Vienna Advent Concert at St. Stephen’s Cathedral

The Christmas concert of the Wiener Symphoniker in St. Stephen’s Cathedral is a wonderful way to get in the mood for Christmas. It opens the heart and makes one ready to welcome Christ in every person. For this concert French conductor Fabien Gabel presents timeless oratorio classics by Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, as well as romantic church music by Gioachino Rossini, Giacomo Puccini and Hector Berlioz. The soloists are soprano Elsa Benoît, tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Diana Tishchenko on violin and ARD Music Prize winner Selina Ott on trumpet. In addition, the Wiener Sängerknaben and the Chorus Viennensis created a Christmas atmosphere in the festively decorated cathedral. Programme: Bach: Magnificat, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen; Handel: Overture to Samson, Thus when the sun, Awake the trumpet lovely sound, Let the Bright Seraphim; Puccini: Preludio sinfonico; Rossini: Domine Deus from Petite messe solenelle; Berlioz: L’Adieu des bergers à la Sainte Famille from L’Enfance du Christ; Massenet: Méditation from Thaïs; Glasunov: Album leaf; Schreker: Valse lente; Strauss: Wiegenlied (Lullaby); Anonymus: Adeste fideles

Salzburg Festival 2020: Juan Diego Flórez Recital

“You have to start with the encore. Then you can understand why there were standing ovations and thunderous applause for Juan Diego Flórez, why the words ?great moment of the festival’ were heard among the audience. For the encore Juan Diego Flórez comes on stage with his guitar…a tango, then ?Cielito Lindo’, he lets the audience sing along, ?Ay ay ay ay’. A born entertainer” BR Klassik. Works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Strauss, Bellini, Verdi, Lalo, Massenet and Puccini

150th Anniversary Wiener Staatsoper – Open Air Gala

The Vienna State Opera celebrates its 150th birthday with a glamorous open-air gala, gathering an extraordinary summit of operatic superstars like Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva, Swedish soprano Nina Stemme, French tenor Roberto Alagna, Uruguayan baritone Erwin Schrott or Italian bass Feruccio Furlanetto to name only a few. Together with soloists of the new generation of the house like sopranos Valentina Nafornita or Olga Bezsmertna – “a triumph for the ensemble” (Die Presse) – they present a firework of famous opera arias, accompanied by the Orchestra and Choir of the Wiener Staatsoper under the rousing baton of Maestro Marco Armiliato, a regular and appreciated guest at the Vienna State Opera. Nestled in the beautiful city centre, the State Opera is one of the most prestigous opera houses in the world with a long and significant history, a Mecca for international opera fans. Praised by critics as “mega event”, about 10,000 spectators came to witness this jubilee concert and celebrate musical passion in a fantastic atmosphere,

a feast for the ears and for the eyes.

Grafenegg: Midsummer Night’s Gala 2019

Stars by starlight in the traditional Midsummer Night’s Gala! The 2019 season at Grafenegg opens with voices and violin: Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva, French baritone Ludovic Tézier and Austrian violinist Emmanuel Tjeknavorian are accompanied by the Tonkunstler Orchestra in the romantic setting of the castle grounds. Yutaka Sado conducts a programme of arias and duets, with a firework display set to «Pomp and Circumstance».

Grafenegg: Midsummer Night’s Gala 2018

Stars by starlight in the traditional Midsummer Night’s Gala! Two of the great voices and one of the best cello virtuosos of our time promise a musical firework at the Wolkenturm: the South African soprano Pretty Yende and the Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja, both celebrated across the world of opera, and the Dutch cellist Harriet Krijgh, with her irrepressible delight in making music. These are the famous guests with whom the Tonkunstler Orchestra and their Music Director Yutaka Sado greet the summer solstice in Grafenegg with a musical festival for all the senses.

Grafenegg: Midsummer Night’s Gala 2017

It is the season’s sparkling highlight: the Midsummer Night’s Gala at the Wolkenturm with international stars in the open air! 2017 sees Russian vocalists Aida Garifullina and Dmitri Hvorostovsky adding Grafenegg to the roll-call of leading operatic venues around the world where their great voices have been heard. The young soprano Garifullina is in the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera and baritone Hvorostovsky sang at the Red Square concert in Moscow in 2013.

Andris Nelsons – Boston Symphony: Inaugural Concert

This event celebrates the start of Andris Nelsons’ tenure as the 15th music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and features two of the conductor’s close colleagues, the acclaimed Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais and the outstanding German tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Singing’s selections from the Wagnerian and the Italian verismo repertoires, they join forces for a powerful duet from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. The concert opens with Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture – the work that first inspired a five year old Nelsons to a life in music – and closes with Respighi’s spectacular orchestral showcases “Pines of Rome”.

Berlin Opera Night 2007

OPERA NIGHT 2007 for the German AIDS Foundation live from the Deutsche OperBerlin with world-renowned artists presented by Max Raabe PROGRAM: 1. Overture (from: L‘ITALIANA IN ALGERI) / 2. La calunnia è un venticello (from: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA) / 3. Sempre libera (from: LA TRAVIATA) / 4. Pourquoi me réveiller (from: WERTHER) / 5. Nemico della patria (from: ANDREA CHENIER) / 6. La mamma morta (from: ANDREA CHENIER) / 7. O Fortuna (from: CARMINA BURANA) / 8. Fortuna plango vulnera (from: CARMINA BURANA) / 9. O mio babbino caro (from: GIANNI SCHICCHI) / 10. Cruda sorte (from: L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI) / 11. Una furtiva lagrima (from: L’ELISIR D’AMORE) / 12. Si mi chiamano Mimì (from: LA BOHÈME) / 13. Ah! Non credea mirarti … Ah! non giunge (from: LA SONNAMBULA) / 14. Lippen schweigen (from: DIE LUSTIGE WITWE) / 15. Freunde, das Leben ist lebenswert! (from: GIUDITTA) / 16. Dein ist mein ganzes Herz (from: DAS LAND DES LÄCHELNS)

Puccini: Suor Angelica (Kerstmatinee 1999)

Riccardo Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with a highly acclaimed perfomance of Puccini’s opera in one act, ‘Suor Angelica’, at the legendary AVRO Kerstmatinee in 1999.