Dance against the wind: French choreographer Mourad Merzouki sails towards a new adventure in the direction of the “Everest of the seas” – the sailing race Vendée Globe. After Vertikal, which propelled hip-hop into the air, Merzouki continues to exalt this dance in a play with natural forces: from weightlessness to the breath of the wind, from vertical to horizontal, he performs a 90-degree rotation and imagines a new poetics of space in which a gentle wind of lightness blows from the west: the Zephyrus. César Award winner Armand Amar (“Le Concert”) wrote the music. “A great fresco on life […] And the magic works.” Le Figaro
Caligula
The Théâtre d’Arras unearthed a hidden treasure of opera history, Giovanni Maria Pagliardi’s Baroque “melodrama” Caligula, and breathed new life into it: Mimmo Cuticchio’s and Alexandra Rübner’s spectacular staging uses magnificent marionettes to tell a captivating tale of the mad Roman emperor, accompanied by Vincent Dumestre and his ensemble Le Poème Harmonique. The “excellent musicians” (Le Monde), specialized in vocal and instrumental music of the 17th and early 18th century, could not be better suited for the versatile score with ist overflowing energy. They support six singers, “each one as exquisite as the next” (Mouvement), who are positioned on either side of the stage to voice the marionettes. “Want to travel in time and space? This Caligula is made for you!” (Télérama) “A show for young and old, not to be missed under any circumstances!” (Mouvement)
Quatuor Diotima: Livre de Boulez
At the Cité de la musique in Paris, the Quatuor Diotima, one of the world’s most in-demand ensembles, presents Pierre Boulez’ Livre pour quatuor. Written between 1948-49 in a period of complete radicality, this work is an exercise in formality and fragmentation. Boulez’ work has been profoundly revised in collaboration with the Quatuor Diotima. The unaccomplished fourth movement has been completed by Philippe Manoury.
Franz Schubert – Winterreise
“Winterreise” by Franz Schubert – unquestionably one of the best known works in the lieder repertoire – engages with its audience in a new and unexpected form: in a creative encounter with Schubert’s masterpiece, the celebrated lieder specialist Matthias Goerne, pianist Markus Hinterhäuser and South African director, set designer and
theatre artist William Kentridge joined forces on stage and traced newly imagined, deeply moving images. In short animated films, Kentridge visualises Goerne’s and Hinterhäuser’s sonic contribution. A memorable meeting “of melancholy and magic” (La Marseillaise).
Plácido Domingo at Arena di Verona
Opera legend Plácido Domingo returns to the spectacular Arena di Verona with a programme dedicated to the great Italian composers Verdi and Giordano. Jordi Bernàcer conducts the orchestra of the Arena di Verona from the center of the Arena, which creates an incredible surround sound, embedded in a perfectly staged light show. The musical heart of the evening are long excerpts from La Traviata, where Domingo’s dark voice fits wonderfully for the role of Germont. An extraordinary evening, culminating in long applause for the charismatic singer. “Domingo performed with bravura, alternating with the spectacular Saioa Hernández” (operaactual.com).
Flórez 20 Years at Rossini Opera Festival
Juan Diego Florez will headline the 2018 Rossini Opera Festival with a new production of “Ricciardo e Zoraide.” The production will mark the tenor’s return to the festival and will mark yet another Rossini role debut. Florez will be joined by Pretty Yende and will be conducted by Giacomo Sagripanti. Marshall Pynkoski will direct the new production.Florez has performed at the Pesaro Festival for the past 20 years where he has sung such opera’s as “William Tell,” “Matilde di Shabran,” “Le Comte Ory,” and “La Donna del Lago.”
A Johann Strauss Celebration – The Wiener Symphoniker in Trieste
For decades, the Wiener Symphoniker has welcomed spring with a bouquet of lively melodies. This edition goes international as the orchestra and chief conductor Petr Popelka ring in the season in Trieste with works by Johann Strauss, the composer of the year, but also pieces by Franz Lehár, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Erich Korngold.
Tormenti e dolce oblio – The Venetian Concert
Repertoire: Claudio Monteverdi, Tempro la cetra (Libro VII dei madrigali) / Claudio Monteverdi, Voglio di vita uscir (Scherzi muiscali) / Benedetto Ferrari, Voglio di vita uscir (Musiche varie a voce sola, libro II) / Francesco Cavalli, Scene dall’Egisto / Claudio Monteverdi, Aria di Ulisse; Dormo ancora (Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria) / Tarquinio Merula, Folle è ben (Madrigali et altri capricci)
The Deadly Sins – Angels and Demons in the works of Claudio Monteverdi
In order to honor the anniversary of Claudio Monteverdi’s (1567- 1643) the ensemble Cappella Mediterranea and their founder Leonardo García Alarcón were given the special permission, to perform in an outstanding venue, the Chiesetta del Doge at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice for an unique musical project: The first performance of Monteverdi’s music in more than 300 years at the Doges chapel, the heart of the old Venetian republic, where Monteverdi was the official court composer. Based on the theme of “Angels and Demons” the ensemble perform extracts from Monteverdi’s opera and madrigal compositions. The half-scenic production is staged by Olivier Lexa, founder and artistic director of the Venetian Centre for Baroque Music. The works, illustrate the contrasts of sins and virtues which are beautifully mirrored in Jacopo Guarana’s and Agostino Colonna’s frescos in the Chiesetta del Doge.
Beethoven Mass In C Major
Together with the excellent choir and a shining soloist quartet, Omer Meir Wellber reveals the immense expressiveness and novelty of this undeservedly neglected composition by the jubilarian Beethoven. lla Milch-Sheriff’s monodrama “The Eternal Stranger” is followed ‘attacca’ by Beethoven’s Mass in C major.