Barrie Kosky concludes his Da Ponte cycle at the Wiener Staatsoper with Mozart’s Così fan tutte, creating “a world sensation in the opera universe” (Klassik-Begeistert). Christopher Maltman’s Don Alfonso becomes a director rehearsing a play with two young couples – Federica Lombardi and Peter Kellner (Fiordiligi and Guglielmo), Emily D’Angelo and Filipe Manu (Dorabella and Ferrando) – and, with Kate Lindsey’s Despina, sets out to prove women’s infidelity. “The individual voices are outstanding, and the ensemble homogeneity even more so” (Frankfurter Rundschau). Philippe Jordan conducts from the fortepiano, balancing “classical beauty and vibrancy” (Kleine Zeitung).
Don Giovanni
In Guth’s almost cinematic Salzburg Festival production, every character in Mozart’s most realistic opera seems to carry a back-story of thwarted love and frustration. Everyone appears to be seeking either salvation or damnation in the woods – a compelling concept that removes the opera from its traditional pseudo-Seville squares and palaces. And when Don Giovanni is played by Christopher Maltman, it’s no wonder that Donna Anna (Annette Dasch), Donna Elvira (Dorothea Röschmann) and even
Zerlina (Ekaterina Siurina) are ready to throw themselves at his feet.
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!
Harnoncourt conducts Bach: Advent Concert from Melk Abbey
From the magnificent surroundings of Melk Abbey in Austria, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his Concentus Musicus Wien present a glorious programme of favourite choral works by Johann Sebastian Bach: two of his best loved cantatas alongside the celebratory Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243. Filmed in December 2000, the concert features a superb quartet of some of the finest singers of the time, including soprano Christine Schäfer and tenor Ian Bostridge. The Arnold Schoenberg Chor completes the line-up for this inspiring concert for Advent.
Gala Concert from the Semperoper Highlights from ‘The Merry Widow‘
This gala evening in the beautiful Semperoper devoted to operetta melodies with classic superstars Renée Fleming and Christopher Maltman under the baton of Christian Thielemann was a tremendous success and, as Deutsche Grammophon put it, started ‘a new tradition’. Thielemann, heading the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and an ensemble of distinguished soloists and choral singers, presents the most beautiful highlights from Franz Lehár’s ‘The Merry Widow’ and succeeds in giving the famous and universally beloved melodies a perceptive new reading while still creating first-class entertainment. A short entr’acte performed in the foyer by members of the theater’s ballet ensemble allows the viewer a glimpse into the luxurious interior of the Semperoper. The New Year’s Eve gala concert ends with an homage to Dresden: the waltz ‘An der Elbe’, the last waltz written by Johann Strauss.
Theater an der Wien: 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. At the center of the piece is the provincial variety theatre artist Zazà who soon finds herself between two men, but also between the life she has been used to up to now and the hope for the happiness of a secure middleclass existence through marriage and love. One is Cascart, her stage partner and former lover, whom she keeps afloat like her alcoholic mother. The other is the Parisian businessman and bon vivant Milio, whom she falls head over heels in love with, unaware that he has a wife and child in the capital. She finally sets him free and remains fatally unhappy in this piece. “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!
LSO: Gergiev conducts Brahms: German Requiem
Conductor Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra present Johannes Brahms’ greatest choral work, the German Requiem, featuring soprano Sally Matthews and baritone Christopher Maltman. PROGRAM Brahms: German Requiem