Stealing the show of this “Carmen” production is Anna Netrebko as Micaela, who gives the role a strikingly authentic touch. The lead role is sung and acted with a panther-like grace by Bulgarian mezzo Nadia Krasteva. She and her equally dazzling fellow leads Massimo Giordano as Don José and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as Escamillo infuse this revival of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1978 production with drama and irrepressible life. Imparting his own personal stamp on the music is the young Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons, who leads the Orchestra of the Wiener Staatsoper with contagious passion and fresh, brisk tempi.
Don Giovanni
When it comes to Mozartian perfection on the opera stage, one needn’t always seek it in Milan, Vienna, Salzburg or New York! At the Sferisterio Opera Festival in the central Italian city of Macerata, a rapt audience was treated to a production of Don Giovanni “that will enter the annals of opera” (ForumOpera.com). This magnificent reading of Mozart’s timeless masterpiece sweeps the viewer into a libertine, 18th- century society dominated by sensuality and erotic impulses. They are acted out on the stage’s main prop, a large, unmade bed, not only by Don Giovanni, but also by just about everyone else in the “nearly faultless cast” (ForumOpera.com). In his role debut as the title hero, Ildebrando D’Arcangelo is “incandescent” (Gazzetta die Parma) and “doesn’t do Don Giovanni; he is the Don. Unsurpassable”(24 Ore).
Don Giovanni
When it comes to Mozartian perfection on the opera stage, one needn’t always seek it in Milan, Vienna, Salzburg or New York! At the Sferisterio Opera Festival in the central Italian city of Macerata, a rapt audience was treated to a production of Don Giovanni “that will enter the annals of opera” (ForumOpera.com). This magnificent reading of Mozart’s timeless masterpiece sweeps the viewer into a libertine, 18th- century society dominated by sensuality and erotic impulses. They are acted out on the stage’s main prop, a large, unmade bed, not only by Don Giovanni, but also by just about everyone else in the “nearly faultless cast” (ForumOpera.com). In his role debut as the title hero, Ildebrando D’Arcangelo is “incandescent” (Gazzetta die Parma) and “doesn’t do Don Giovanni; he is the Don. Unsurpassable”(24 Ore).
Attila
Verdi´s opera Attila takes as its starting point Attila’s plans to storm Rome with his army of Huns and the Romans’ attempts to prevent him. As with Nabucco and I Lombardi, Verdi spiced up the action with a number of patriotic choruses, guaranteeing that – against the background of the Italian movement for unification – the opera was a great success. “Michele Mariotti owes much to the fact that this evening became a celebration of voices“ (Opern-Kritik). Ildebrando D´Arcangelo is “perfect for the serious Verdi roles”, Fabio Sartori has a voice of immense brilliance” (Opern-Kritik), “Simone Piazzola was an impressive Ezio” (theoperacritic.com) and “the real warrior of this Attila is the soprano Maria Jose’ Siri … with her voice, touching each primordial sentiment in every note of the opera, she commanded ‘Attention’ from everybody.” (La Repubblica)
Verdi Messa da Requiem
When the revered writer Alessandro Manzoni died in 1873, Verdi was unable to bring himself to attend the funeral. Instead he composed his monumental Messa da Requiem in Manzoni’s memory and conducted its first performance on the first anniversary of the writer’s death. In addition to its profound spirituality, the work also brings together all the finest qualities familiar from Verdi’s operas, qualities that include endless melodic lines and powerful musico-dramatic effects. The present performance was recorded in Los Angeles’s legendary Hollywood Bowl in August 2013 and brought together three superstars from the world of music: the conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the tenor Vittorio Grigolo and the bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, all of them at the top of their form. “It was an important and exceptional evening … That experience involved a radical and wondrous rethinking of the Requiem on Dudamel‘s part.” Los Angeles Times
Red Ribbon Celebration Concert
Red Ribbon Gala Concert from the stunning Burgtheater Vienna presented by a unique cast of world-famous singers. —– PROGRAM: Johann Strauss: Intermezzo from Tausend und eine Nacht / Arrigo Boito: “Ave Signor” from Mefistofele / Camille Saint-Saëns: “Mon coeur s´ouvre à ta voix” from Samson et Dalila / Antonín Dvorák: “Beda, Beda!” from Rusalka / Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowski: Arabischer Tanz aus: Nussknacker-Suite op. 71a / Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakow: Song of the Indian Merchant from Sadko; “Plenivšis’ rozoy, solovey” (The Nightingale and the Rose); Romanze op.2/2 / Georges Bizet: Intermezzo from Carmen Suite No. 1 / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Overture from Don Giovanni; “Deh, vieni alla finestra” from Don Giovanni / Georges Bizet: “Seguidilla” from Carmen / Charles Gounod: “Le veau d´or” from Faust / Astor Piazzolla (arr. Pablo Ziegler): Oblivion (Rojotango) / Franz Lehár “Lippen schweigen” from Die lustige Witwe / Aram Khachaturian: Dance of the Young Kurds from Gayane // Pablo Ziegler: Rojotango
Salzburg Festival: Mozart, Don Giovanni
According to stage director Sven-Eric Bechtolf “Don Giovanni is a romantic hero of metaphysical proportions.” He sees Don Giovanni as a person who is craving for freedom and a lack of boundaries in a puritan society. The role is performed by Italian bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, one of today’s leading Mozart singers (like Luca Pisaroni who sings Leporello, and Lenneke Ruiten who performs Donna Anna). Leading the Wiener Philharmoniker is the German conductor Christoph Eschenbach, a heir of George Szell and Herbert von Karajan.
Dudamel conducts the Verdi Requiem at the Hollywood Bowl
“Gustavo Dudamel puts an intimate flourish on Verdi’s Requiem”, the Los Angeles Times writes about Dudamel’s performance of Verdi’s Requiem at the Hollywood Bowl. “A page was turned and a new chapter begun in the maturation of a music director.” Dudamel is joined by a cast of high-class singers: Ildebrando D´Arcangelo, who regularly performs at La Scala, the Wiener Staatsoper, London’s Royal Opera or the Salzburg Festival, the upcoming star tenor Vittorio Grigolo, who regularly guests at La Scala, Covent Garden, the MET etc., Michelle DeYoung, who performs with leading orchestras like the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra etc., and Julianna Di Giacomo, who regularly guests at the MET, the LA Opera an other international opera houses. Also available: Making Of (18′).