“Orpheus in der Unterwelt” (Orphée aux Enfers), Offenbach’s satirical answer to
Gluck’s “Orfeo”, was premiered in Paris 1858 and portrays society as amoral, the upper class as lax and indifferent to all and public opinion in charge of both.
In the early 1980s legendary director Götz Friedrich created his own contemporary version of the operetta at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, in German, filled with allusions to the contemporary cultural scene and society in general. Starring a large cast of renowned artists – singers and actors – Orpheus’ odyssey to the Olympic Gods and to the Underworld, in order to save his wife, receives a new face – away from Paris in the 19th century and to bourgeois West-Berlin. The performance stars Julia Migenes Johnson, Donald Grobe, Astrid Varnay and George Shirley, to name but a few. Jesús López Cobos has the musical direction in this production.
Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden open their Brahms Cycle with a performance at the stunning NHK Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The program includes Brahms’ Symphonies No. 1 in C minor and No. 3 in F major.
Marlis Petersen, Michaela Selinger, Elisabeth Kulman, Michael Roider, and Adrian Erod star in this Vienna State Opera production of the Reimann opera conducted by Michale Boder and directed by Marco Arturo Marelli.
Don Quichot – an audience favourite of prestigious companies worldwide – is a dazzling display of high spirits, virtuosity and Spanish temperament. The flamboyant leaps, dizzying pirouettes and crisp pointe work that are standard features of the production give the performers every opportunity to show off their technical prowess. But at the same time, the comic story based on Cervantes’ masterpiece makes strong demands on the dancers’ acting abilities. The leading Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky has drawn inspiration for his production from the libretto of the first version of Don Quichot by Marius Petipa, created in 1869. The former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet and Artist in Residence of the American Ballet Theatre now has also added his own new elements and choreography to the ballet. The modern designs for the ballet, by the renowned French designer Jérôme Kaplan, refer to the times of Cervantes.
Handel’s opera Silla is probably the most enigmatic and unknown of all his operas. The production at the Kanagawa Prefectural Music Hall, however, is not only a rare occasion, but also the world premiere of the full-stage version. Tadashi Miroku’s production is inspired by traditional Kabuki theatre, known for its highly stylised performances and often glamorous costumes and make-up. Fabio Biondi conducts “his” Europa Galante, an internationally renowned and award-winning ensemble for baroque music, performing together with a magnificent cast of singers representing the world of early music, such as Vivica Genaux and Roberta Invernizzi. “More than a common orchestra, Europa Galante looks like a guitar or multi-register harp struck by Biondi’s master hand”. (Amadeus)
For 25 years, the Odeonsplatz Concert has been an open-air highlight of the classical music summer, attracting over 16,000 viewers each year. In balmy summer temperatures, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, led by its designated chief conductor Lahav Shani, delivered a radiant performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with star soloist Lisa Batiashvili, whose interpretation held the audience spellbound. The evening culminated in a powerful rendition of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, filling the stage with sweeping orchestral colour. “Powerful and magical” (Münchner Merkur) PROGRAM Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major; Massenet: Meditation from Thaïs; Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances, Op. 45; Dvorak : Slavonic Dance, Op. 46, No. 8
In his inaugural concert as chief music director of Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Staatskapelle Berlin, Christian Thielemann showcases his versatility. He performs Mendelssohn’s seldom-played Piano Concerto No. 2 with pianist Igor Levit, described as having a “warm, soft, full-bodied” sound. The concert concludes with Schönberg’s Pelleas und Melisande, praised for its emotional depth and Thielemann’s ability to bring out the brass at the perfect moment, generating powerful, transparent music that evokes strong feelings. “It was evident how well Igor Levit and Christian Thielemann work together. Both build up great pressure and tension, seem to literally spur each other on, and the audience cheered”(Bild) PROGRAM: Moussa – Elysium; Mendelssohn – Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 40; Schönberg – Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5
The Münchner Philharmoniker and Lahav Shani go together like, well, like the Münchner Philharmoniker and Anton Bruckner! The orchestra’s Bruckner tradition goes back to 1932, when the original version of Symphony No. 9 in D minor was premiered in Munich. With this performance of the Ninth, it is evident that Shani wants to keep this tradition alive with this orchestra: “Long silence after the last note, then standing ovations. Not for a long time has Bruckner been heard here so well, so fulfilled, so logically” (Müncher Merkur). The other half of the concert is dedicated to Bach, as Shani himself took a seat at the grand piano to play the piano concerto No. 1 in D minor: “Shani does not play with a hard, crystalline touch, but rather with a velvety one, but above all with a natural virtuosity. This is music among friends – a sentiment felt by the audience” (Münchner Merkur). PROGRAM: Bruckner – Symphony n. 9; Bach – Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
Karina Canellakis and the Staatskapelle Dresden whisk the audience away to the land of opportunity with melodies from Broadway to Hollywood. With energetic fervor, the conductor starts the evening with the overture to Bernstein’s Candide and the concert suite No. 1 from West Side Story. Soprano Fatma Said (“beautifully lyrical” – Der Merker) and tenor Jonah Hopkins sung Tony and Maria “with great feeling and intimacy” (Der Merker). Pianist Kirill Gerstein interprets Gershwin’s piano concerto in F major with great feeling for “rhythmic and jazzy peculiarities” (Der Merker). Arriving firmly on Hollywood turf with works by Steiner and Korngold, the concert ends with one last excursion to the musical stage with Cole Porter’s “Wunderbar” from Kiss Me, Kate.
“Kavakos plays Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with a Kavakos-like supremacy making every trill flash and carving out every piece of scale with iron precision. […] It’s all about conciseness, about attitude, a kind of highly energetic music-making that knows no limits of expression.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung) “Klassik am Odeonsplatz” is a summer highlight in the musical life of the Bavarian capital. This concert from the 2022 edition features famous masterpieces as Dvorák “New World” Symphony and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto played by Leonidas Kavakos together with Daniel Harding on the podium of the Münchner Philharmoniker. PROGRAM: Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto; Dvorák: Symphony No. 9; Johann Strauss: Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka
