Salzburg Festival: Mozart, Don Giovanni

According to stage director Sven-Eric Bechtolf “Don Giovanni is a romantic hero of metaphysical proportions.” He sees Don Giovanni as a person who is craving for freedom and a lack of boundaries in a puritan society. The role is performed by Italian bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, one of today’s leading Mozart singers (like Luca Pisaroni who sings Leporello, and Lenneke Ruiten who performs Donna Anna). Leading the Wiener Philharmoniker is the German conductor Christoph Eschenbach, a heir of George Szell and Herbert von Karajan.

Salzburg Festival 2013: Mozart, Così fan tutte

Sven-Eric Bechtolf, dramatic director of the Salzburg Festival, staged this new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, conducted by German conductor Christoph Eschenbach, music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.. Featuring Malin Hartelius as Fiordiligi, “who cuts an attractive figure, acting with charm and ease.” Luca Pisaroni’s Guglielmo is “generous in dimension and in possession of all the necessary criteria for the role”. (Moore Parker, The Opera Critic)

Harnoncourt conducts Mozart, The Da Ponte Cycle – Le Nozze di Figaro

“He was out to create something ‘unheard-of’,” observed conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt beforehand. And true to form: What the conductor had to offer as he commenced his Mozart/ Da Ponte cycle in the Theater an der Wien was something we “had never before heard like this” (Kurier). Nikolaus Harnoncourt, “master” of period performance practice, realized a project that had long been one of his dearest wishes: for the first time, he and his “original-sound orchestra” Concentus Musicus and his personal choice of singers were presenting the complete Mozart/Da Ponte cycle and harvesting the fruits of his Mozart research – an “enthusiastically acclaimed cycle!” (news.at).

Bregenz Festival 2013: Mozart, Zauberflöte

One of the most often performed operas in the world, Mozart´s “Magic Flute”, in the spectacular new production from Bregenz Festival 2013, that takes the audience into a fantasy world. Stage director David Pountey ” finds stunning answers to the everlasting questions surrounding ‘The Magic Flute’.” (Tagesspiegel) “The singers do their courageous best. …, Ana Durlovski hits all her high notes as Queen of the Night, and Daniel Schmutzhard’s Papageno is robust and assured. (Financial Times)

BBC Proms 2022: Leif Ove Andsnes & Mahler Chamber Orchestra

Leif Ove Andsnes directs the Mahler Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard in an all-Mozart programme including two contrasting piano concertos. “Leif Ove Andsnes and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra collaborated as creative equals, with pristine focus and quicksilver touch.” (The Guardian). PROGRAM Mozart: Overture to “Le nozze di Figaro”, Piano Concerto No. 20, K. 466, Piano Concerto No. 22, K. 482, Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488 – II. Adagio

BBC Proms 2016: Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla conducts Mozart & Tchaikovsky

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra presents its new Music Director Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla at the BBC Proms. Gražinyte-Tyla is not only the successor of Sir Simon Rattle and Andris Nelsons at the CBSO, but also the first female conductor to take over one of the world’s leading orchestras. Her talent and musicality shine bright in the concert’s centre piece, the “spellbinding and bewitching” (The Guardian) song cycle Let me tell you by Hans Abrahamsen, performed by no less than Barbara Hannigan, for whom the piece was written in the first place. In the second half of the concert, Gražinyte-Tyla and the CBSO explore Tchaikovsky’s dramatic Fourth Symphony – “technically impeccable and just that bit more vivid than usual” (The Guardian). PROGRAM: Mozart: Overture Die Zauberflöte; Abrahamsen: Let me tell you; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4

Mozart Requiem at Arena di Verona

W.A. Mozart’s famous and moving Requiem was performed for the first time in the 2000-year old Arena in Verona. The concert on the impressively designed stage set in the middle of the Arena with the choir standing in a circle around the arena became a collective prayer in an open-air cathedral. Marco Armiliato conducts four excellent soloists and Chorus & Orchestra of the Arena di Verona. The performance of great symbolic impact is dedicated to the victims of the Coronavirus. “An event of great symbolic impact” connessidellopera.it

The Berlin Concert – Anne-Sophie Mutter & Lang Lang

Celebrating 120 Years of Deutsche Grammophon, The Berlin Concert features performances from DG’s unbeatable roster of artists: Anne-Sophie Mutter, considered one of the greatest violinists of all time and Lang Lang, pioneering pianist and global cultural icon, accompanied by the Staatskapelle Berlin under the direction of Manfred Honeck. Works by W.A. Mozart, L.v. Beethoven and a german premiere of John Williams’ “Markings” are on the program of this highly anticipated concert in Berlin´s famous Philharmonie. PROGRAM L.v. Beethoven: Overture to Fidelio, op. 72; Leonore Overture No. 3, op. 72b, Romance in F for violin and orchestra, op. 50; W.A. Mozart: Piano Concerto in C minor, KV 491; John Williams: Markings for violin, string orchestra and harp

Juan Diego Flórez sings Mozart

Acclaimed across the globe for the beauty of his voice and the emotional power of his performances, Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez has in his career so far focused almost exclusively on the masterpieces of the bel canto repertoire by Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini, and others. From his earliest studies at the conservatory in Lima to the present day, Flórez has sung Mozart arias every now and then but he has never sung a complete Mozart opera on stage. “It just hadn’t worked out till now”, he confesses. And now Mozart, finally. True, the desire had been there for a long time, but “now is the time, I feel I’m ready.” To display another fascinating side to his vocal personality, the concert program includes many of the best-loved Mozart arias – all of them magnificently performed by the Orchestra La Scintilla, an ensemble with outstanding reputation for their historical performance practice, led by Riccardo Minasi.