It’s an impetuous, impassioned Hamlet that treads the boards in composer Franco Faccio and librettist Arrigo Boito’s opera Hamlet (Amleto), which was first staged in 1865 in Genua. Faccio and Boito skilfully and effectively challenge the conventions of Italian opera, which they wanted to revitalise by infusing it with the spirit of Shakespeare’s drama. Amleto was performed again at La Scala in 1871, after that the opera was not staged again – until 2014 when it was revived in the USA. The Bregenz Festival is now bringing Faccio’s Hamlet back to Europe. This production “offers all an Italian-opera-lover could possibly desire” (FAZ); “a triumphal rebirth” (Deutschlandradio Kultur)
St. Matthew Passion
In 2017 – the year of Luther – Hans-Christoph Rademann and the Gaechinger Cantorey take on Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion, the key work of the Protestant church. The exceptional concert impressively documented the new sound and superb manner of playing on historical instruments, which Hans-Christoph Rademann was able to hone in masterfully with the Gaechinger Cantorey over the course of just one year. In its choreographed version of the St. Matthew Passion, the programme offers new dimensions to Bach‘s musical drama. And, for the one hundred schoolchildren who delved into Bach‘s monumental work and learned to dance as an artistic form of self-expression, it was an opportunity to experience the power of his music first hand. The interplay of professional musicians and young amateurs turned into a creative bridge for all involved.