“It would be most wonderful if this Tristan never ended.” (Opernmagazin) “Brilliant performances that bring you to your knees” (Sächsische Zeitung) Every piece of the puzzle fell perfectly into place for this historic performance of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Semperoper Dresden. In front of a pared down, timeless staging by Marco Arturo Marelli, the vocal performances could truly shine. Klaus Florian Vogt is “fully present” (Opernmagazin) and Camilla Nylund as Isolde at his side “convinced with her still incredibly lyrical, light soprano” (Sächsische Zeitung). At the zenith of his career, Christian Thielemann manages to set a new standard with his permeation of this difficult score and leads the Staatskapelle Dresden to new heights of artistic expression.
Capriccio
Capriccio by Richard Strauss is an opera about opera as an art form: it describes the creation of a musical drama with wise cheerfulness and full knowledge of this genre of theatre. The “conversation piece with music” is Strauss’s last complete stage work, his farewell as an opera composer, the cultivated conclusion of a well-considered life’s work. The composer worked closely with the Semperoper Dresden for six decades, and nine of his operas were premiered on the Elbe. To this day, the house and its orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, celebrated worldwide as the “Strauss Orchestra”, cultivate his work with a unique intensity and quality. The celebrated Strauss interpreter and principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden, Christian Thielemann, leads a top-class ensemble with star soprano Camilla Nylund as the Countess, Georg Zeppenfeld as La Roche, Daniel Behle as Flamand, Nikolay Borchev as Olivier, Christa Mayer as Clairon and Christoph Pohl as the Count. In Jens-Daniel Herzog’s new production, the plot unfolds in full poetic power and impressive imagery.
Der Rosenkavalier
Multimedia artist André Heller makes his highly anticipated debut as stage director at the Berlin State Opera with Richard Strauss’ tragicomic Rosenkavalier and the critics are full of praise: “With his staging of Rosenkavalier André Heller sets a monument to flawlessness” (Die Zeit). Master conductor Zubin Mehta leads the fantastic orchestra of the Staatskapelle Berlin and a “cast of singers, above all with Camilla Nylund and Günther Groissböck, which is unsurpassable – a Rosenkavalier with a dream cast” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). “One has hardly ever seen a more splendid, elegant and opulent Rosenkavalier” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Die Frau ohne Schatten
Under Christian Thielemann’s baton, the new production of Richard Strauss’ Frau ohne Schatten at the Vienna State Opera becomes a much acclaimed musical highlight “with a top-class protagonist quintet” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) and a sensationally playing Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper. French director Vincent Huguet gives his debut in Vienna and tells the story as a complex fairy tale, rich in images. Christian Thielemann “presents the most powerful and poetic Strauss conducting in decades” hails the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
Der Freischütz
Christian Räth’s inspired staging of Der Freischütz, Weber’s seminal Romantic opera, at the Haus am Ring stands out due to the bold set and costume design by Gary McCann. To win Agathe’s hand, the young assistant forester Max has to pass a test of skill in marksmanship. The desperate lover, in order to win the shooting contest, resorts to the use
of magic bullets. With his “magnificent Heldentenor”, Andreas Schager offers “a convincing portrait” and Camilla Nylund’s Agathe arias are “captivating poetry” (Kleine Zeitung Steiermark).
Tristan und Isolde
Semperoper Dresden presents an historic performance of Tristan and Isolde, directed by Marco Arturo Marelli and conducted by world-leading conductor Christian Thielemann. The sound he obtains from the Wagnerian score “fills the room with elegiac longing, drawing listeners into the emotional depths of the famous lovers.” (Opera Online) Klaus Florian Vogt, in his debut as Tristan, is “fully present and convincing with natural phrasing and clear diction” (Opernmagazin), while Camilla Nylund as Isolde “convinced with her still incredibly lyrical, light soprano” (Sächsische Zeitung). At the zenith of his career, Christian Thielemann manages to set a new standard with his permeation of this difficult score and leads the Staatskapelle Dresden to new heights of artistic expression. “It would be most wonderful if this Tristan never ended.” (Opernmagazin). “Brilliant performances that bring you to your knees”. (Sächsische Zeitung)
Jenufa
Jenufa is still Janácek’s most successful and most often performed opera, and the Berlin premiere at the Staatsoper in 1924 brought the work its final breakthrough on German stages. This performance from Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden is “artistically unsurpassable. There are three reasons for this. Firstly, the cast […], secondly: the direction […], thirdly: Simon Rattle, the Staatskapelle and the chorus of the Staatsoper” (BR Klassik). “Simon Rattle revs up the Staatskapelle Berlin with a passion as if he had to fill a melodrama by Giacomo Puccini with bursting sound life” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). “A beguiling mixture of speaking articulation and tonal roundness.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
Der Freischütz
Christian Räth’s inspired staging of Der Freischütz, Weber’s seminal Romantic opera, at the Haus am Ring stands out due to the bold set and costume design by Gary McCann. It was “a festival of singers, that the young conductor Tomas Netopil underscored with the State Opera Orchestra with warmth. Andreas Schager, the immense Heldentenor, as Max, Camilla Nylund as the touching Agathe – a magnificent pair. The other roles were also well cast … “ (Salzburger Nachrichten)
Festive Concert at Grafenegg Festival 2016
Freedom, fraternity and humanity – this is what Beethoven’s 9th Symphony stands for. It opens the 10th Grafenegg Festival, performed by the Tonkunstler Orchestra, joined by 24 alumni of the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) and “a soloist quartet which no one could possibly imagine to be more prestigious” (Die Presse). “Vogt’s tenor and the Wiener Singverein were especially moving” (Wiener Zeitung) and “the vocal performance by excellent bass René Pape, the fabulous soprano Camilla Nylund and the brilliant mezzosoprano Elena Zhidkova … in Beethoven’s Ninth was just sensational. Bravo!” (Kurier). Composer in Residence Christian Jost’s new work also centres around Beethoven, featuring the song “An die Hoffnung” (“To Hope”), and “convincingly used an impressive orchestra” (Der Standard), with “tenor Klaus Florian Vogt as a well-cast soloist” (Salzburger Nachrichten).
Richard Strauss Gala
This exceptional programme of highlights from Richard Strauss´s works Der Rosenkavalier, Feuersnot,
Salome, Elektra, Die ägyptische Helena, Arabella, Die schweigsame Frau and Daphne was dedicated to Richard
Strauss 150th birthday in Dresden. The reputation as »THE Strauss-Orchestra« of the Staatskapelle
Dresden results from the special relation to Richard Strauss and his works, which started 130 years ago,
performing many world premieres of Richard Strauss´s operas and orchestral works.
The DVD includes the documentary My Strauss with Christian Thielemann, including a lot of archival
footage with Richard Strauss, rehearsals and concert excerpts of Elektra, Rosenkavalier, Frau ohne
Schatten, Heldenleben, Four last songs and more.