For the very first time in its history, the Wiener Philharmoniker are performing a complete Bruckner cycle with worlwide renowned Bruckner expert Christian Thielemann at the podium. The second symphony is part of this large-scale Bruckner Cycle, which extends to the composer‘s 200th birthday in 2024, performed at Vienna’s beautiful Musikverein. The orchestra, which premiered four of the nine Bruckner symphonies, is more familiar with this music than any other ensemble. Bruckner’s powerful and sonically grandiose symphonies never cease to amaze. For the performance of the second symphony the press was full of praise: With the Wiener Philharmoniker, Thielemann creates a “combination of formal perfection, stringency and nuances, complemented by wonderful wind solos” (Wiener Zeitung).
Tosca
Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca becomes a musical highlight with two much acclaimed role debuts of star singers Piotr Beczala and Carlos Álvarez at the Vienna State Opera in the revived, historic staging of Margarethe Wallmann. Beczala is undoubtely “one of the extraordinary singers of our time” (Der Standard), at his side is Armenian soprano Karine Babajanyan as Primadonna Floria Tosca, making her house debut in Vienna. Marco Armiliato conducts the brilliantly playing Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper with love for detail and full of energy.
Don Giovanni
In the first installment of his Da Ponte cycle at the Vienna State Opera, director Barrie Kosky does what he does best. He focuses the action completely on the characters. “I think characters like Don Giovanni are like mirrors in which we see ourselves. Sometimes like distorting mirrors, sometimes like broken mirrors. Sometimes the image we see is unappetizing”. Indeed, Kosky’s character direction is “impressive” (Klassikpunk), as he uncovers new facets and puts great faith in the singers to deliver his vision. Kyle Ketelsen as Don Giovanni (“vibrant” – Der Standard) and Philippe Sly as Leporello “took centre stage (…) and dared to satirise the burden of tradition” (ORF). Hanna-Elisabeth Müller is “convincing” as Donna Anna and the young Patricia Nolz gives an excellent role debut as Zerlina alongside the “virtuosic” Peter Keller as Masetto. Conductor Philippe Jordan “plays the recitatives delicately and subtly on the fortepiano” and “achieves transparency, tangibility and poetry on the basis of historical accuracy” (Der Standard).
Faust
“Radical and ingenious, unsettling and beguiling” (Kurier), this production of Gounod’s Faust at the Vienna State Opera ticks all the boxes. Legendary director Frank Castorf moves the action to a tumultuous 1960s Paris and draws the audience in with an abundance of elements that seamlessly blend into one: “Everything has its place. There is not a single superfluous video, no detail without meaning, and each of the characters can tell their own story” (News). The action on stage is expertly supported in the pit as Bertrand de Billy “makes the score shine and resonate magnificently” (Tiroler Tageszeitung). The cast is star-studded, lead by Juan Diego Flórez giving his debut as Faust. He sings the role with “impeccable French diction, allowing his warm tenor to shimmer” (Kronenzeitung). Nicole Car’s Marguerite was “beautiful, silvery-toned” (Seen And Heard) and the young bass Adam Palka is convincing as Mephisto, “alternating between devilish, camp, erotic and sadistic” (APA).
Così fan tutte
“The execution is vibrant, the individual voices outstanding, and the ensemble homogeneity even more so.” (Frankfurter Rundschau) To conclude his Da Ponte cycle at the Vienna State Opera, Barrie Kosky turns Don Alfonso into a theatre director rehearsing a stage play with the two young couples at the center of the story: “He presents the Da Ponte opera as a coherent, sophisticated game within a game: a director uses method acting to release feelings that can no longer be controlled” (News). As is typical for a Kosky-lead production, there is constant action, which the ensemble executes with exuberance. Philippe Jordan leads the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera from the pianoforte, managing to “strike a balance between classical beauty and vibrancy, without resorting to tricks and mannerisms to make things exciting” (Kleine Zeitung).
Werther
The lyrical drama Werther, based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s novel, remains Jules Massenet’s best known stage work to this day. Piotr Beczala in the title role “impresses with his bomb-proof technique, free high notes and intelligent interpretation. The tenoral highlight of the evening – “Pourquoi me reveiller” – shone with a palette of tonal colours and offered an ideal combination of power and emotion” (bachtrack.com). Werther’s love Charlotte is sung by Gaëlle Arquez. Her “soulful mezzo is finely timbred, buzzing and blazing” (Wiener Zeitung). “Bertrand de Billy leads the orchestra thrillingly through this wonderful work, dramatic, then delicately lyrical, highly differentiated, full of sound.” (Kurier)
Otello
Never has Giuseppe Verdi composed revenge, intrigue and jealousy fierier and more diabolical than in his late opera Otello. One of the greatest love stories in literature – Otello is the second of Verdi’s three Shakespeare operas – fails brutally, cruelly and senselessly. With the title role of Otello, Jonas Kaufmann takes on what is probably the most demanding part of his vocal register He is “in splendid form” (Kronen Zeitung) and “has sung his way into the Olympus as an interpreter of Otello” (klassik-begeistert.de) with this performance. Baritone Ludovic Tézier “is unrivalled as Lago” (Kurier). “This baritone’s attacks are like acts of tonal violence, his legato mischief clever manipulations. A devil on earth.” (Der Standard) Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen is “a Desdemona to fall in love with” (Die Presse) with “a voice to kneel down to, with a timbre that captivates” (klassik-begeistert.de). Adrian Noble’s staging moves the action to circa 1900, stripping it of its historical context. Emphasizing the inner world of the main character and his emotional disintegration, his Otello becomes “a psychological thriller” (bachtrack.com).
The Cunning Little Vixen
“How the Lithuanian conductor Giedre Šlekyte conjures up beautiful timbres, what she gets out of the orchestra, is remarkable. This is a conductor one wants to hear more often.” (Kurier) The Cunning Little Vixen, first performed in 1924 and based on a novella by Rudolf Tešnohlídek, is an unconventional portrayal of humans and animals in which the composer Leoš Janácek breaks new ground. His music, as playful as it is melancholic, celebrates the circle of life. For Stefan Herheim, this is a good reason to use Janácek’s opera to celebrate the transformational power of musical theatre when he makes his entrance bow at the Musiktheater an der Wien as the new hands-on artistic director.
Simon Boccanegra
Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra is regarded by connoisseurs as an insider tip of oppressive topicality: men make history and women are the victims. A gloomy atmosphere, political power struggles, family dramas – live from the Vienna State Opera in the production of grandmaster Peter Stein with an excellent cast, starring Thomas Hampson in the title role, Francesco Meli as Gabriele Adorno and Marina Rebeka as the all-outshining Amelia. In the orchestra pit: Evelino Pidò.
Le nozze di Figaro
Directed by Alfred Dorfer and Kateryna Sokolova, the Theater an der Wien presented an abridged, concentrated Corona version of Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro”, the first part of the successful collaboration between Mozart and Da Ponte. Alongside Robert Gleadow as the “outstanding Figaro” (Der Standard) and the “fabulous Austrian bass-baritone Florian Boesch” (nmz.de) as Almaviva, the orchestra, Concentus Musicus Wien, plays the leading role: “This orchestra is ideal for Mozart, because the combination of historical performance practice and the highest interpretative quality is in a class of its own.” (bachtrack.com)