It is the concertante performance of Elektra in which the Staatskapelle Dresden under the baton of its principal conductor Christian Thielemann does justice once again to its reputation as Richard Strauss’s favourite orchestra and leaves us in no doubt: this is where the Strauss sound is at home! Evelyn Herlitzius leads a brilliant cast including Waltraud Meier, René Pape and Anne Schwanewilms.
Elektra
Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin gives an impressive role debut as Elektra, just as Wagner singer Waltraud Meier as Klytämnestra. They are complemented by Eva-Maria Westbroek’s Chrysothemis and René Pape’s Orest. In his interpretation of Strauss’ one-act masterpiece, conductor Daniele Gatti explores the radical side of the Expressionist score, while not neglecting the late 19th-century lyricism either. His musical vision harmonizes perfectly with the forbidding atmosphere conveyed by director Nikolaus Lehnhoff and his set designer.
Turandot
Philipp Stölzl, known as award-winning cinema director (The Physician), always finds time for opera despite his many TV and cinema projects – and each time it is a very special production. He now turned to Giacomo Puccini’s last opera Turandot, which remained unfinished, because the composer could not find a twist for the final love scene that convinced him. Stölzl came up with a “a particularly intelligent perspective” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), which fascinates as much as his massive puppet moved by string, the splendid cast, or the Staatskapelle Berlin in the pit conducted by the great Zubin Mehta.
Super Diva – Opera for Everyone
The Portuguese Soprano and “opera communicator” Catarina Molder is opening the world of opera for new audiences of all ages and musical backgrounds in an absolute out of the box TV format which integrates magazine, documentary and fiction. After the success of ist preceding Portuguese seasons, Super Diva premieres with 13 English episodes. Each of them focuses on one super opera, unveils ist plot and context and reworks ist most emblematic super aria. World famous guests like Sir Antonio Pappano, Rolando Villazón, Gaëlle Arquez, Sonya Yoncheva or René Pape share their personal experiences in opera confessions. Finally, the Consulting Room! Opera Mix presents new exciting versions of great operatic hits. Super Diva also includes the innovative feature of twitter opera: newly commissioned operas in short film format which reflect upon present-day life and are thematically related to each episode’s super opera. Episodes: Die Zauberflöte, Macbeth, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Cavalleria rusticana, Fidelio, Norma, Otello, Carmen, Faust, Tosca, La forza del destino, Turandot, Tristan und Isolde.
Tannhäuser
“A real feast of music! Where to begin, where to end with praise for this Tannhäuser at the Berlin Staatsoper in the Schillertheater? It sounds the way one has always dreamt of it
but all too rarely heard it”, reported the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung with considerable enthusiasm. This was due above all to Barenboim’s musical magic: “It is with nuance and fine balance that Richard Wagner’s music now rises from the orchestra pit” (FAZ), borne aloft by brilliant singers. Peter Seiffert in particular as Tannhäuser celebrates a true “triumph”, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Staged by choreographer Sasha Waltz on a fantastic stage by Pia Maier Schriever with a circular tunnel of light in the manner
of Hieronymus Bosch, the Berlin Tannhäuser deserves to be described as “world-class” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
Verdi, Messa da Requiem
In time for the Verdi Year 2013 the Teatro alla Scala has come up with a special project: Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with an exquisite quartet of soloists – Anja Harteros, Elina Garanca, Jonas Kaufmann and René Pape – conducted by Daniel Barenboim, the Teatro’s Maestro scaligero. This first performance in Milan is followed by performances at the Lucerne and the Salzburg Festival and in the Berlin Philharmonie in 2013.
Simon Boccanegra
Verdi’s masterpiece „Simon Boccanegra“ is presented in a „clear and levelheaded“ (The New York Times) staging by Andreas Kriegenburg from the Salzburg Festival. The tragedy of the corsair who becomes Doge of Genoa and is poisoned shortly after having found his lost daughter is conducted by Valery Gergiev, „makes for gorgeously beautiful tone colours“ (Der Kurier). The excellent cast includes Luca Salsi („Italy’s finest baritone today“, Financial Times) in the title role, René Pape („in sumptuous voice“, Financial Times) as his contrahent Fiesco, as well as Marina Rebeka and Charles Castronovo as the loving couple Amelia and Adorno who „together create islands of bliss in duet and action.“ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). Valery Gergiev provides for an excellent musical realization, the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor perform superbly: “The Wiener Philharmoniker seemed to have virtually conspired with the conductor and the work, shining into every hidden sound angle, playing out all their sovereignty and opera experience” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
The Unesco Beethoven Symphony No.9 for Peace
In 2018, marking the exact 100th anniversary of the Armistice ending World War 1, the all-star World Orchestra for Peace gave two UNESCO designated performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Symbolically one in each of the UK and Germany – for the BBC Proms in London and for the Würth Music Foundation in Künzelsau. Founded in 1995 by Sir Georg Solti to reaffirm, in his words, “the unique strength of music as an ambassador for peace”, leading players from the world’s finest orchestras gave this performance at ‘the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month’, 100 years after the guns fell silent in 1918. The performance is preceded by moving words of welcome and introduction from Prof. Würth and Lady Solti, both highlighting the need for brotherhood and joy amongst all nations, as reflected in the words of Schiller’s Ode in the choral finale.
Festive Concert at Grafenegg Festival 2016
Freedom, fraternity and humanity – this is what Beethoven’s 9th Symphony stands for. It opens the 10th Grafenegg Festival, performed by the Tonkunstler Orchestra, joined by 24 alumni of the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) and “a soloist quartet which no one could possibly imagine to be more prestigious” (Die Presse). “Vogt’s tenor and the Wiener Singverein were especially moving” (Wiener Zeitung) and “the vocal performance by excellent bass René Pape, the fabulous soprano Camilla Nylund and the brilliant mezzosoprano Elena Zhidkova … in Beethoven’s Ninth was just sensational. Bravo!” (Kurier). Composer in Residence Christian Jost’s new work also centres around Beethoven, featuring the song “An die Hoffnung” (“To Hope”), and “convincingly used an impressive orchestra” (Der Standard), with “tenor Klaus Florian Vogt as a well-cast soloist” (Salzburger Nachrichten).
Mefistofele
Best-known today as the librettist of Verdi’s final Shakespearean masterpieces, Otello and Falstaff, the multitalented Arrigo Boito was also a fine composer in his own right. Hugely ambitious in scope, and some 20 years in the making, his first (and only completed) opera, Mefistofele, sets out to encompass nothing less than the whole of Goethe’s vast poetic drama Faust (part I and II), and is considered the very central work of his phase between Verdi and Puccini. Making his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper, director Roland Schwab (a protégé of the legendary Ruth Berghaus) plays devil’s advocate by setting the opera in a nightmarish atmosphere. “The exceptional solistic cast” (ORF) features René Pape, Joseph Calleja, Kristine Opolais and Karine Babajanyan.