka gamble with money; Blanche, the Marquis and Polina - who loves Alexey - gamble with their fellow human beings. The results are humiliation, ruin and self-delusion. But when the Staatskapelle Berlin under world-famous conductor Daniel Barenboim provides the orchestral sound to the full, lustrous voices of Vladimir Ognovenko, Kristine Opolais, Misha Didyk, Stefania Toczyska and their colleagues, there is nothing even remotely dismal about the opera or it's production. One of the production's brilliant touches is the movable set which allows US to look into various rooms while the characters think they are not being observed.