Max Emanuel Cencics celebrated and award winning production of Handel’s masterwork from the Internationale Händel Festspiele Karlsruhe. Described by one contemporary commentator as “a miracle”, and another as “in every respect excellent & vastly pleasing”, Arminio strangely received only six performances between 12 January and 12 February 1737 at London’s Covent Garden, and was never staged again for almost two hundred years. The heroic story, based on historical events occurring on the Germanic fringes of the Roman Empire, saw ist fulminant revival with a new and ravishing production only in 2016 in Karlsruhe. Max Emanuel Cencic is surrounded by a fine ensemble of singers, with the Greek ensemble Armonia Atenean in the pit, conducted by George Petrou. The press praised the multiply-award-winning production as “rehabilitation of the piece” (FAZ). “Cencic is not only as countertenor but also as stage director at the peak of his success” (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)
Verdi, La Forza del Destino
Ever since their magnificent and hugely successful performance in Wagner’s “Lohengrin” at the Bavarian State Opera, Anja Harteros and Jonas Kaufmann have come to be regarded as the world of opera’s perfect couple. In Giuseppe Verdi’s “La forza del destino”, the two returned and once again played two lovers desperately trying to be together but kept apart by the forces of destiny. Their performance at the Munich Opera Festival met with “explosive outbursts of applause for the new heights
reached in singing” (dpa).
Alceste
Performed on the occasion of the official reopening of the Anna Amalia Library in Weimar in 2007, the sparing production of Anton Schweitzer’s Alceste (1773) by Hendrik Müller concentrates on the chamber-like interplay of the four lead roles. Alceste’s demanding, coloratura-filled parts are mastered with grace and seemingly effortless ease by all singers. In the lead role as the wife who sacrifices herself to save her beloved husband, Simone Schneider combines delicacy with dazzling technique, and harmonizes superbly with internationally acclaimed
Cyndia Sieden as Parthenia.
The Mahler Project – Mahler, Symphony No.9 in D major
The Mahler Project: A fascinating documentary on the musical world of Gustav Mahler as seen by the two great musicians, and a recording of Mahler’s colossal Ninth. “Mahler created a new world with each of his symphonies (…) It is a fantastic journey for both of us”. With these few words, Daniel Barenboim sums up the vast scope of a project undertaken with his friend Pierre Boulez: two very different world-class conductors tackle all nine completed symphonies of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) with one orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin. Performed as a complete cycle in Berlin, Vienna and New York, the concerts were a tremendous success. The Financial Times even wrote: “New York is going Mahler mad”.
Medea in Corinto
Giovanni Simone Mayr’s “Medea in Corinto” is “the most absolutely amazing opera discovery in decades” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). Mayr, born in Germany in 1763, became one of the most important composers of Italian opera between Mozart and Rossini. At the Bavarian State Opera, director Hans Neuenfels stages this tragedy of betrayed love, lust for power and murderous hatred as a fascinating political thriller. Providing a vigorous orchestral support for soprano Nadja Michael as Medea and Ramón Vargas as her ex-husband Giasone, conductor Ivor Bolton plumbs the depths of Mayr’s rich score.
Roberto Devereux
London, 1601: love, desire and a death sentence at the English royal court – an ideal combination for an Italian grand opera. And Gaetano Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux could hardly be grander or more fit for a queen. The ideal showcase for Edita Gruberova! The prima donna assoluta of bel canto triumphs in this rarely performed work. In Christof Loy’s production at Munich’s National Theater, Edita Gruberova sings the role of Queen Elizabeth I. Friedrich Haider conducts the chorus and orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera; the HDTV recording is directed by Emmy award winner Brian Large.
Behind the Scene – The Opera Gala
Four of the greatest singers of our time combine their talents and their artistry in an evening of beloved operatic numbers – rarely has a concert deserved the title “Opera Summit” as much as this one, recorded live at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden on 3 August 2007. Heading the quartet is soprano Anna Netrebko with her inimitable blend of glamour and simplicity, her enticing appearance and seductive singing, a musical powerhouse who tops the pop charts and sells out operas houses within hours. Hardly less dazzling than her Russian colleague is Latvian mezzo Elina Garanca, whose crystal-clear voice and charismatic stage presence never fail to enthrall her audiences. She is a frequent guest of the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival, where she made her sensational debut as Annio in Mozart’s “La clemenza di Tito” in 2003. Her international career has taken her to Covent Garden, the Met and other prestigious stages. She was awarded the European Cultural Prize in Dresden in 2006. Replacing the indisposed Rolando Villazón is his fellow Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas, who began his career in Europe after winning the first prize in the Enrico Caruso Competition in Milan. His international breakthrough came in 1993 when he replaced Luciano Pavarotti as Edgardo in “Lucia di Lammermoor.” Today he sings at all the world’s major theaters. French baritone Ludovic Tézier is a frequent guest at La Scala, the Opéra Bastille and the Met. His interpretations of Don Giovanni and Count Almaviva, as well as Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin have brought him ovations at the Glyndebourne Festival and the Bregenz Festival. Under experienced opera conductor Marco Armiliato, the orchestra of the SWR Baden-Baden lends its sensitive musical support to the singers. The first part of the program consists of Italian arias in which the stars dazzle above all in bel canto fireworks. The second half is devoted to the more lyrical outpourings of the romantic masters such as “O soave fanciulla” from “La Bohème” and the quartet “Bella figlia dell’amore” from “Rigoletto.” Five encores round off the concert, which concludes with a rousing rendition of the “Brindisi” from “La Traviata.” A toast indeed to an exquisitely entertaining evening captured in all of its immediacy and vibrancy by Unitel!