Mozart’s timeless masterpiece at the Salzburg Festival – it doesn’t get much better than this! Especially when “The Magic Flute” receives such a “spectacular and virtuosic staging” (Le Figaro) by American director Lydia Steier. Her colourful, fairy-tale production conjures up magical scenes and revolves around Hollywood star Klaus Maria Brandauer as grandfather, who reads the fantastical story of Tamino’s quest to his three grandchildren. The Three Boys are sung “technically flawlessly and expressively by three members of the Wiener Sängerknaben, a pure joy” (Spiegel Online). Constantinos Carydis leads a young ensemble of world class singers and draws “precise phrasing and plenty of crisp articulation from the Wiener Philharmoniker” (Financial Times). A delight already enjoyed by over one million TV viewers in Germany alone!
Salzburg Festival 2018: Salome
“Salome”, the masterpiece of Richard Strauss, who conducted the very first opera in the history of the Salzburg Festival, finally returns to Salzburg after 25 years. To witness Franz Welser-Möst, a Strauss conductor in a league of his own, at the helm of the Wiener Philharmoniker “makes you think you are hearing the piece in its most perfect incarnation yet.” (Financial Times). The Italian director Romeo Castellucci has the extraordinary gift of creating images pulsating with knowledge of the subconscious, he is responsible for directing and designing stage sets, costumes and lighting. “Asmik Grigorian sweeps all in her wake in the title role of Strauss’s opera. […] Hers is a Salome to end all Salomes. […] In total, it is stunning…” (Financal Times)
Salzburg Festival 2018: Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades)
Russian literature is unimaginable without Pushkin. It feeds on Pushkin, it breathes Pushkin. During his brief life – he died at the age of 38 – he produced a torrent of the most wonderful poems, plays and stories. Pushkin wrote the novella The Queen of Spades in 1833 in the course of a few days and “in a cold fury” – brief, sharply accentuated and focused on psychology. More than 50 years later, Tchaikovsky turned to this tale for an opera. Mariss Jansons conducts the Vienna Philharmonic, Hans Neuenfels directs Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades at the Großes Festspielhaus. Hanna Schwarz appears as the Countess. Evgenia Muraveva sings Lisa, Brandon Jovanovich is Herman, Vladislav Sulimsky appears as Count Tomsky / Plutus, and Igor Golovatenko is Prince Yelezky. “A triumph for conductor Mariss Jansons at the helm of the Wiener Philharmoniker” (FAZ); “Mr. Neuenfels draws gripping performances from a strong cast.” (NY Times)
Bregenz Festival 2018: Beatrice Cenci
Church corruption, human violence & a daughter who plots revenge on her abusive father – Goldschmidt’s Beatrice Cenci has every ingredient for a gripping opera & the story of ist origins is equally fascinating albeit tragic: The Jewish composer, who fled Germany for London in 1935, was awarded a prize for his work, but the promised performance never took place. It was not until 1988 that it received ist premiere as a concert performance. At Bregenz, stage director Johannes Erath brought Beatrice Cenci on stage for the first time.
BBC Proms 2018: Canellakis conducts Russian Classics
Conductor Karina Canellakis returned with the BBC Symphony Orchestra after her triumphant 2017 Proms debut. Two 20th-century Russian masterpieces led the bill – the exhilarating Symphonic Dances by Rachmaninov and Shostakovich’s much-loved First Cello Concerto, where Canellakis was joined by another young American star, soloist Alisa Weilerstein. The programme kicked off with Beethoven’s forceful Overture Coriolan, which Canellakis describes as a ‘punch in the face’, and a third young American, composer Andrew Norman, completed the programme with the UK premiere of his new work Spiral – “It could spice up any programme!” (The Guardian) PROGRAM Beethoven: Overture ‘Coriolan’; Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No 1; Norman: Spiral; Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances
BBC Proms 2018: Paavo Järvi conducts a Nordic Night
A concert with a Nordic flavour from Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra (making its Proms debut) pairs music by Grieg and Sibelius with Estonia’s own national composer, Arvo Pärt. Celebrated Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili performs one of the great Romantic piano concertos. Beloved for ist generous melodies and dramatic gestures, Grieg’s concerto is matched for sonic drama by Sibelius’s stirring Fifth Symphony. Arvo Pärt’s eclectic Third Symphony, with ist echoes of Renaissance polyphony and Orthodox chant, opens the concert.“One of this season’s special Proms!” (The Guardian) PROGRAM Pärt: Symphony No 3; Grieg: Piano Concerto; Jean Sibelius: Symphony No 5
BBC Proms 2018: Iván Fischer conducts an Hungarian Night
Hungarian folk tunes run through the veins of Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, while Gypsy rhythms set their pulses dancing. This concert – a true celebration of Hungary’s national music – traces the development of folk songs and dance, from their colourful, rough-hewn originals into virtuosic concert-hall reimaginings by Liszt, Brahms and Sarasate. In the second half comes Brahms’s dramatic First Symphony, whose darkness and drama eventually give way to an ending of transcendent musical triumph.“A masterclass. Oh, that concerts could all be like this!” (The Spectator) PROGRAM Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 1 & 3; Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 1 & 11, Symphony No 1; Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen
ROH: Lessons in Love and Violence
Lessons in Love and Violence, the new opera by composer George Benjamin and playwright Martin Crimp, two of Britain’s most celebrated artists, received a glowing reception from audiences and critics alike on its world premiere at the Royal Opera House in London. In a modern day setting it tells the powerful and thrilling story of King Edward II, whose romantic relationship with the Earl of Cornwall, Piers Gaveston, tears his country and his family apart. Barbara Hannigan is as “outstanding as ever”! (Financial Times)
BBC Proms 2018: András Schiff – The Well-Tempered Clavier (Part II)
Often heralded as one of the finest Bach interpreters today, Sir András Schiff embarks on Book II of Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier at the prestigious BBC Proms – a supreme technical challenge for any performer and an astonishing experience for every listener, especially when they are played with the mastery and “gracious lucidity” (ArtsDesk) of Sir András Schiff. Schiff, “travelling deeper into the inexplicable mysteries of Bach’s music” (Observer), provides “masterly interpretations” (Bachtrack). His recital of the first volume at the BBC Proms was “one of those unforgettable revelations” (Observer).
Barbara Hannigan – First Rehearsals
Her vocal mastery is undisputed, but it is Barbara Hannigan’s talent of conducting an orchestra that is of particular interest to Mathieu Amalric. In his film, the celebrated French actor and director follows her for three days in Amsterdam. He documents the creative process of the conductor and the Ludwig ensemble during the rehearsals for the recording of Alban Berg’s Lulu Suite for the album Crazy Girl Crazy – what does it take to achieve perfect harmony?