In this concert, the Wiener Philharmoniker, conducted by Andris Nelsons, present a “heavenly” pairing: Alban Berg’s “Violin Concerto, To the Memory of an Angel”, alongside Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, whose final movement sets “Das himmlische Leben” (Heavenly Life) to music. With this performance, young German-American violinist August Hadelich gave his debut at the Salzburg Festival and thrilled the press: “The fabulous Augustin Hadelich filled the difficult solo part with emotion and fragility, his performance was sensitive and yet glowing.” (Die Presse). With Mahler’s Fourth, Andris Nelsons creates “a Mahler miracle of quiet tones” (Volksblatt), joined by German soprano Christiane Karg as the soloist of the finale. The concert is part of the Wiener Philharmoniker’s Mahler cycle with Nelsons. Program: Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4; Alban Berg: Violin Concerto „To the Memory of an Angel”
Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)
W.A. Mozart’s timeless masterpiece at the Salzburg Festival is always an event! Especially when Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) receives such a “spectacular and virtuosic staging” (Le Figaro) by director Lydia Steier. Steier introduces the role of the grandfather, a narrator reading the opera like a fairy tale to his three grandchildren, performed by the famous actor Klaus Maria Brandauer (Out of Africa, James Bond). This ‘trick’ in combination with the gigantic moveable sets by stage designer Katharina Schlipf, allows new views on Mozart’s magical opera, with its different worlds. Thanks to conductor Constantinos Carydis, who “seems to breath with the music” (Tagesspiegel), there is a new Mozart to be heard too: Carydis draws “precise phrasing and plenty and of crisp articulation” (Financial Times) from “the musicians of the great Vienna Philharmonic” (New York Times).
W.A. Mozart: Davide penitente – Bartabas & Marc Minkowski
For this spectacular production of Mozart’s Davide penitente on the vast stage of the Salzburg Felsenreitschule at the Mozart Week 2015, Marc Minkowski and the equestrian choreographer Bartabas used dancing horses and thus restored the former riding school to its original function. Horses, riders from the Académie équestre de Versailles and Bartabas himself, whose successful productions are unique in the world of art, perform their elegant dressage arabesques within this exceptional setting. Soloists, chorus and orchestra are ranged over three levels on galleries cut from the bare rock. The result is a unique synthesis of the arts.
“A festival of beauty”. (Münchener Abendzeitung)
“Minkowski and Bartabas have created a great piece of theatre”. (NMZ)
Christian Thielemann conducts Chausson, Debussy and Fauré
Christian Thielemann conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in a programme of late Romantic French masterpieces, accompanied by the outstanding voices of Christiane Karg, Sophie Koch and Adrian Eröd. Gabriel Fauré’s heart-easing Requiem with its famous “Pie Jesu” is turned into a “magical moment” by Karg’s “divine” way of singing (Kulturradio). Ernest Chausson’s haunting song cycle Poème de l’amour et de la mer, in which Sophie Koch performs “superbly with her dramatic, yet light voice” (FAZ), constitutes the Requiem’s temporal counterpart. Thematically bridging the two works are Debussy’s Danse sacrée and Danse profane for harp and strings, with the orchestra’s principal harp Marie-Pierre Langlamet creating “cascades of artful polyphony in delicate nuances” (FAZ).
Festive Advent Concert at the Frauenkirche Dresden 2014
Elina Garanca, the star of this festal Advent concert, proves once more “that she has one of the loveliest and finest voices in the whole world”. In Georges Bizet’s “Agnus Dei”, in the “Regina Coeli” from Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, she lets her voice “shine and beam, bringing tears to many eyes”, the critics enthuse. Meanwhile Christiane Karg captivates us with her crystalclear soprano, winging its way straight to our hearts. The concert is conducted by maestro Pablo Heras-Casado, whose sensitive touch and style-conscious precision brings out to the full the particularly refined sound of the Staatskapelle. (Der neue Merker)
Nelsons conducts Beethoven No. 9
Performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony have a long tradition in Leipzig: as early as 1826, two years after the premiere in Vienna, there was the first complete performance
in Leipzig with the Gewandhausorchester. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy then finally established the symphony in the orchestra’s repertoire. The custom of performing the work on New Year’s Eve goes back to Arthur Nikisch in 1918. Later, conductors such as Hermann Scherchen, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Bruno Walter continued the New Year’s Eve concerts that take place regularly since the turn of the year 1945/46. Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons is now continuing this tradition at the highest level.
Salzburg Festival 2023: Nelsons conducts Berg, Bach and Mahler
In this concert, the Wiener Philharmoniker under the baton of Andris Nelsons are focusing on a “heavenly” pairing of works: Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, entitled “To the Memory of an Angel” is combined with Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, in the last movement of which the poem “Das himmlische Leben” (Heavenly Life) is set to music. With this performance, young German-American violinist August Hadelich gave his debut at the Salzburg Festival and thrilled the press: “The fabulous Augustin Hadelich filled the difficult solo part with emotion and fragility, his performance was sensitive and yet glowing.” (Die Presse) With Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Andris Nelsons performs “a Mahler miracle of quiet tones” (Volksblatt) – together with German soprano Christiane Karg (“subtle and with beautifully coloured soprano”, Kurier) as the soloist of the finale of the symphony. The concert is part of the Mahler cycle of the Wiener Philharmoniker and Andris Nelsons.
The Vienna Christmas Concert from the Stephansdom
The festive concert from St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna spreads pre-Christmas mood with four well-known vocal soloists, the Vienna Boys’ Choir and the Vienna Symphony
Orchestra. The program under the musical direction of David Afkham includes sacred and solemn music from all over Europe, from J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Charles Gounod’s “Sanctus” to the grand finale with Engelbert Humperdinck’s Evening Blessing from “Hänsel und Gretel”. At the end of the concert, the Christmas carol “Adeste fideles” is sung together.
Salzburg Festival 2018: Die Zauberflöte
Mozart’s timeless masterpiece at the Salzburg Festival – it doesn’t get much better than this! Especially when “The Magic Flute” receives such a “spectacular and virtuosic staging” (Le Figaro) by American director Lydia Steier. Her colourful, fairy-tale production conjures up magical scenes and revolves around Hollywood star Klaus Maria Brandauer as grandfather, who reads the fantastical story of Tamino’s quest to his three grandchildren. The Three Boys are sung “technically flawlessly and expressively by three members of the Wiener Sängerknaben, a pure joy” (Spiegel Online). Constantinos Carydis leads a young ensemble of world class singers and draws “precise phrasing and plenty of crisp articulation from the Wiener Philharmoniker” (Financial Times). A delight already enjoyed by over one million TV viewers in Germany alone!
Apollo et Hyacinthus (Mozart 22)
Mozart was eleven years old when he wrote “Apollo et Hyacinthus” K. 38 and “Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots” (The Obligation to Observe the First Commandment) K. 35 in 1767. Their brevity and contemporaneity made it seem fitting to entrust them to one director for their stage interpretations within the Mozart 22 project. John Dew, known and admired for his rediscoveries of long-neglected works and his highly imaginative productions, has created a semi-ironic framework that ideally suits the two little pieces. They are given a graceful musical accompaniment by the Symphony Orchestra of the Mozarteum University. “Apollo et Hyacinthus” is Mozart’s very first operatic venture and was commissioned soon after the successful performance of “Schuldigkeit.” “Apollo” is a Latin intermezzo that was intended as an insert between the prologue and the five-act school drama “Clementia Croesi.” Curiously, it already contains many of the themes that would recur in Mozart’s later operas: disguise, intrigue, transformation, self-discovery… The plot concerns Zephyrus’ love for Melia, who is about to marry Apollo. In his jealousy, Zephyrus gravely wounds Hyacinthus with a discus and, to have Apollo banished, accuses Apollo of murder. Apollo, who saw Zephyrus throw the discus, turns the true culprit into a wind. The dying Hyacinthus reveals the truth and Apollo consoles the mourning family by changing their son into a flower. “Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots” is an allegorical drama in three parts that was first performed in the Archbishop’s residence in March 1767. Mozart composed the first part. The work is an offshoot of the 17th-century tradition of the Jesuit school drama in which the characters are purely symbolic. Here, the “lukewarm Christian” becomes the object of contention between two authorities. Worldliness tempts him with the pleasures of the senses; a trio formed by Justice, Mercy and Christian Spirit urges him to choose an active Christian life. Mozart included such subtle musical touches as a 3/4 dance rhythm and merry woodwinds deployed by Worldliness and an alto trombone that summons the hero to the Last Judgment – an instrumental color that will appear prominently in “Don Giovanni”…