Bathed in the warm light of the setting sun, Vienna’s imperial Schönbrunn Palace provides a romantic setting for this open-air concert held shortly before the final match of the Euro 2008 football championship. And shining even more brightly than the palace are the stars of the evening, Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón and Plácido Domingo. The trio’s first joint concert, given at Berlin’s Waldbühne for the 2006 football World Cup, was recorded by UNITEL CLASSICA and awarded the Platinum DVD for sales of over 50,000 DVDs in Germany and over 100,000 worldwide. The Schönbrunn concert also broke records with 3.3 million viewers watching the concert live or deferred in Germany and Austria.
Thaïs
With the “Méditation”, Jules Massenet probably wrote one of the most famous melodies of our time. It originates from his Comédie-lyrique “Thaïs”, which – unlike Massenet’s operas “Werther” or “Manon” – never made it into the international opera repertoire. Presumably because the two main roles of Thaïs and Athanaël demand something almost superhuman from the singers. In the new production by Peter Konwitschny at the Theater an der Wien, the American soprano Nicole Chevalier is one of the most exciting singers currently on stage in the title role. At her side, the young Austrian bass-baritone Josef Wagner celebrates his house debut.
Bregenz Festival 2019: Don Quichotte
French director Mariame Clément takes a clever and exhilarating look at modern heroism in Jules Massenet’s operatic rarity Don Quichotte: “a striking interpretation” (Neue Musikzeitung). But this opera is also a musical discovery, not least because of the outstanding cast starring Gábor Bretz as Don Quichotte, David Stout as Sancho and Anna Goryachova as Dulcinée. In the pit, Daniel Cohen leads the Wiener Symphoniker to a dynamic- differentiated performance. A musically as visually absolutely rewarding evening!
Manon
Primadonna assoluta and shining star of the international opera world, Anna Netrebko has been given a sumptuous vehicle to showcase her ‘incomparable, velvety, mesmerizingly chocolate-dark timbre’ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung): as the tragic heroine of Jules Massenet’s ‘Manon.’ Anna Netrebko pulls out all the stops as the impulsive, hybrid femme fatale and child woman, who yields to her immoderate cravings for sensual pleasure. As her shining knight, Roberto Alagna is a Des Grieux who wins all hearts with his vibrant timbre and stage presence.
Paris Concert March 2007 – Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón
The tension is palpable at Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Elysées this 28th of March 2007. Anna Netrebko is not only making her debut in France, but she is making it with Rolando Villazón. The ‘dream couple’ of the opera world is about to bring its incomparable charm and magnetism to France’s ‘mélomanes.’ And the result is nothing less than phenomenal: ‘An unforgettable evening, rich in emotions, which many spectators will look back on with nostalgia one day and say: ‘I was there!’. No matter where they appear, Netrebko and Villazón inevitably work their magic on the audience, whether it consists of hundreds or, when broadcast on TV, of millions. For their Paris concert, the duo chose a broad selection of chiefly late-romantic works – the style for which their voices seem to be tailor-made..
Werther
Goethe’s Sturm und Drang drama is echoed in Massenet’s score by emotionally wide-ranging vocal parts written on a grand scale. The world star Juan Diego Flórez, who “iscurrently the best representative of his rare field” (NZZ), sings one of the most poetic and expressive tenor roles of the French repertoire. At his side, Anna Stéphany sang her critically acclaimed role début as Charlotte. Tatjana Gürbaca, known for her great narrative imagination, directed Zurich’s new production of Massenet’s drame lyrique: the one-room staging cleverly renders the social stranglehold of oppression. “This is how musical theater should be (..).” Neue Zürcher Zeitung