Repertoire: Claudio Monteverdi, Tempro la cetra (Libro VII dei madrigali) / Claudio Monteverdi, Voglio di vita uscir (Scherzi muiscali) / Benedetto Ferrari, Voglio di vita uscir (Musiche varie a voce sola, libro II) / Francesco Cavalli, Scene dall’Egisto / Claudio Monteverdi, Aria di Ulisse; Dormo ancora (Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria) / Tarquinio Merula, Folle è ben (Madrigali et altri capricci)
The Deadly Sins – Angels and Demons in the works of Claudio Monteverdi
In order to honor the anniversary of Claudio Monteverdi’s (1567- 1643) the ensemble Cappella Mediterranea and their founder Leonardo García Alarcón were given the special permission, to perform in an outstanding venue, the Chiesetta del Doge at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice for an unique musical project: The first performance of Monteverdi’s music in more than 300 years at the Doges chapel, the heart of the old Venetian republic, where Monteverdi was the official court composer. Based on the theme of “Angels and Demons” the ensemble perform extracts from Monteverdi’s opera and madrigal compositions. The half-scenic production is staged by Olivier Lexa, founder and artistic director of the Venetian Centre for Baroque Music. The works, illustrate the contrasts of sins and virtues which are beautifully mirrored in Jacopo Guarana’s and Agostino Colonna’s frescos in the Chiesetta del Doge.
Plácido Domingo Gala – 50 Years at the Arena di Verona
What a pompous and exquisite gala to celebrate opera legend Plácido Domingo in the breathtaking Arena di Verona! 50 years ago the young Madrilenian singer Plácido Domingo gave his debut at the ancient open-air theatre: the beginning of a lasting and exceptional relationship. To mark the anniversary, Domingo presents a programme entirely dedicated to Verdi, performing three of his most complex and majestic baritone roles. No effort was spared to create an unforgettable evening in a unique atmosphere in the completely sold-out amphitheatre, which has been at the heart of Italian entertainment for almost 2,000 years. Whether as Babylonian king Nabucco, Scottish general Macbeth or as Doge Simon Boccanegra: Domingo’s versatility and aura is more than impressive, with “top phrasing and articulation, his baritone with full and sonorous intonation and a unique timbre – all this substantiates his exceptional position” (Das Opernglas). At the side of Domingo shines an excellent cast including Anna Pirozzi and Arturo Chacón-Cruz, supported by a perfectly rehearsed ballet under the baton of conductor Jordi Bernàcer who sovereignly leads the Orchestra of the Arena di Verona from scene to scene. A triumphal, almost historic moment for Domingo and the Arena di Verona!
Beethoven Mass In C Major
Together with the excellent choir and a shining soloist quartet, Omer Meir Wellber reveals the immense expressiveness and novelty of this undeservedly neglected composition by the jubilarian Beethoven. lla Milch-Sheriff’s monodrama “The Eternal Stranger” is followed ‘attacca’ by Beethoven’s Mass in C major.
In Search of Beethoven – Part 1
This four-part program sets out to “search for Beethoven” in the interpretation of his orchestral works. Each episode explores one specific work as it is understood by great conductors and musicians of our day. Sir Georg Solti, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel and Roger Norrington are seen rehearsing passages from Beethoven’s symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Camerata Academica Salzburg. Creating a counterpoint to these sections are excerpts from performances by Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karajan, as well as historical footage of concerts led by Wilhelm Furtwängler and Arturo Toscanini. Also expressing their views are a number of other distinguished musicians such as Pierre Boulez, Claudio Abbado, John Eliot Gardiner and others. A fascinating panorama of contemporary interpretations of Beethoven’s music!
In Search of Beethoven – Part 2
This four-part program sets out to “search for Beethoven” in the interpretation of his orchestral works. Each episode explores one specific work as it is understood by great conductors and musicians of our day. Sir Georg Solti, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel and Roger Norrington are seen rehearsing passages from Beethoven’s symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Camerata Academica Salzburg. Creating a counterpoint to these sections are excerpts from performances by Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karajan, as well as historical footage of concerts led by Wilhelm Furtwängler and Arturo Toscanini. Also expressing their views are a number of other distinguished musicians such as Pierre Boulez, Claudio Abbado, John Eliot Gardiner and others. A fascinating panorama of contemporary interpretations of Beethoven’s music!
In Search of Beethoven – Part 3
In Search of Beethoven – Part 4
Making of Nabucco – Verdi’s Nabucco in Verona
After his first two operas “Oberto” and “Un giorno di regno,” Verdi fell into a depression that dissipated only when he was shown the libretto to “Nabucco” and discovered the chorus “Va, pensiero.” The words sung by the Hebrew exiles made an indelible impression on the composer, who also saw the political potential within them: an echo of the Italians’ longing for freedom and a unified nation. The work was premiered at the Teatro alla Scala on 9 March 1842 and was an enormous success. The story of the Babylonian King and the captive Israelites stirred a patriotic cord in the hearts of the Milan audiences and swiftly carried Verdi’s name throughout Italy and the rest of the world. “Nabucco” has long been at home in the Arena di Verona, and for many, the “Va pensiero” chorus is, along with the triumphal march from “Aida,” the very embodiment of the Verona experience. This video production vividly captures this unique experience and provides the viewer with fascinating details that escape many of the Arena’s spectators. Stage director Denis Krief casts the work in a sparse modern setting, providing a highly effective showcase for the true heroes of the evening, the singers under conductor Daniel Oren. “Nuanced and temperamental, Daniel Oren’s interpretation dazzles with wonderfully suspense-filled pianissimi. The chorus of the Hebrew captives is so perfect that it is probably impossible to find it sung anywhere else more beautifully than in Verona. […] As so often in the Arena, the chorus presents itself as protagonist and perfectly homogeneous ensemble in this acoustically delicate theater. But with Leo Nucci as an aging Nabucco reminiscent of Lear, Fabio Sartori as his antagonist Ismaele and Maria Guleghina as a power-hungry Abigaille, the stage was dominated by three brilliantly disposed soloists who rousingly did justice to the drama of their characters, who are struggling for power and love.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 26 June 2007)
Making of “Assassinio Nella Cattedrale”
What more appropriate venue for Ildebrando Pizzetti’s operatic masterwork of 1958 “Assassinio nella Cattedrale” than the austere, Romanic Basilica di San Nicola in the southern Italian port city of Bari. A striking coincidence: the action of T. S. Eliot’s stage play “Murder in the Cathedral”, on which the opera is based, takes place in December 1170; the Basilica di San Nicola also dates from the 12th century and was consecrated in 1197… Pizzetti, one of Italy’s leading lyrical composers of the first half of the 20th century, composed several operas, of which “Assassinio nella Cattedrale” is one of his most famous. It unites all the elements of his lyrical style, such as a supple arioso treatment of the text that bears echoes of Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande” as well as of Monteverdi and the Florentine monodists; and powerful, surging choral movements that are even more breathtaking when performed in a church. Pizzetti’s religiosity also manifests itself in his choice of T.S. Eliot’s modern-day miracle play about St. Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who returns from a seven-year-exile only to be confronted by various torments, including Four Temptations; he succumbs to the fourth, the temptation of martyrdom… Internationally acclaimed bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi, at home on all of the world’s major stages and unforgotten as Don Giovanni in Joseph Losey’s celebrated 1979 film, brings the firmness and authority of his vocal artistry to this role, elevating it to one of the most passionate and intriguing portrayals of a 20th-century operatic hero.