37-year old Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra just made history by being appointed the first female conductor and music director of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, one of Australia’s three largest Orchestras. In 2004 she became the first Mexican woman to conduct in New York and in 2014, she led the Orchestre de Paris. Clearly breaking barriers is standard fare for Alondra. As a guest conductor she has led more than 70 renowned orchestras worldwid. She has done multidisciplinary collaborations with various actors and filmmakers and keeps on working on educational programs. The documentary traces the multiple facets of Alondra’s life, accompanies her on her binational tours and gives insight into Alondra’s interesting family. Her latest appointment as the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director (2017) marks a special point in the orchestra’s history, not only because they decided on a young woman but also because it is the first time they have ever appointed a music director. The film also captures Alondra in her home city New York, where she works on the N.Y. City based “Niños” program, one of Alondra’s numerous initiatives that express her desire to spread classical music to everyone.
Friday Night with Yury Revich & Friends
Magic Moments of Music – Maria Callas & Tosca
The beginning of 1964 held a great surprise for the music world: Maria Callas returns to the opera stage as prima donna. Her “Tosca” at the Royal Opera House becomes a sensation. Not even the Beatles received more press coverage. All this, for an artist whose glorious career was said to be over, with the singer herself passing over to legend. It is no longer her performances, but her scandals that, are dominating the headlines. Unlucky in love with her billionaire boyfriend Aristotle Onassis, Maria Callas wants to show them all that the title of ”Primadonna assoluta” is still rightfully hers. On condition that famed stage director Franco Zeffirelli takes on the production, the exceptional vocalist is prepared to take on the role of Tosca. Her fans queue outside the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden for four, even five nights. To get their hands on the sought after tickets, they spend the freezing winter nights in sleeping bags and on fold up chairs. A British broadcaster has recorded the opera’s second act. It is one of the most dramatic acts in opera history – to save the artist Cavaradossi from his torturer; Tosca ends up murdering the chief of police Scarpia. The film recording is one of the few opportunities to see Maria Callas on stage and witness her emotional dramatics and vocal competence.
Kit Armstrong plays Wagner and Liszt
Bayreuth is not only the city of Richard Wagner, but also of his father-in-law Franz Liszt. Described by the New York Times as a “brilliant pianist” who combines “musical maturity and youthful daring in his exceptional playing”, Kit Armstrong performed at the famous Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, a masterpiece of Baroque theatre architecture, works by Wagner, Liszt and Mozart in a concert that was “technically sophisticated – and poetically poignant”. (Der Opernfreund) Alfred Brendel, who has guided Armstrong as teacher and mentor since 2005, ascribes to him “an understanding of the great piano works that combines freshness and subtlety, emotion and intellect”. PRPGRAM: Works by Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner and W.A. Mozart
Lucerne Festival 2019: Chailly conducts Rachmaninoff
Everything changed for Sergei Rachmaninoff after 1917. As a result of the October Revolution, power impinged directly on his life – and on his art. The new political conditions forced him to leave his Russian homeland and flee into exile in the West. In order to earn a living, he had to perform for the most part as a piano virtuoso, constantly touring Europe and America. Which meant he had hardly any time left over to compose. The program with which Riccardo Chailly and his Lucerne Festival Orchestra open the 2019 Summer Festival orbits around this turning point in Rachmaninoff’s life, pairing the legendary Third Piano Concerto, written in Russia in 1909, with the melancholy Third Symphony, which he created as an émigré in Hertenstein near Lucerne in 1935-36. PROGRAM Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto Nr. 3; Symphony No. 3; Vocalise op. 34 No. 14
Ivor Bolton conducts the Dresden Festival Orchestra
This glamerous concert opened the prestigious Dresden Music Festival 2019. Together with Dresden-born singer René Pape the Dresden Festival Orchestra under the baton of Ivor Bolton dived deeply into the romantic repertoire. Highlight of the evening was the world premiere of songs by Franz Schubert arranged for bass and orchestra, including “Prometheus“ D 674 as well as songs from the cycle “Schwanengesang“: Das Fischermädchen, Am Meer, Die Stadt, Der Doppelgänger, Ihr Bild, Der Atlas and An die Musik. Preceeding is Carl Maria von Weber’s overture to his opera “Euryanthe”, which during his lifetime had no easy lot: the music was greatly praised, the libretto however was laughed at. The spring-like first symphony by Robert Schumann was drafted in only four days and written out in three weeks – in a blissful stage of his life shortly after his marriage to Clara Wieck.
Paavo Järvi – Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Inaugural Concert
The Tonhalle Orchester Zürich has appointed one of the best conductors of our time as ist new artistic director: Paavo Järvi takes over the post with the 2019/2020 season. Born in Estonia in 1962, Järvi is currently music director of the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo. In 2009, he worked with the Tonhalle Orchestra for the first time and again most recently in December 2016. Kullervo, Op. 7, is a suite of symphonic movements by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Although often referred to as a „choral symphony,“ the work avoids traditional symphonic structure and its five movements constitute a set of related but independent tone poems. PROGRAM Sibelius: Kullervo
Nabucco
Under the direction of Andreas Homoki, this new production features a first-class cast: Catherine Naglestad and Michael Volle debut in the roles of Abigaille and Nabucco respectively, while the German bass Georg Zeppenfeld portrays Zaccaria. Music Director Fabio Luisi conducts the Philharmonia Zürich.
Nelsons conducts Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich
In May 2019, the principal conductor of the Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons, presented Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in combination with Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with outstanding violinist Baiba Skride as the soloist. With this choice of program, Andris Nelsons continued the Tchaikovsky cycle with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, which he had started as part of the concert series that surrounded his inauguration as Gewandhauskapellmeister in February 2018. PROGRAM Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5; Shostakovich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
I am from Austria
The Vereinigte Bühnen Wien (VBW) hit-musical I AM FROM AUSTRIA has evolved to a brilliant public success – over 20 hits by Rainhard Fendrich such as “Macho Macho”, “Es lebe der Sport”, “Strada del Sole” and of course the title song “I Am From Austria” have been spun together by an original plot telling the story of an internationally successful Austrian film star, who returns to Vienna to attend the famous annual Opera Ball. A magnificent set, thrilling choreographies and dazzling costumes take you behind the scenes of a Viennese luxury hotel – chaos, kisses and catastrophes included. Let yourself be inspired by the turbulent story of love, friendship and family and look forward to a spectacular musical evening full of romance, surprises and hilarious comedy of the situation.