“Rejoice, exult” – John Neumeier turns Bach’s Christmas Oratorio into an experience that confronts us all with the most basic questions of trust, hope, faith, doubt and self-sacrifice: “My choreography is not a religious undertaking. We perform to Bach’s music, for a few hours unifying individuals of many different cultural and religious backgrounds. For me, the basic human values expressed through the choreography are always the most important thing. Therefore, in my ballet, Mary is known simply as ‘the Mother’ and Joseph as ‘her Husband’.” “Once again it is impossible not to be impressed by the flawless technique of the ensemble … When at the end Lloyd Riggins tap-dances his way across the stage like Fred Astaire, the Christmas Oratorio is complete” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
Reimann, Lear
Australian-born Simone Young is internationally recognised as one of the leading conductors of her generation. In 2005 she took up the post of General Manager and Music Director of the Hamburgische Staatsoper and Music Director of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg, where she’ winning high praises for her interpretation of a repertoire ranging from Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner and Strauss, to Hindemith, Britten and Henze .“In Aribert Reimann’s Shakespearean opera Lear Simone Young kindled again that fascinating, shimmering colour spectrum between threatening gloom and gleaming lustre, with which she can also beguile in Wagner, Strauss and Verdi.” (NZZ)
J.S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio – Ballet by John Neumeier
“Rejoice, exult” – John Neumeier turns Bach’s Christmas Oratorio into an experience that confronts us all with the most basic questions of trust, hope, faith, doubt and self-sacrifice: “My choreography is not a religious undertaking. We perform to Bach’s music, for a few hours unifying individuals of many different cultural and religious backgrounds. For me, the basic human values expressed through the choreography are always the most important thing. Therefore, in my ballet, Mary is known simply as ‘the Mother’ and Joseph as ‘her Husband’.” “Once again it is impossible not to be impressed by the flawless technique of the ensemble … When at the end Lloyd Riggins tap-dances his way across the stage like Fred Astaire, the Christmas Oratorio is complete” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
Bayreuth Festival 2022: Siegfried
This new production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival was the opera event of the 2022 festival season. Young director Valentin Schwarz reimagines the mythical story in the present day and tells a gripping family saga in the world of the rich and powerful. The musical direction is in the hands of Cornelius Meister. In Siegfried, Schwarz underlines the tragicomic elements in the relationship between the title hero and his foster father, Mime. The production also finds original and novel images for Siegfried’s encounter with the dragon and Brünnhilde’s liberation from the circle of fire. As Siegfried, Andreas Schager makes light of the role’s legendary challenges.