Pierre Boulez, a seminal figure in the field of contemporary classical music, died on January 5th 2016. His name is closely connected to the Orchestre de Paris, which he has conducted more than a hundred times, and to the Philharmonie de Paris, whose “Grande Salle Pierre Boulez” was brought into existence due to his continuous endeavor.Two weeks after Boulez’ death, supported by young musicians from the Conservatoire de Paris, the Orchestra de Paris joined forces with the Ensemble Intercontemporain and the IRCAM – both founded by Pierre Boulez – in order to pay him tribute. The programme of this very special evening features a varied selection of the composer’s works. As a result of the concert night, “one simple word comes up, full of enthusiasm and emotion: merci…” (Bachtrack). PROGRAM: Pierre Boulez: Dialogue de l’ombre double extraits; Improvisation I; Messagesquisse; Dérive 1 pour six instruments; Improvisation II; Notations pour orchestre I, IV, III, II, VII
Daniel Harding – The Inaugural Concert: Schumann Scenes from Faust
For his inaugural concert as the new Musical Director of the Orchestre de Paris, the young British conductor Daniel Harding chose to conduct a work with which he has already enjoyed phenomenal success in Berlin, Munich and London: Robert Schumann’s rarely performed Szenen aus Goethes Faust (Scenes from Goethe’s Faust). A Magical evening in the Parisian concert hall, with an aesthetic excellence that leaves you speechless.” (Huffington Post) “For his inauguration concert Harding lands a coup.” (Le Figaro)
Paris: Harding conducts Schumann “Paradise and Peri”
Daniel Harding, the new music director of the prestigious Orchestre de Paris, pays homage to Schumann through one of his most radiant works: Das Paradies und die Peri (Paradise and the Peri), an adaptation for orchestra, choir and soloists of an oriental tale and a jewel of romanticism. Matthias Goerne, Christiane Karg, Andy Staples, Kate Royal, Gerhild Romberger and Allan Clayton join Harding and the Orchestre de Paris in a worldly Oratorio that exalts the heavenly purity of paradise in the shimmering and magical colours of Arabian Nights.
Médée
Luigi Cherubini’s most famous opera Médée is based on the universal and timeless tragedy Medea by the Greek poet Euripides. With a mother who exacts revenge for her husband’s betrayal by killing their own children, it is undoubtedly one of the most violent and frigid myths that Antic Greece has left us. French stage director Jean-Yves Ruf chose the original French version of Médéefrom 1797, instead of the more frequently performed Italian translation, to be presented at Dijon Opera. He highlights the libretto through a dark lightened stage set (created by architect and stage designer Laure Pichat), which perfectly fits the gloomy mood of the play. The Dijon Bourgogne Orchestra, under the baton of Nicolas Krüger, performs brilliantly with lyrical and beautiful playing.
BABEL 7.16
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet’s Babel 7.16 unites 22 dancers from 15 nations in a performance that explores language and its relationship with nationhood, identity and religion. The ballet takes its title and tone from the apocalyptic Bible story in which God punitively divides his people into competing nations and tongues. The imposing three-dimensional structures of Antony Gormley’s stage design suggest a nameless intersection in a city near the borders of a no man’s land. The choreography elaborates the dynamic of connection and withdrawal, sustained by the installation of light-catching steel cubes. By inviting the “astonishingly multitalented cast of dancers” the two Belgian choreographers have put the concept of masses, of history and of territory in the Cour d’Honneur du Palais des Papes in Avignon, and thus created “the most fiercely resonant dance theatre of the decade” (The Guardian).
Flórez 20 Years at Rossini Opera Festival
Juan Diego Florez will headline the 2018 Rossini Opera Festival with a new production of “Ricciardo e Zoraide.” The production will mark the tenor’s return to the festival and will mark yet another Rossini role debut. Florez will be joined by Pretty Yende and will be conducted by Giacomo Sagripanti. Marshall Pynkoski will direct the new production.Florez has performed at the Pesaro Festival for the past 20 years where he has sung such opera’s as “William Tell,” “Matilde di Shabran,” “Le Comte Ory,” and “La Donna del Lago.”
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.
Rossini Opera Festival 2016: Il Turco in Italia
The performance of Il turco in Italia at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro is presented as a totally renewed production. With references to films of the iconic film director Federico Fellini “Davide Livermore brought it all together adding the perfect physical comic schtick that matched up perfectly with the musical pace of Rossini’s masterpiece – it was spectacular” (Opera Today). “Obviously the brilliant outcome of the performance is also due to Speranza Scapucci’s conducting, well prepared and highly talented, …” (Il Resto del Carlino Pesaro). The cast featuring Erwin Schrott, “who manages the most intricate colloratura effortlessly with his agile, beautiful bass- baritone…” (General-Anzeiger) and Olga Peretyatko being “the ideal cast” (Das Opernglas) made it a marvellous performance.
Rossini Opera Festival 2016: La Donna del lago
La campana sommersa
Best-known for his brilliantly evocative and rightly popular trilogy of tone-poems on Rome, Italian composer Ottorino Respighi was also a noted composer of operas. His gloriously lyrical and opulently orchestrated adaptation of Gerhart Hauptmann’s fin de siècle allegory Die versunkene Glocke (The Sunken Bell), the opera La campana sommersa is Respighi’s operatic masterpiece – a magical, if ultimately tragic, tale of the love between a mortal human and an immortal fairy.