In honour of Italian poet and writer Alessandro Manzoni, Maestro Riccardo Frizza conducts this special performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem in the grand, historic cathedral of Milan with the Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Choir of Milan. Verdi composed his masterpiece of sacred music in 1874 to pay homage to Manzoni on the first anniversary of his death. In this celebration of two greats of Italian culture and history, the orchestra was joined by a vocal cast composed of Serena Farnocchia, soprano, Anna Maria Chiuri, mezzo-soprano, Luciano Ganci, tenor, and Luiz-Ottavio Faria, bass. “This work is so great because it is the affirmation of the personal feelings that a human being faces during mourning, which comes to us through the anguish, pain, and hope that the strength of Verdi’s music expresses.” Maestro Frizza said in an interview with Gramiliano.
Salome
Richard Strauss’s opera at the Salzburg Festival, staged by Romeo Castellucci at the Felsenreitschule, was nothing short of a sensation! Debuting in the title role, Asmik Grigorian propelled herself to international stardom with her mesmerizing singing and acting abilities. The exceptional soprano recently won the International Opera Award as best singer. To witness Maestro Franz Welser-Möst performing together with the Wiener Philharmoniker and an outstanding cast “makes you think you are hearing the piece in its most perfect incarnation yet” (Financial Times). “Asmik Grigorian sweeps all in her wake in the title role of Strauss’s opera. […] Hers is a Salome to end all Salomes. […] In total, it is stunning…” (Financal Times) “thrilling” (Spiegel Online) “A breathtakingly dense, musically epoch-making […] Salome, which brought the house down!” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung)
Le nozze di Figaro
For the 225th anniversary of Mozart’s death, La Scala Theatre presents a new production of Le nozze di Figaro that had been entrusted to the extraordinary director Frederic Wake-Walker (author of a production of La finta giardiniera which was the revelation of the Glyndebourne Festival in 2014). He focusses the action of the piece on the instability of love: “Le nozze di Figaro presents us with an impossibility – a world where everyone is loving and forgiving.” The approach to his direction is “elaborate and very innovative” and “also musically, the new production of Figaro is worth a tour to Milan.” (NZZ) “the cast is magnificient.” (Kurier) “… when Diana Damrau enters as the Countess, we get a performance of special gravitas. Even the orchestra, under Franz Welser-Möst’s baton, melts to such grace.” (Financial Times)
Tutto Verdi – The Operas Vol. 1, 1839 – 1846
Salzburg Festival 2021: Intolleranza 1960
Luigi Nono caused a riot at the premiere of his “scenic action” Intolleranza in 1961. The opulent work that collages singing, orchestra, film projections, dance and light has lost none of its actuality, neither in its form nor in its content: the odyssey of a nameless emigrant who is persecuted and tortured ends fatally in the floods of the river that separates him from his homeland. Jan Lauwers’ production in the impressive Felsenreitschule reflects his intense study of the meaning of political art. For Nono expert, conductor Ingo Metzmacher, Nono’s work and legacy are like a guideline that he still follows today. The performers and dancers of the NEEDCOMPANY, the BODHI PROJECT und SEAD – Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance create images of oppressive intensity in teeming tableaux. “The cast is superb, from Sean Panikkar’s eloquent, impassioned immigrant to Musa Ngqungwana’s harrowing torture victim.” Financial Times
Salzburg Festival 2018: Salome
“Salome”, the masterpiece of Richard Strauss, who conducted the very first opera in the history of the Salzburg Festival, finally returns to Salzburg after 25 years. To witness Franz Welser-Möst, a Strauss conductor in a league of his own, at the helm of the Wiener Philharmoniker “makes you think you are hearing the piece in its most perfect incarnation yet.” (Financial Times). The Italian director Romeo Castellucci has the extraordinary gift of creating images pulsating with knowledge of the subconscious, he is responsible for directing and designing stage sets, costumes and lighting. “Asmik Grigorian sweeps all in her wake in the title role of Strauss’s opera. […] Hers is a Salome to end all Salomes. […] In total, it is stunning…” (Financal Times)