Two great stars of the operatic stage, Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé and American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, give magnificent performances in these superb gala concerts featuring a variety of popular arias and duets from: Bajazet (Vivaldi), Les Huguenots (Meyerbeer), Le due ilustri rivali (Mercadante), Tancredi (Rossini), Semiramide (Rossini), Rodelinda (Handel), Giulio Cesare (Handel), Semiramide (Rossini), La donna del lago (Rossini), Gianni Schicchi (Puccini), Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Offenbach).
Festive Advent Concert at the Frauenkirche Dresden 2022
Two world-renowned singing stars are this edition’s guests at the “Festive Advent Concert”, German TV’s most successful concert series: soprano Diana Damrau and tenor Mauro Peter. The young French conductor Marie Jacquot leads the Staatskapelle Dresden for the first time. With the 2024/25 season, Marie Jacquot will take over as Musical Director of the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen. In addition to the Staatskapelle Dresden, two choirs complete the cast of the 2022 “Advent Concert”: the Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden and the Kammerchor der Frauenkirche. The choir’s director, the cantor of the Dresden Frauenkirche, Matthias Grünert, also appears as organist. “The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and the Sächsischer Staatsoperchor once again proved their quality.“ (Online Merker)
Anne-Sophie Mutter & Mutter’s Virtuosi
For years, Anne-Sophie Mutter has been performing together with various scholarship students of her foundation – in order to familiarize them with the life of a professional musician and to introduce them to a broader audience. In spring 2011 she also launched the project Mutter’s Virtuosi: This ensemble under the musical direction of the violinist consists of current and former scholarship holders of the of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation as well as several other young musicians. This concert at Vienna’s Musikverein includes works by J. S. Bach, his Violin Concerto No. 1 and the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Vivaldi’s concert for three violins in F major, the Violin Concerto in A major by Joseph Bologne as well as the Nonet by André Previn, a commission for Mutter’s Virtuosi.
The Infernal Comedy
The stage-play for a Baroque-Orchestra, two Sopranos and one actor is based on the real-life story of Jack Unterweger, a notorious womanizer and celebrated author and journalist, who was suspected of killing prostitutes in Vienna, Graz, Prague and Los Angeles; later vanished from Vienna, fled into the U.S., got arrested in Miami, transferred to Austria, accused and finally committed suicide after being convicted of homicide in eleven cases.
Philippe Jaroussky and the Concerto Köln
The young French counter tenor Philippe Jaroussky is one of the most exceptional artists of our time. He is highly acclaimed by critics all over the world for his virtuoso coloratura technique, as well as for his compelling and lively interpretations of baroque cantatas and operas. Together with the Concerto Köln he embarks on a journey into the world of an almost forgotten composer. Antonio Caldara (1670-1736) was on one of the most renowned opera composers of his time. Philippe Jaroussky and the ensemble transfer selected arias of the composer into the 21st century. The film accompanies the musicians to rehearsals and to the concert at the Prinzregententheater in Munich.
The Baltic Festive Concert – Kristine Opolais & Friends
Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais is the evening’s star soloist and will perform highlights from her secular and sacred repertoire. Under the baton of Constantine Orbelian, we experience a concert in the magnificent Basilica of Kaunas. Stars from Latvia, Armenia and the USA perform popular highlights from opera, ballet and orchestral song.
David Garrett – ICONIC
For his open-air concert in Sicily, star violinist David Garrett has chosen a spectacular location: the ancient theater of Taormina with a view of Mount Etna. There he plays Vivaldi, Schumann, Saint-Saëns, Kreisler and many other composers in new arrangements. With his individual selection, Garrett recalls the Golden Age of violin virtuosos – artists such as Zino Francescatti, Arthur Grumiaux, Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler and Yehudi Menuhin, who delighted their audiences with such musical miniatures and encores. David Garrett is accompanied by his guitarist and arranger Franck van der Heijden, bassist Rogier van Wegberg and the “Orchestra del Teatro Vittorio Emanuele di Messina” conducted by Gianna Fratta. Special guest: Matteo Bocelli.