After a truly magnificent performance of the Fourth Symphony in 2020, the stellar conductor returns to the Salzburg Festival with the Seventh Symphony, one of Bruckner’s most popular works. In the first part of the concert, Christian Thielemann joins forces with Latvian star soprano Elina Garanca for Mahler’s Lieder. “Expressive but without false pathos, he shapes the Rückert Lieder – audibly inspired by the magnificent Elina Garanca, whose perfectly focused voice sounds wonderfully sensual. A haunting evening”, hailed br-klassik.de. PROGRAM Mahler: Rückert-Lieder; Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
Thielemann conducts Bruckner “Study Symphony” & “Nullte”
To mark Anton Bruckner’s bicentenary in 2024, Christian Thielemann, the Wiener Philharmoniker and Unitel are recording the first Bruckner cycle with a single conductor in the orchestra’s history. “Two premieres: With the Study Symphony and the and the ‘Nullte’, the Wiener Philharmoniker under Christian Thielemann continued their Bruckner cycle in the empty Musikverein. For orchestra and conductor, these were first encounters. The result can already be said to be of great caliber.” Kronen Zeitung. PROGRAM Bruckner: Symphony in F minor, WAB 99 (Study Symphony), Symphony in D minor, WAB 100 (Nullte)
Salzburg Festival: Dudamel conducts Strauss
Richard Strauss year 2014 at Salzburg Festival: Gustavo Dudamel, winner of the Leonard Bernstein Award 2014, conducts the Vienna Philharmonic. On the program Strauss’ tone poems “Tod & Verklärung” and “Also sprach Zarathustra”. The evening is rounded up with a work by René Staar, who is also one of the Philharmonic’s violinists.
Making of “Die Jahreszeiten”
“Jubilation!” (Kronen Zeitung) in the Great Festival Hall in Salzburg for Joseph Haydn’s oratorio The Seasons with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. The conductor tunes his “Wiener” to peak performance and shows as few others can how “to coax the tenderest expressive pianissimo shiver from the violins and violas into the almost inaudible”, enthuses the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Salzburg Festival 2025: Maria Stuarda
At the Salzburg Festival, director Ulrich Rasche shapes Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda into “a Sisyphean image and a powerful metaphor for the mechanics of power in which everyone here is trapped” (NZZ), by moving the action onto enormous discs, “with people who must relentlessly march towards their fate on them” (Kurier). This striking interpretation is perfectly completed by the outstanding performances of the two women at the centre of the story. “Kate Lindsey (Elisabetta) was able to clothe the character’s brokenness, her remorse and indignation, in a flowing song, with an almost theatrical clarity of articulation, on the one hand, and a passionate, full-bodied sound on the other” (WDR). Lisette Oropesa, as her opponent Maria Stuarda, “stands opposite her in gleaming white, but her voice sounds wonderfully warm and full-bodied. She has a
sure command of the high notes and coloratura. But even more impressive than her acrobatics is her expressiveness: when she loves and suffers, she is completely herself, and we are completely with her” (BR).
Salzburg Festival 2024: The Gambler
Based on a short novel by Dostoyevsky, Prokofiev’s The Gambler unfolds in the fictional casino town of Roulettenburg, where a variety of characters converge and clash. These characters include a General indebted to a covetous Marquis, the General’s resentful stepdaughter Polina, and Alexey, who harbors feelings for her. Director Peter Sellars, known for his insightful interpretations of overlooked masterpieces, challenges us to mirror the bravery of Dostoyevsky and Prokofiev – the courage to confront our inner darkness. The musical direction of Russian conductor Timur Zangiev shines together with the vocal performances of the exceptional cast:”Asmik Grigorian portraying a passionate Polina, and Sean Panikkar delivering a powerful performance as Alexei” (Financial Times).
Salzburg Festival 2024: Nelsons conducts Mahler 9
Andris Nelsons returns to the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic, conducting Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 9. This giant on the podium animates the Vienna Philharmonic to the highest level of sound culture. His interpretation of Mahler is of passionate intensity, without ever falling into hollow pathos or sentimental attitude. The Vienna Philharmonic playes to all its strengths, and they are audibly at home in Mahler’s world.
Salzburg Festival 2024: The Idiot
Weinberg’s final opera, based on Dostoevsky’s novel, condenses the plot without losing its psychological depth. Prince Myshkin, mentally ill yet believing in goodness, meets merchant Rogózhin on a train, sparking a tale of dependence, madness, and murder. The opera, rediscovered in the last decade, presents the composer Weinberg as Shostakovich’s equal. The Idiot, composed in 1986-1989, now staged in Salzburg, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski and conducted by Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla, brings the world of literature to the opera stage. The excellent cast of singers contributes to make the production a great success. Bogdan Volkov “expressive lyrical tenor touches intimately in the piano and yet remains able to cope with all orchestral storms” (BR Klassik).
Salzburg Festival 2024: Les Contes d’Hoffmann
Offenbach goes Hollywood: Mariame Clément’s production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann transforms ist titular character into a storyteller of a different kind. The different acts, which are based on short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann, take the audience on a journey through the world of cinema, from a 70s sci-fi flick over a costume drama to a feverish experimental sequence. The three love interests Olympia, Antonia and Giulietta are portrayed by American soprano Kathryn Lewek, who “impresses with brilliantly assertive coloratura, melting cantilenas and pulsating drama” (Drehpunktkultur). At the centre of this tragic tale of unrequited love is Hoffmann himself, stepping into the role of a script writer and film director in this production. The incredibly charismatic Benjamin Bernheim “splendidly cele brates the invasive tragedy of his character. Sound, expression and
presence could not be better combined” (Der Standard). Kate Lindsey, who portrays the muse disguised as Hoffmann’s friend Niklausse is a joy to watch and listen to as she “absorbs Clément’s energy of ideas and gilds her vocal tour de force with scenic exuberance” (Der Standard). An opera evening that spans the emotional spectrum from hilarious comedy to deeply felt heartbreak.
Muti conducts Beethoven 9th Symphony – 200th anniversary
On 7 May 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th Symphony was premiered at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna. The audience of this epochal event greeted Beethoven with frenetic applause and the “Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung” wrote “the impression (was) indescribably great and glorious, the jubilation enthusiastic, which was paid to the exalted master at the top of his lungs, whose inexhaustible genius opened up a new world to us”. Beethoven had truly created music for eternity, which was to conquer the world from then on. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of this great moment in music history, the Ninth will be performed on the day of the premiere with Riccardo Muti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musikverein. The concerto is also a tribute to the memorable premiere 200 years ago in terms of the instrumentation, as it was played by the orchestra of the Kärntnertortheater, the former court opera – the predecessors of today’s Vienna Philharmonic.