The young conductor Dan Ettinger is fascinating for the great musical sensibility with which he directs an attractive young cast that is not only altogether convincing vocally but absolutely ready to grace the screen. And it is those very singers – “the sweet-voiced, appealing soprano Marina Janková”, “the alluring soprano Anett Fritsch” and “the charismatic bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni” (New York Times) – who capture our hearts. It all sounds so full of life and so finely judged as it is being played out on stage. At the end, Luca Pisaroni’s vocally impressive Count approaches his melancholy Countess (Anett Fritsch) with a glass of champagne and a plea for pardon. “The waves of applause have already begun, for Bechtolf extends Da Ponte’s ‘corriam tutti a festeggiar’ almost as an invitation to the audience, which indeed joins in the festivities with gusto.” (Die Presse) The concluding work of the Da Ponte trilogy succeeds as a great evening of opera in the hands of Sven-Erich Bechtolf with the Vienna Philharmonic. Simply marvellous Mozart music from Mozart’s birthplace.
Ariadne auf Naxos
Here is one of the truly overwhelming successes in recent opera history: Christian Thielemann’s sensational return to the Vienna State Opera to conduct his first-ever performances there of Richard Strauss, with an ideal cast in an acclaimed production of Ariadne auf Naxos, featuring Peter Matic, Sophie Koch, Soile Isokoski and Johan Botha, stage directed by Sven-Eric Bechtolf. “A triumph […] world stars and ensemble shine” (Die Presse). “Strauss in all his glory”(Wiener Zeitung).
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.