The Staatsoper Berlin presents a new production of Mozart’s early masterpiece Mitridate, re di Ponto. This captivating tale of love, power and betrayal revolves around a king and his two sons who vie for the love of the same woman. Under the baton of Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre bring fresh energy and nuance to Mozart’s intricate opera seria, while the all-star cast shines with an impressive vocal range. In a staging where different worlds converge, director Satoshi Miyagi and his Japanese production team have created an atmosphere that is nothing short of magical. “Marc Minkowski and his brilliant orchestra Les Musiciens du Louvre […] a real coup.” (Tagesspiegel) “Singing feats of brilliance!” (Berliner Zeitung)
Adina
World Premiere Recording on DVD and Blu-ray
Few of Gioachino Rossini’s operas are less well known than Adina. This production by Rossini Opera Festival and Wexford Opera Festival revives a masterwork of glittering arias and rich orchestral textures. The oriental tale, where Adina is a slave in a Baghdad seraglio, is set by Rosetta Cucchi on a giant and colorful wedding cake. The vocal star Lisette Oropesa “gave a splendid rendition as Adina. Her voice was brilliant, shiny on top, warm and round in the middle.” (Bachtrack)
Yuja Wang – The Vienna Recital
Pianist Yuja Wang has become an integral part of the world‘s major stages, inspiring young and old alike. Her playing displays technical brilliance and a seemingly endless range of emotions. The Piano Recital from the Wiener Konzerthaus allows her to display her fiery virtuosity as well as her mature musicality and imagination with an eclectic, personally chosen program. It combines masterpieces from famous works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Alexander Scriabin to lesser-known compositions by György Ligeti and Nikolai Kapustin, including also sublime musical miniatures by Christoph Willibald Gluck and Philip Glass. A historical milestone that is not to be missed! „The hall went wild!“ (Der Standard)
Tosca
It is an event that attracts thousands of music lovers to Verona every summer: the opera season in the ancient Roman Arena. Nearly 22,000 spectators regularly fill the amphitheater for the performances. The dream couple of opera, Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo, returns to the breathtaking open-air stage, to perform Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca. Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva is “one of the best Toscas currently singing” and Vittorio Grigolo “the most Italian Cavaradossi we know. With lots of wonderful melting, elegant and nonchalant full of triumphant greatness a triumph all along the line” (Online Merker). The captivating staging by Argentine director Hugo de Ana, who masterfully exploits the amphitheatre’s vast space by placing huge elements on the stage that are reminiscent of or borrowed from the locations of the action, makes the opera a “spectacle of monumental opulence” (Online Merker). “A Tosca to relish!” (Artesnews.it) “standing ovation Tosca at the Arena di Verona” (Operalife).
Manon Lescaut
Inspired by the novel of the same name by Abbé Prévost, Puccini achieved his first great triumph with Manon Lescaut. The story of the rise and fall of the courtesan Manon was written with a haunting music, faithful to the principles of the verisme. In this production Liudmyla Monastyrska “one of the most important voices of today“ (Beckmesser.com) has a “magnificent voice“ (Operawire), Gregory Kunde’s Des Grieux “is genuinely Puccinian“ (opera online) and “Carlos Chausson … offered a masterful performance“ (bachtrack). Conductor Emmanuel Villaume “provides a vehement and passionate musical reading.“ (El Mundo)
The Exclusive Subscription Concert Series – Leonidas Kavakos & Herbert Blomstedt
The Subscription Concert Series of the Wiener Philharmoniker from the Golden Hall of the famous Musikverein are special concerts reserved for subscribers. Due to the exceptional quality of the concerts and the limited offer, the average waiting time for subscribers is more than 10 years. With this series, these very special concerts are made available for the first time audiovisually to a wider audience worldwide. Conductor Herbert Blomstedt, honorary member of the orchestra, is a regular guest at the subscription concerts. For this one he chose Carl Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony: “It is full of Danish humour: very serious and at the same time very comic and yet sublime.” As a counterpoint to Nielsen’s exciting experimentation, Greek star violinist Leonidas Kavakos interprets Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto, one of the most beloved and frequently performed works in the violin concerto repertoire. “Leonidas Kavakos, together with the Philharmoniker, makes this beautiful work a true celebration.” (klassik-begeistert.de)
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera is a poignant love story between two complex, mature characters torn between their desires, loyalties and the inevitable consequences of their choices. In this production, stage director Vincent Boussart delves deeply into the theme of masks, revealing a rich interplay of drama and comedy, human duplicity, lies and truth. “The two male protagonists, Piotr Beczala as Riccardo and Carlos Alvarez as Renato, were the outstanding performances for the evening.” (Bachtrack) “A deeply moving play of masquerade and humanity” (El País)
The Exclusive Subscription Concert Series – Christian Thielemann
The Subscription Concert Series of the Wiener Philharmoniker from the Golden Hall of the famous Musikverein are special concerts reserved for subscribers. Due to the exceptional quality of the concerts and the limited offer, the average waiting time for subscribers is more than 10 years. With this series, these very special concerts are made available for the first time audiovisually to a wider audience worldwide. For this subscription concert, the Wiener Philharmoniker asked a long-time artistic companion to take the podium: more than 140 concerts and a multitude of celebrated recordings connect Christian Thielemann with the traditional Viennese orchestra. The live recording of his debut on the podium at the Vienna Musikverein almost 23 years ago promptly became a reference recording. On the programme then as now: Richard Strauss’ monumental Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony). This work, often regarded as the final and climax of the “symphonic poem” genre, is juxtaposed with Arnold Schönberg’s probably most famous tonal composition, the orchestral version of the string sextet Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night). Composed in 1899, this highly expressive work by the 25-year-old Schönberg reads, in retrospect, like a swan song to the 19th century. “Schönberg and Strauss rarely sound so grandiose.“ (Kurier) “A truly persuasive performance.”(The New York Times)
Le Siège de Corinthe
When Rossini’s opera Le Siège de Corinthe was premiered in 1826 in Paris it became a huge success all over Europe. The Rossini Opera Festival presents the opera in a new production from Carlus Padrissa of the Barcelona collective La Fura dels Baus, “which here has one of its most interesting shows” (connessiallopera.it). Artisticly “Roberto Abbado holds the ranks excellently and supports a well-cohesive and balanced cast” (L’ape musicale) “where bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni growled fearsomely as Sultan Mahomet, tenor Sergey Romanovsky as Néoclès matched a warm tone with pinging top notes, and tenor John Irvin was self-assured as Cléomène, but soprano Nino Machaidze as Pamyra thrilled most of all, as she purred effortlessly through pyrotechnic coloratura” (Financial Times).
Diana Damrau & Jonas Kaufmann – Love Songs
“They languish until the last encore” Wiener Zeitung, “A deeply felt, rapturous performance” (The Guardian) A radiant concert at the Great Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein: Diana Damrau and Jonas Kaufmann, luminaries of the classical realm and celebrated interpreters of Lieder, breathe life into love songs of two titans of romanticism, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. They explore love’s myriad dimensions through soul-stirring solos and mesmerizing duets in a journey through a kaleidoscope of emotions, from reverie and yearning to the bliss of fulfillment, tempered by moments of heartache, resignation, and sacrifice, charming and moving. Adding to the magic is their esteemed collaborator at the piano, the incomparable Helmut Deutsch, whose artistry enhances every note and infuses the music with an undeniable depth of expression.