A Romeo and Juliet opera without the poetic balcony scene and with a woman singing the role of Romeo: Vincenzo Bellini’s reworking of Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy is in many respects remarkable. Not least because the young composer presents in his opera “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” perhaps the most moving final scene of opera repertoire to date: Romeo and Juliet are both alive and conscious, allowing them to sing a duet before dying together. The Zurich Opera House has enlisted extraordinary and vivacious voices for the world’s most famous lovers: In the new Bellini production, American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato – in a class of her own – performs the role of Romeo. At her side as Romeo’s beloved Giulietta is the young Ukrainian soprano Olga Kulchynska with an incredible acting and singing performance, making the audience hold ist breath during her subtle arias. Musical Director Fabio Luisi with the Philharmonia Zurich and Stage Director Christof Loy brought this poignant bel canto opera to stage in Zurich resulting in an utmost impressive TV experience.
Chailly conducts Mahler – Symphony No. 7
Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig performing Gustav Mahler’s Seventh Symphony.
Krzysztof Penderecki – Concert in Celebration of his 80th Birthday
Grand Gala Concert with international classical music stars on occasion of the 80th birthday of Krzysztof Penderecki. Program: Threnody – To the Victims of Hiroshima, Conductor: Krzysztof Urbanski // Duo Concertante for Violin and Double Bass – Soloists: Anne-Sophie Mutter, Roman Patkoló // Concerto grosso for three Cellos and Orchestra – Soloists: Arto Noras, Ivan Monighetti, Daniel Müller-Schott, Conductor: Charles Dutoit // Credo – Soloists: Iwona Hossa, Ewa Vesin, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Krystian Krzeszowiak, Nikolay Didenko, Conductor: Valery Gergiev.
Werther
Goethe’s Sturm und Drang drama is echoed in Massenet’s score by emotionally wide-ranging vocal parts written on a grand scale. The world star Juan Diego Flórez, who “iscurrently the best representative of his rare field” (NZZ), sings one of the most poetic and expressive tenor roles of the French repertoire. At his side, Anna Stéphany sang her critically acclaimed role début as Charlotte. Tatjana Gürbaca, known for her great narrative imagination, directed Zurich’s new production of Massenet’s drame lyrique: the one-room staging cleverly renders the social stranglehold of oppression. “This is how musical theater should be (..).” Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Blomstedt conducts Beethoven
More than 200 years after its premiere at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the famous trio Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Martin Helmchen have congenially mastered the artistic challenge of Beethoven’s gemstone. Under Herbert Blomstedt’s sensitive direction, the soloists unite chamber music intimacy together with virtuoso sophistication – and prove once again that the Triple Concerto is an unduly underestimated, much too rarely programmed masterpiece. The composer’s fifth symphony – indeed, the hit of classical music – is better known. In Leipzig, however, Blomstedt succeeds in achieving an entirely new perspective of this work. In the culmination of his three-year, intensive reenactment of Beethoven’s cosmos, the impressive sound that characterizes the Swedish grand seigneur’s conducting is heralded by transparency rather than showmanship, relevance instead of pathos, and tenderness in place of sentimentality.
Claudio Abbado & Lucerne Festival Orchestra – Mahler 9
The Mahler cycle of Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra has long since become legendary. Now they’re nearing the conclusion of their project as they take up the Ninth – the final symphony Mahler was able to complete. ‘If music was heard in the earthly paradise, it could not have sounded more glorious than the performance of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony led by Claudio Abbado,’ (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2009)
From Mao to Bach: Zhu Xiao-Mei performs the Goldberg Variations at the Bachfest Leipzig
Zhu Xiao-Mei occupies a unique place in the world of music: The program of her rare appearances is limited to a few works which are for her like “mountains of the soul”. Her famous recording of the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach, whom she described as the “reincarnation of a great Chinese sage,” has led the artist to her international breakthrough.
Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra – A special feature in celebration of the maestro’s 80th birthday!
On the occasion of Claudio Abbado’s 80th birthday in June 2013, this special feature throws a glance at Abbado’s work with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The close connection between the orchestra and its conductor is documented by excerpts from rehearsals and concert recordings as well as personal interviews with the maestro talking about composers, his approach to their works and the collaboration with the orchestra. —– With excerpts from: Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART “Haffner Symphony” and Requiem (featuring René Pape), Anton BRUCKNER Symphony No. 1, Gustav MAHLER Symphony No. 9 and Adagio from Symphony No. 10, Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Incidental Music to Goethe’s Tragedy “Egmont” featuring Juliane Banse and Bruno Ganz.
Concierto de Aranjuez
A perfect summer evening in the spectacular Palau de la Música València where the Orquesta de Valencia performs Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”, under the direction of chief conductor Alexander Liebreich. The soloist on the classical guitar is the internationally acclaimed and multi-award-winning Croatian guitarist Ana Vidovic – one of the most impressive classical guitarists of our time. The Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo was always closely associated with València – it is the city where he grew up, studied, and later married. Since its foundation 80 years ago, the Orquesta de València has also identified with the heritage of Valencian culture, its composers, and the music of its homeland. The half-hour concert is a synthesis of the most diverse elements of Spanish music. It was quickly regarded abroad as the flagship of Spanish culture – and Joaquín Rodrigo as its ambassador. Interwoven with the concert recording, the documentary part of the program takes us to the Royal Gardens in Aranjuez, where Rodrigo was inspired to write his “Concierto de Aranjuez”. In interviews with conductor Alexander Liebreich, soloist Ana Vidovic and Cecilia Rodrigo, the composer’s daughter, we learn about the genesis of the work, how it was received and what the musicians associate with it.
Carmina Burana
They are one of the most famous and most frequently performed works of classical music: Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana”. The Latin title refers to a collection of songs from Benediktbeuern dating from the 11th and 12th centuries with texts written in Middle Latin, Old French and Middle High German. Orff chose 24 of these songs, their topics ranging widely from the volatility of happiness and prosperity to the fleeting nature of life, from the joy of the return of spring to the pleasures and dangers of drunkenness, gluttony, gambling, and lust. At the Palau de la Música in València, the Orquestra de València, one of the great Spanish symphony orchestras, together with one of Spain’s oldest choirs, Orféon Pamplones, perform this epic work under the musical direction of Alexander Liebreich. They are joined by the excellent soloists Sara Blanch, Joaquín Asiáin and André Baleiro, creating a memorable musical evening.