After four decades, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale returns to the renowned Vienna State Opera in a cheeky, highly entertaining new staging by Irina Brook. As if to make up for the neglect from which the work has been suffering, Brook’s “operacartoon” (Die Presse) with its opulent, colourful setting features a splendid cast, led by star-tenor Juan Diego Flórez. Flórez, “without a doubt the leading Bel Canto tenor of today, places his legendary, sheer impeccable high notes in all their splendour” (Die Presse)
Pique Dame
As one of the highlights of the Holland Festival 2016, renowned director Stefan Herheim staged Tchaikovsky’s much-loved opera about a young man who, for the prospect of earthly wealth, gambles away his chance for love and happiness. Herheim gives an exciting visualisation of how Tchaikovsky’s unspeakable homosexuality and passion rises through the music to the surface of the story of gambling and love. The life he has acted and forfeited is played out against the drama. Mariss Jansons returned to Amsterdam to conduct Pique Dame with “his” Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He encounters a noteworthy cast, including star tenor Misha Didyk, a sought after interpreter of the Russian repertoire, who was making his Amsterdam debut in the role of Herman. The critics agree about the production’s quality: “A Pique Dame of extraordinary musical and scenical power” (Avant-Scène Opéra), which it is “absolutely worth seeing!” (Die Welt).
Thielemann conducts Bruckner No. 3
Christian Thielemann and his Staatskapelle Dresden continue their Bruckner Cycle at the Philharmonie in Munich with a “radiant and majestic” (The Guardian) performance of Symphony No. 3, also known as “Wagner Symphony”. Thielemann, a more than experienced Bruckner interpreter, has once again proven himself as the top of his class with masterly control over a shining wind section, which “pushed the audience deeply into their seats”. With “moments of disruptive suspense and intense audio density he displays the full musical maelstrom of Bruckners Symphony No. 3” (Münchner Merkur).
Madama Butterfly
La Traviata
Verdi’s La traviata at the Chorégies d’Orange Festival on the open air stage of the ancient Roman Théâtre has all ingredients for a big success: a popular title, renowned artists with luxury voices, a tasteful staging and a great show in a stunning ambience – and it lived up to the expectations: “We have seen many La traviatas, and heard, but this one will rest in our memories” echoed the press after the first night. Placido Domingo in the role of Giorgio Germont is celebrating a triumphal return to the Festival after nearly four decades of absence. Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho, immediately elevated to “the queen of the Chorégies”, is a stunning Violetta at eye level with the great interpreters of this role, tenor Francesco Meli as a vibrant Alfredo completes the supreme cast.
Don Quixote
The centuries-long dialogue between Spanish folk dance and high culture stage dance reached its zenith in the ballet „Don Quixote“, which was premiered in 1869 in Moscow. For his ballet, Frenchman Marius Petipa drew inspiration from episodes in the legendary novel by Cervantes. The music was composed by Austrian Ludwig Minkus. In the East a fixture in the repertoire since its première, in the West „Don Quixote“ became part of the international repertoire only following the adaptation by Rudolf Nureyev for the Vienna State Opera. From Vienna the ballet went around the world and now returned to the opera house on the Ring after an extended absence. “A Don Quixote to love … Legris and company can count the evening a total success” (Die Presse);
Lohengrin
This most anticipated premiere features Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala in their first ever Wagnerian roles as Elsa and Lohengrin under the baton of Christian Thielemann, doubtlessly today’s foremost conductor of this repertoire. Outstanding Wagnerians Evelyn Herlitzius and Tomasz Konieczny are starring as the opponents Ortrud and Friedrich von Telramund and Georg Zeppenfeld is Heinrich der Vogler at the prestigious Semperoper Dresden, with the Staatskapelle Dresden in the pit. The production with its psychologic depth, timeless setting and stunning costumes is staged after the original production by Christine Mielitz, the internationally acclaimed director, who is affiliated with the Semperoper since her beginnings alongside Harry Kupfer. “Netrebko and Beczala are Wagner Stars (New York Times)”; “Pure bliss! Never ending applause! (FAZ)”
I due Foscari
Acclaim for La Scala’s new Foscari: “Plácido Domingo is the definitive Francesco of recent times” (Financial Times).” Here is Plácido Domingo’s latest conquest: the leading baritone role of Francesco Foscari in Verdi’s darkly atmospheric, melodically generous early opera, based on Lord Byron’s play. Set in 15th-century Venice, I due Foscari is the forerunner of Simon Boccanegra, and Domingo’s triumph as the Doge set the seal on this critically lauded new production from Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, the ultimate Verdi shrine. Declaring the legendary singer “the definitive Francesco of recent times”, the Financial Times’s reviewer also had high praise for the rest of La Scala’s superb cast, from “Andrea Concetti’s solid Loredano, to the immaculate Francesco Meli in a perfect match for Jacopo. Anna Pirozzi makes a triumphant house debut as Lucrezia. She wins hearts and minds through fearsome dramatisation and thrilling vocal power. But the revelation of the night is [conductor] Michele Mariotti.”
Martinu Symphony Cycle: Martinu 1 & Mahler 1
From the time-honoured and acoustically superb Prague Rudolfinum, this concert of the Czech Philharmonic under its music director Jirí Belohlávek marks the beginning of the first-ever filmed, complete cycle of all six symphonies by Bohuslav Martinu. Belohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic have a reputation to interpret his works like no other. ClassicsToday declared their Martinu cycle to “live up to the highest expectations […] With an orchestra that knows the music this well, Belohlávek can focus on details of rhythm and texture that create a powerful feeling of symphonic continuity without stinting on the work’s evocative colors.” Following Martinu’s First Symphony is Mahler’s First Symphony. With an equally deep Mahler tradition, the orchestra gave proof of why the New York Times called them “a jewel in Prague’s cultural life”.
Thielemann and Znajder in Prague
One of the world’s oldest orchestras, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, and their distinguished Chief Conductor Christian Thielemann are joined by star-violinist Nikolaj Znaider in a concert at the Czech capital’s legendary Rudolfinum concert hall. “The first thing one became aware of in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto was the rhythmic heat of Thielemann’s conducting. The second was the sheer sumptuousness of the Dresden orchestra’s sound” (The Telegraph), while Znaider proved to be an “impeccable soloist”. In the Reger, Thielemann offered a “wonderfully buoyant, lucid performance”. As for the Strauss: “The Dresden Staatskapelle is the Strauss orchestra par excellence and it still plays that music with a unique understanding” (The Guardian).