Prokofiev’s Fiery Angel is one of the outstanding operas of the 20th century. Director Andrea Breth transfers the story of Renata, who is plagued by visions, to a clinic. The atmosphere is characterised by agonising hopelessness, but at the same time heightened by the emotional excesses of the inmates. This monochrome approach, which dispenses with any historical embellishment, is legitimised by the careful elaboration of the characters. Aušrine Stundyte, one of the outstanding singing actors of our time, and the congenial Bo Skovhus play out the consequences of traumatisation with merciless precision in Breth’s interpretation. “Musically gripping, scenically intense.” (Wiener Zeitung) / “A scenic sensation.” (Kurier) / “Aušrine Stundyte succeeds in her singing balancing act between eruptive power and vulnerability.” (Die Presse)
Tosca
It is impossible to imagine today’s opera repertoire without Puccini’s Tosca, but rarely has an opera been so brutal: Murder, torture and love, jealousy and passion – everything is present in abundance. When it was written in 1900, this thriller set to music caused considerable controversy due to the political figureheads involved. Only much later the story about the deeply religious Tosca, the passionate Cavaradossi and the sadistic Scarpia was interpreted as the psychological drama it was meant to be. The drama on stage is accompanied from the orchestra pit by Marc Albrecht conducting the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra by pointed sketches of the characters, but also – as typical for Puccini – by lyrical turns and beautiful melodies that make this opera shocker unique. “Marc Albrecht, with a fabulously disposed ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, […] – a masterly achievement.” (Opernwelt). Next to Kristine Opolais, “a great, highly dramatic singing actress whose interpretation gets under the skin” (Kurier), sings the discovery of the evening, “the young tenor Jonathan Tetelman stems Caravadossi with juvenile power and tenoral beam that almost bursts the dimensions of the house.” (Opernwelt).
Halka
At Theater an der Wien Stanislaw Moniuszko’s Polish national opera Halka is performed by a superb cast including Corinne Winters (“devotedly”), Piotr Beczala (“vocally outstanding”) and Tomasz Konieczny (“his acting is piercing”) (Der Standard). The Polish leading team, above all director Mariusz Trelinski, puts the plot into a supercooled crime aesthetic. The ORF Radio Symphonie Orchester Wien under the baton of Lukasz Borowicz plays with perceptible delight. “A gripping opera evening” (Wiener Zeitung).
The Fiery Angel
Renata is obsessed with the love for the “fiery angel”. Ruprecht, in love with Renata, wants to free her from the madness, but all his efforts are in vain. She goes to the monastery, but here too she is being haunted by the image of the fiery angel. The Inquisition accuses Renata of witchcraft and sentences her to death. Prokofiev’s Fiery Angel is one of the outstanding operas of the 20th century. With her production, director Andrea Breth moves the action from 16th century Germany to the sterile environment of a modern psychiatric ward. The atmosphere of this prison-like place is sombre. “Musically gripping, scenically intense.” (Wiener Zeitung) / “A scenic sensation.” (Kurier) / “Aušrine Stundyte succeeds in her singing balancing act between eruptive power and vulnerability.” (Die Presse)
Zazà
With Ruggero Leoncavallo’s rarity Zazá, the Theater an der Wien scored a coup with the grandiose house debutante Svetlana Aksenova in the title role. Christof Loy delivers a striking staging of the Verismo drama and conductor Stefan Soltez spiritedly leads the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien through the highly acclaimed evening. “It would take a whole newspaper page to praise all the performers appropriately”, praises Der Standard. Of particular note is Svetlana Aksenova as Zazá who “suffers the whole spectrum from intimate affection to raging jealousy and mute despair”, Nikolai Schukoff (Milio) “shows himself as a daredevil and a depressed mourner”, Christopher Maltman as Cascart “leads energetically and touchingly his already lost fight for his beloved.” An evening worth seeing and hearing!
Hollywood in Vienna – A Night at the Oscars with Gabriel Yared
Hollywood in Vienna is the world’s first and unique film music gala concert, celebrating the most renowned film composers of our time. This year’s gala is dedicated to the motto “A Night at the Oscars” and to Gabriel Yared. Under the direction of Keith Lockhart, the ORF Radio Symphonieorchester Wien undertakes a glamorous journey through eight decades of film music. Gabriel Yared furthermore treats the Viennese audience to one of his rare public performances on the piano. Featuring music from The English Patient, Chocolat, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain, The Lives of Others, Jaws, Black Panther, Forrest Gump and many more
Hollywood in Vienna – A Tribute to Alexandre Desplat
In 2016, Hollywood in Vienna invited to an unforgettable musical journey through space and time and honoured the Hollywood composer, Oscar-, Golden Globe and Grammy Award winner Alexandre Desplat. First, A Space Odyssey leads us to outer space. We enter the infamous, global Star Wars and are rescued by Star Trek’s spaceship “Enterprise” before Gravity pulls us back to earth and, finally, we fulfill E.T.’s wish, to phone home. In the second part, Desplat’s atmospheric melodies for Harry Potter, Twilight, The King’s Speech and The Grand Budapest Hotel let us virtually float through the universe. Featuring star singers from various musical genres – Verdi soprano Kristin Lewis, singersongwriter Katerine Ellis and pop star Grace Capristo – “standing ovations were preprogrammed” (Kronenzeitung).
Red Ribbon Celebration Concert
Red Ribbon Gala Concert from the stunning Burgtheater Vienna presented by a unique cast of world-famous singers. —– PROGRAM: Johann Strauss: Intermezzo from Tausend und eine Nacht / Arrigo Boito: “Ave Signor” from Mefistofele / Camille Saint-Saëns: “Mon coeur s´ouvre à ta voix” from Samson et Dalila / Antonín Dvorák: “Beda, Beda!” from Rusalka / Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowski: Arabischer Tanz aus: Nussknacker-Suite op. 71a / Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakow: Song of the Indian Merchant from Sadko; “Plenivšis’ rozoy, solovey” (The Nightingale and the Rose); Romanze op.2/2 / Georges Bizet: Intermezzo from Carmen Suite No. 1 / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Overture from Don Giovanni; “Deh, vieni alla finestra” from Don Giovanni / Georges Bizet: “Seguidilla” from Carmen / Charles Gounod: “Le veau d´or” from Faust / Astor Piazzolla (arr. Pablo Ziegler): Oblivion (Rojotango) / Franz Lehár “Lippen schweigen” from Die lustige Witwe / Aram Khachaturian: Dance of the Young Kurds from Gayane // Pablo Ziegler: Rojotango
Red Ribbon Celebration Concert 2014
In 2012, the Red Ribbon Celebration Concert presented by successfully premièred at the Burgtheater Vienna, Austria. By its third edition, the gala concert has established itself and has become the fixed beginning of the charitable Life Ball weekend.On May 30, 2014 a number of world-famous artists embraced the good cause once again at the Red Ribbon Celebration Concert 2014: Piotr Beczala, Thomas Hampson, Yusif Eyvazov, Luca Pisaroni, Ildar Abdrazakov, Vesselina Kasarova and Jennifer O’Loughlin lent their unique voices to the motto “United in difference”.
Salzburg Festival 2025: The Raft of the Medusa
Henze’s Das Floß der Medusa is one of the most significant political works of 20th-century music. Inspired by Géricault’s painting, it recounts the true story of the 1816 shipwreck of the French frigate Méduse, in which 154 people were abandoned on a raft while those in power saved themselves. Since its premiere, it has stood as a powerful symbol of artistic resistance and remains strikingly relevant today. Henze’s haunting music, which gives voice to the victims of the shipwreck, is performed in Salzburg to perfection: “The ORF RSO Vienna and the choirs perform the piece brilliantly, as does the solo trio, through all the extremes of expression, which, after a sombre woodwind elegy, reach their climax in the finale. Pure horror takes orchestral form” (Der Standard). “Outstanding choirs” (Salzburger Nachrichten)