Two world-renowned baritones Thomas Hampson and Luca Pisaroni lead the audience through a gallery of opera characters which the “kings of high-Cs” cannot portray. They introduce themselves as devoted friends (Marquis Posa), rulers (Phillip II. and King Herod), devils (Mephistopheles) and the most famous operatic embodiment of evil (Iago) … . Most composers devoted the roles of lovers to tenors; yet, the most famous seducer of all times, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, is a baritone … . —— Works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet, Giuseppe Verdi, Vincenzo Bellini, Gioacchino Rossini, Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II, Leonard Bernstein, Gaetano Donizetti
Jonas Kaufmann – My Vienna
My Vienna is a deeply personal tribute to the world-famous melodies from the birthplace of waltz and operetta. Jonas Kaufmann has always had a special rapport with Austria and Vienna. His grandmother had a fondness for the light classics and was happy to sing the evergreens of Johann Strauss, Franz Lehár and Robert Stolz – a nice contrast to his grandfather’s passion for Wagner. As a child, Jonas spent much of his free time on his grandparents’ farm in Tyrol. Austrian television was almost more familiar to him than its German counterpart. Since then he has had a deep love for Viennese songs and operetta. “The music always put me in a good mood”, he recalls. “When I had unlikeable things to do as a student, like cleaning or vacuuming, all I had to do was play Carlos Kleiber’s Fledermaus recording, and in no time at all I had a grin on my face.” Viennese songs and scenes from operettas; music by Johann Strauß, Franz Léhar, Emmerich Kálmán, Robert Stolz, Ralph Benatzky, Jaromir Weinberger, Peter Kreuder and Georg Kreisler.