One of the most often performed operas in the world, Mozart´s “Magic Flute”, in the spectacular new production from Bregenz Festival 2013, that takes the audience into a fantasy world. Stage director David Pountey ” finds stunning answers to the everlasting questions surrounding ‘The Magic Flute’.” (Tagesspiegel) “The singers do their courageous best. …, Ana Durlovski hits all her high notes as Queen of the Night, and Daniel Schmutzhard’s Papageno is robust and assured. (Financial Times)
Salzburg Festival 2013: Nikolaus Harnoncourt & Wiener Philharmoniker, Joseph Haydn: “The Seasons”
The great conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt takes the podium to lead the Vienna Philharmonic and cast of high-class singers joined by the Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus in Haydn’s oratorio Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons).
Salzburg Festival 2013: Dudamel conducts Mahler 8 “Symphony of a Thousand”
The “Mahler Cycle” of Salzburg Festival 2013 is opened by Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in E flat conducted by Gustavo Dudamel who leads “his” Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra & Choir of Venezuela, joined by a cast of internationally acclaimed soloists. The concert is also part of the visionary and exemplary project EL Sistema (The Miracle), based on the visionary idea of giving children a better future through classical music by building a network of children orchestras and music centres.
Salzburg Festival 2013: Verdi, Falstaff
Italian director Damiano Michieletto put on his Falstaff for the Salzburg Festival in the present-day “Casa Verdi”, a retirement home for elderly musicians Verdi founded at the time of the composition of this opera. As Falstaff Amborgio Maestri, who has played the role in 19 new productions so far. “His physique is just right for the part, as are his powerful voice, flair for drama and feeling for the Verdi style.” (New York Times) He is joined by soprano Fiorenza Cedolins as Alice Ford, the mezzo-soprano Stephanie Houtzeel as Meg Page and mezzo-soprano Elisabeth Kulman as Mrs. Quickly. Zubin Mehta leads the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Salzburg Festival 2013: Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
One of the highlight opera productions of Salzburg Festival 2013: The new Stefan Herheim production of Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, conducted by Daniele Gatti, with Michael Volle, one of the foremost German baritones as Hans Sachs and highly acclaimed Italian tenor Roberto Saccà, who for over two decades he has been singing on the stages of the world’s major opera houses, as Walther von Stolzing.
Salzburg Festival: Verdi, Don Carlo
The Salzburg Festival hosts a new production of Verdi’s “Don Carlo”, directed by Peter Stein and embodied by Jonas Kaufmann. The production is based on the original version of the opera, which includes those passages that were cut shortly before the first performance in 1867. Verdi’s masterpiece demands world-class singers at the peak of their powers, such as Jonas Kaufmann, “who combines absolute technical stability with the highest musical intelligence”, and soprano Anja Harteros, who’s “Elisabetta is quite simply sublime: majestically phrased, rich in nuance, clear of diction and moving easily from immaculately floated pianissimo to sterling fortissimo”. (The Telegraph)
Salzburg Festival 2013: Britten, War Requiem
“Intensive, touching… a deeply moving plea for peace” (News) – Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem marks the composer’s 100th birthday with a stellar Salzburg Festival cast: Anna Netrebko, Ian Bostridge and Thomas Hampson in the solo parts, accompanied by the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the baton of Antonio Pappano. A “truly moving” performance, according to La Stampa newspaper.
Salzburg Festival: Mozart, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (from Hangar-7 at the Salzburg Airport)
Hangar-7 at the Salzburg Airport transformed into an event location resounding with culture! On the schedule: Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, produced especially for TV viewers and interpreted as Konstanze’s seduction by the promises of the j et set world. An adventure for anyone interested in a new and different way of experiencing opera and TV!
Beethoven for all
The film accompanies the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra through its rehearsals and concerts for the live recording of the Beethoven CD Box containing all nine symphonies. We experience the orchestra’s musicians and ist maestro at highly personal moments, whether at work (by no means a conflict-free zone) or “off duty” at parties and in private. Unreservedly frank conversations show the musicians and Daniel Barenboim explaining their vision, their hopes, and also their fears and failures – both on the musical and the political front – and the lessons they have learnt.
Daniel Barenboim & West Eastern Divan Orchestra in Marseille
Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at the Festival International de Piano de la Roque d’Anthéron in Marseille. The performance is part of the celebration of Marseille-Provence as the 2013 European Capital of Culture. On the programworks Giuseppe Verdi and Hector Berlioz. —– PROGRAM: Verdi: La Traviata, Preludes to act 1 and 3; Overture to Les Vêpres siciliennes; Overture to La forza del destino / Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique op. 14.