Schedule

Ádám Fischer conducts the orchestra and choir of La Monnaie in a performance of Antonín Dvořák’s (1841-1904) Rusalka, a fairytale opera in three acts. Rusalka is the composer’s ninth opera and still one of the cornerstones of Czech opera houses. The main roles are played by Myrtò Papatanasiu (Rusalka), Pavel Černoch (Prince), Annalena Persson (Foreign Princess), Willard White (Vodnik) and Renée Morloc (Ježibaba). A rusalka is a water sprite from Slavic mythology, living in a lake or river. In this story, Rusalka wishes to become human in order to be loved by a prince. For her wish to be fulfilled, Rusalka must give up her voice and face eternal damnation if her love fails. Stage director Stefan Herheim masterfully presents this lyrical fairytale, recorded at La Monnaie, Brussels, in 2016. In this widely acclaimed interpretation, the fairytale elements sometime take on frighteningly realistic dimensions so that one might see this enchanting production as a psychoanalytical study of male fantasies and female archetypes.

Conductor Paolo Arrivabeni leads the Orchestre et Choeurs de l’Opéra Royal de Wallonie in this performance of Aida. With 56 operas to his credit, this was his first time to conduct "Aida", although it is one of the most often performed operas around the world. Celebrated by both the public and critics, the Maestro enjoys a very successful international career. His wide repertoire revolves around the works of Italian composers of the 19th century. Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, based on the Italian libretto of Antonio Ghislanzoni. The plot is set in the so-called "Old Kingdom", presumably of Egypt. Aida revolves around intertwined story lines and love affairs complicated by political interference. Main characters Aida, an Ethiopian princess who has been enslaved by the Eqyptians, Egyptian military commander Radamès, whose feelings for her conflict with his political loyalty and the King's daughter Amneris, who is in love with Radamès. The opera was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and premiered there on 24 December 1871. Soloists of this interpretation, recorded 2014 in Liège, Belgium are Kristin Lewis, Massimiliano Pisapia, Nino Surgulazde, Mark Rucker, Luciano Montanaro, Roger Joakim, Chantal Glaude and Giovanni Iovino.

For more than 25 years, René Jacobs has dedicated his life to baroque operas and works with the best ensembles for early music. On occasion of the 2009 Haydn Year the renowned Freiburger Barockorchester and outstanding baroque opera singers such as Marlis Petersen, Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Pietro Spagnoli and Tom Randle present Haydn’s most successful opera at the Berlin Staatsoper. ‘Orlando Paladino’, written in 1782, was Haydn’s most famous opera during his lifetime, with thirty performances in Esterháza in the first two years after its composition. The libretto, a ’drama eroicomico’, gives scope to Haydn’s frequently puckish sense of humour, as well as his inventive melodic expression. Most semi-serious operas of the period typically inserted comic characters into an essentially serious story but Haydn expanded the comedy even into the more serious scenes.

Hervé Niquet conducts the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir in a stage production of Jean Baptiste Lully's opera Persée (1632-1687) by Opera Atelier in Toronto, Canada’s Baroque Theatre Company recorded at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre in 2004. Among the soloists are Olivier Laquerre, Stephanie Novacek, Monica Whicher, Marie Lenormand, Alain Coulombe, and Curtis Sullivan. Composed by Jean Baptiste Lully for Louis XIV, Persée is widely recognized as Lully’s greatest creation and was considered the crowning achievement of 17th century French music theatre. Filled with dancing, fight scenes, monsters and special effects, this truly spectacular opera recounts the thrilling story of Perseus, son of Zeus and heroic vanquisher of the snake-haired Gorgon Medusa.

Ádám Fischer conducts the orchestra and choir of La Monnaie in a performance of Antonín Dvořák’s (1841-1904) Rusalka, a fairytale opera in three acts. Rusalka is the composer’s ninth opera and still one of the cornerstones of Czech opera houses. The main roles are played by Myrtò Papatanasiu (Rusalka), Pavel Černoch (Prince), Annalena Persson (Foreign Princess), Willard White (Vodnik) and Renée Morloc (Ježibaba). A rusalka is a water sprite from Slavic mythology, living in a lake or river. In this story, Rusalka wishes to become human in order to be loved by a prince. For her wish to be fulfilled, Rusalka must give up her voice and face eternal damnation if her love fails. Stage director Stefan Herheim masterfully presents this lyrical fairytale, recorded at La Monnaie, Brussels, in 2016. In this widely acclaimed interpretation, the fairytale elements sometime take on frighteningly realistic dimensions so that one might see this enchanting production as a psychoanalytical study of male fantasies and female archetypes.

Alain Altinoglu conducts the Philharmonia Zürich, Zusatzchor Opernhaus Zürich and SoprAlti der Oper Zürich in a performance of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, an opera in five acts to the French libretto from Maurice Maeterlinck's play. It was premiered at the in Paris by the Opéra-Comique in 1902. The plot concerns a love triangle; Prince Golaud finds Mélisande, a mysterious young woman. After marrying her he brings her back to the castle of his grandfather, King Arkel, where Mélisande becomes attached to Golaud’s younger half-brother Pelléas. Main soloists are Brindley Sherratt (Arkel), Jacques Imbrailo (Pelléas), Kyle Ketelsen (Golaud) and Corinne Winters (Mélisande). Directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov and recorded at the Opernhaus Zürich in 2016.

The 2017 Reate Festival in Rieti, Italy staged two short operas composed by Nino Rota. Known chiefly for his cinema soundtracks and his lifelong relationship with iconic directors such as Federico Fellini, Francis Ford Coppola and Luchino Visconti (to name but a few), Rota was a musical enfant prodige who composed sacred music as well as operas from a very young age. Endowed with a streak of freedom, creativity and imagination that allowed him to forge his own unique style, he succeeded in merging the great Italian operatic tradition of Rossini, Puccini and Verdi with a contemporary musical language, setting himself apart from his contemporaries in the process. I due timidi was broadcast by Milan’s RAI in 1950 and first staged in London in 1952. Based on a text by the Italian screen writer Suso Cecchi D’Amico, it’s a comedy of errors. Although it lacks the usual happy ending, the pace of the musical action and the skills of the young actor-singers make the performance most enjoyable. “The pace of the narration changes continuously: frenzied rhythms suddenly shift to broad vocal declamations à la Puccini, with interludes reminiscent of jazz and the buffo style. Despite the richness and heterogeneity of the musical material, the singers always manage to stay vocally balanced, showing great acting abilities, as well… Conductor Gabriele Bonolis and his orchestra received midperformance applause for an energetic, fresh and brilliant performance.” This version was performed by the Reate Festival Orchestra.

Conductor Paolo Arrivabeni leads the Orchestre et Choeurs de l’Opéra Royal de Wallonie in this performance of Aida. With 56 operas to his credit, this was his first time to conduct "Aida", although it is one of the most often performed operas around the world. Celebrated by both the public and critics, the Maestro enjoys a very successful international career. His wide repertoire revolves around the works of Italian composers of the 19th century. Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, based on the Italian libretto of Antonio Ghislanzoni. The plot is set in the so-called "Old Kingdom", presumably of Egypt. Aida revolves around intertwined story lines and love affairs complicated by political interference. Main characters Aida, an Ethiopian princess who has been enslaved by the Eqyptians, Egyptian military commander Radamès, whose feelings for her conflict with his political loyalty and the King's daughter Amneris, who is in love with Radamès. The opera was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and premiered there on 24 December 1871. Soloists of this interpretation, recorded 2014 in Liège, Belgium are Kristin Lewis, Massimiliano Pisapia, Nino Surgulazde, Mark Rucker, Luciano Montanaro, Roger Joakim, Chantal Glaude and Giovanni Iovino.

Louis Langrée conducts the Metropolitan Opera in a performance of Bizet’s masterpiece of the Gypsy seductress, who lives by her own rules, no matter the cost. The opera’s melodic sweep is as irresistible as the title character herself, a force of nature who has become a defining cultural figure. This drama—of a soldier torn between doing the right thing and pursuing the woman that he cannot resist—bursts with melody and seethes with all the erotic vitality of its unforgettable title character. Carmen was a scandal at its premiere and was much denounced in the press for its flagrant immorality. The power of the music and the drama, however, created an equally vocal faction in favour of the work. The composer Tchaikovsky and the philosopher Nietzsche both praised the opera, the latter identifying in the robustness of the score nothing less than a cure-all for the world’s spiritual ills. This performance features Clémentine Margaine (soprano), Roberto Alagna (tenor), and Alexander Vinogradov (bass) and was recorded at the Metropolitan Opera Hall in New York City, USA, in 2019.

Israeli-born conductor Daniel Oren leads the Orchestra of the Arena di Verona in a magnificent interpretation of Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco. Verdi’s third opera – but first great popular success – was created at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1842, in the epicentre of the “Risorgimento” and the capital of Italian nationalism, at a time where the supporters of Italian independence from Austrian occupation were starting to make their voices heard. The "Chorus of the Hebrew slaves", pivotal point in the third act where the Jews, exiled from Babylone by Nabuchodonosor, mourn their country, "So Beautiful and Lost", immediately resonated with the Italian nationalists and has ever since been a symbol of Italian national identity. Daniel Oren, a true connoisseur of Verdi’s musical language as well as a regular guest at the Arena di Verona, conducts with great panache this "lyrical epic" that holds such a special place in the heart of all Italians. This interpretation was recorded 2017 and stars George Gagnidze, Susanna Branchini, Nino Surguladze, Rubens Pelizzari, Stanislav Trofimov and more.

Under the musical direction of Massimo Zanetti, the Orchestre et Choeurs de l’Opéra Royal de Wallonie present the opera "Luisa Miller". As the result of the collaboration between Verdi and the Neapolitan librettist Salvatore Cammarano, Luisa Miller is based on a play written by Friedrich Schiller titled Intrigue and Love. The work was composed in 1849 for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. It marks a turning point in Verdi’s production and life, since the composer had moved back to Busseto, his birthplace, while writing it. As a consequence, Verdi distanced himself from patriotic heroism, a typical characteristic found in his early operas. This becomes obvious in his work: the action of Luisa Miller is not part of great historical events, but revolves around love affairs in a simple Tyrolean village. This interpretation was recorded 2014 at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Liège and stars Patrizia Ciofi, Gregory Kunde, Nicola Alaimo, Bálint Szabó, Luciano Montanaro, Alexise Yerna, Cristina Melis and Stefano De Rosa.

With Rolando Villazón directing and playing the title role, the world rushed for tickets to the Baden-Baden 2012 Pentecost-holiday opera. Following his directorial debut in 2011 (Werther, Lyon) the Mexican tenor went a step further, staging Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and directing himself in the role of Nemorino. The film tells the story of this “story within a story” and reveals the creative process of staging the comic opera in two acts at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in April and May 2012. We follow Rolando Villazón in rehearsals with singers and actors, and in his exchanges with young conductor Pablo Heras-Casado on the way to a highly personal performance.