A tireless innovator: Carl Maria von Weber was defined by curiosity, musical expressiveness and an insatiable artistic energy. Soprano Regula Mühlemann, baritone Äneas Humm, composer Jörg Widmann, film composer Rachel Portman and others discuss an artist whose influence extends far beyond the famous Freischütz. Carl Maria von Weber saw the orchestra as a narrative force; he experimented boldly and opened up new musical horizons, the influence of which extends into the modern era and film music. At the same time, his life was marked by upheavals, shaped by illness, financial strain, tireless work and the search for his own artistic language beyond established traditions. “The Free Spirit – Carl Maria von Weber” takes us into the world of a composer who, until his untimely death at the age of 39, worked tirelessly to renew the sound of his time and to give music its own language of expression, thereby opening up a new way of listening for his audience.
Carmina Burana
With Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, one of the most popular pieces in music history and the most performed choral/orchestral work of the 20th century, Teatro La Fenice returns to the Piazza San Marco in Venice, in front of the magnificent façade of the Basilica di San Marco. Conducted by the great master Fabio Luisi, featuring the word-class singers Regula Mühlemann, Michael Schade and Markus Werba it was a magnificent event. “La Fenice’s orchestra and choir, in this case with the addition of the Piccoli cantori veneziani in the final part, have hit the mark“ (Il Gazzettino) with this concert and “it is noticeable overall the work made by the conductor Fabio Luisi, who managed to maintain the tension of the various historical pages with determination and energy.” (Il Gazzettino)
Festive Advent Concert at the Frauenkirche Dresden 2019
The Festive Advent Concert has become a much loved tradition in Dresden and one of German TV’s biggest classical music success stories. With the spirited Alondra de la Parra a phenomenal young conductor stands at the rostrum of the Staatskapelle Dresden. She is joined by sopranos Regula Mühlemann and Julia Muzychenko as well as tenor Julian Prégardien, presenting works and arias from Handel to Haydn, Schubert and Tchaikovsky to Reger. “A programme with quiet, contemplative passages and almost breathtaking emotional highlights, as well as dramaturgically coherent: a true gift” (Sächsische Zeitung).
Festive Advent Concert at the Frauenkirche Dresden 2016
The Advent Concert has become a much loved tradition in Dresden, enjoyed by music lovers throughout the world. In this edition the Staatskapelle Dresden performs under the baton of the renowned Columbian maestro Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Bulgarian star soprano Sonya Yoncheva returns to the Frauenkirche and excels with “volume and sonority and a rich vibrato”. She is accompanied by another rising star: Swiss soprano Regula Mühlemann, impressing by her “clear, bright, almost girlish soprano, full of ease” (Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten). Two top-class choirs, Dresdner Kreuzchor – celebrating its 800th anniversary and Dresdner Kammerchor, provide for choral church music at its best. The thoughtfully compiled program features seasonally appropriate selections by Handel, Schubert, Mozart, Mendelssohn as well as traditionals.
Stars of Tomorrow presented by Rolando Villazon – Episode 8
PROGRAM: Gioachino Rossini: Overture from Der Barbier von Sevilla // Gaetano Donizetti: “O luce di quest’anima” from Linda di Chamounix (Soloist: Regula Mühlemann) // Robert Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor – Allegro vivace (Soloist: Sophie Pacini) // Franz Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 (Soloist: Sophie Pacini) // Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “Deh, per questo istante solo” from La clemenza di Tito (Soloist: Valer Barna-Sabadus) // Léo Delibes: Les filles de Cadix (Soloist: Tine Thing Helseth) // Edvard Grieg: Elsk (Love) from Haugtussa (The Mountain Maid) (Soloists: Tine Thing Helseth & Sophie Pacini) // Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (Soloists: Regula Mühlemann & Sophie Pacini) // Edvard Grieg : In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt Suite // Giuseppe Verdi: “Addio, addio, speranza ed anima” from Rigoletto (Soloists: Regula Mühlemann & Rolando Villazón)
Grafenegg: Midsummer Night’s Gala 2024
Ringing in the summer festival season every year, the Midsummer Night’s Gala is the Grafenegg Festival’s flagship event bringing internationally renowned performers to the Wolkenturm stage. This edition features Swiss soprano Regula Mühlemann and Samoan tenor Pene Pati, ” two wonderfully radiant voices” (k.at), and accordion player Martynas Levickis. Conductor Marta Gardolinska and the Tonkunstler-Orchestra present highlights from Smetana’s Bartered Bride, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Verdi’s Macbeth as well as traditional Lithuanian and Maori folk songs. Martynas Levickis highlighted new and exciting facets of old audience favourite with his accordion arrangement of Bizet’s Carmen Suite. A worthy start to the festival summer!
Springtime in Vienna 2023
For more than 40 years, “Springtime in Vienna”, the TV Easter Concert of the Wiener Symphoniker, has been a major highlight of Vienna’s musical calendar. Featuring the world’s most in demand soloists, the Wiener Symphoniker celebrate the upcoming spring with a colorful bouquet of lively melodies. This edition features Swiss soprano Regula Mühlemann. Within just a few years, she has established herself as one of the leading sopranos of her generation being acclaimed by audiences and critics alike for her exceptionally beautiful timbre and sensitive performances, most recently “outstanding as a radiant Pamina” (The Telegraph) at the Salzburg Festival. She has received numerous awards and prizes and in 2015, she was finalist of the “Cardiff Singer of the World” Competition.
¡Cincuentañero! – Rolando Villazón’s 50th Birthday Gala
Rolando Villazón assembles his friends, all of them prominent guests, for a festive gala concert. The first part of the performance is dedicated to his musical heartfelt friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, followed by “hits” from opera, operetta and popular songs from Europe and Mexico in the second part. The singers are accompanied by the Camerata Salzburg under Lithuanian conductor Giedre Šlekyte. “A showcase of great operatic voices” (Salzburger Nachrichten)
Mozart Week 2021: Giedre Šlekyte conducts Mozart
Bright as a bell is the attribute that one must associate with the voice of Regula Mühlemann. Her “Exsultate jubilate” scales the shimmering heights without any trace of effort, with a natural elegance that is second to none. After her stunning performance, the concert continues with Renaud Capuçon and Gérard Caussé performing Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante K. 364 under the intense baton of Lithuanian conductor Giedre Šlekyte on the podium of the Camerata Salzburg. PROGRAM Symphony No. 31, “Exsultate, jubilate” K. 165, “Nehmt meinen Dank, ihr holden Gönner” K. 383, Sinfonia concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra K. 364
Salzburg Festival 2022: Die Zauberflöte
Salzburg stands for Mozart and hardly any work stands for Mozart as much as his Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), the most famous opera of all. Therefore, a staging of Die Zauberflöte at the Salzburg Festival is always something special. Director Lydia Steier in her revised version of her Salzburg production, now placed at the Haus für Mozart, introduces a grandfather as a narrator to read Die Zauberflöte as a bedtime story to his three grandchildren. In this way, the rich fantasy of the work breaks into the strict household of an upper middle-class family, in which reverie has little place, and takes the three boys right into the middle of the action. As the Three Boys, they plunge into a fairy-tale and dream world in whose surreal enlargements the boys’ everyday lives appear again and again. With a childlike gaze, they accompany and guide the protagonists through their destinies. “Regula Mühlemann is a beautiful-sounding Pamina, Michael Nagl a charming, creamy Papageno, and Tareq Nazmi as bass-strong Sarastro turns out to be a stroke of luck.” (Oberösterreichische Nachrichten)