Topping the cast of this Zurich production is one of the world’s most acclaimed Falstaff performers of his time, Ambrogio Maestri. His powerful voice, acting skills, stage presence and nimble lightness blend together magnificently. At the head of the Zurich Opera Orchestra is its principal conductor Daniele Gatti. Under his baton, Verdi’s commedia lirica – based on Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” – is a fireworks of high spirits. Adding to the merriment is a cast of outstanding singers including Barbara Frittoli and Yvonne Naef, as well as Javier Camarena and Eva Liebau.
Parsifal
It was in Zurich that Richard Wagner, as he himself noted, obtained the inspiration for ‘Parsifal’ in 1857. And it was the Zurich Opera which, in 1913, was the first opera house outside of Bayreuth that was allowed to perform the work. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Wagner’s ‘stroke of genius’, we can once again experience ‘the purest Wagner bliss’, as the Neue Zürcher Zeitung put it, thanks to Hans Hollmann’s production and Bernard Haitink’s inspired conducting of the Zurich Opernorchester.
Doktor Faust
For Philippe Jordan, the conductor of this production from the Opernhaus Zürich, ‘Doktor Faust’ is one of the greatest operas of the 20th century, ranking alongside ‘Wozzeck’ and ‘Lulu,’ and resplendent with lush, lateromantic harmonies and motivically derived melodies reminiscent of Wagner, Verdi and even Mahler. Director Klaus Michael Grüber has produced a staging that ‘emphasizes the sensuality and operatic quality of the work’ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). Adding the final touch to the sensuality
of Busoni’s music, Jordan’s expressive control of the complex score and Grüber’s stage magic is Thomas Hampson in the lead role.