Il trittico was premiered in New York on 14 December 1918, composed while the First World War was still raging in Europe. At first glance, the three one-act operas Gianni Schicchi, Il tabarro and Suor Angelica seem to have no connection with each other; their common denominator is solely the entanglement of man in a fateful destiny that only exceptionally, for a moment, seems to promise a happy outcome to the “adventure of life” - a set of themes that in its complexity seems to be in such good hands with few directors as with Christof Loy. The main female roles in the three opera acts are performed by the Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian, a very rare and tremendous feat, but once again connects the works to each other.

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Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana, world heritage site and one of the world’s most beautiful concert halls, hosted Gustavo Dudamel and the Münchner Philharmoniker with an unforgettable performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “The Resurrection.“ The composer emphasizes life and death in all its terrible and stunning splendor in this overwhelming opus: “There is nothing except the complete substance of my whole life”, he remarked on his all-embracing oeuvre. Gustavo Dudamel, who said it was “a privilege to conduct this work in this unique venue,“ and his ensemble were celebrated with more than then minutes of applause. American mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford and Israeli soprano Chen Reiss as well as the seemingly weightless choirs of Orfeó Català and Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana perform “a mark-shattering finale with goosebumps” (Münchner Merkur). “The dynamic range is enormous. But most fascinating are the moments of absolute silence, in which you can feel how the dramaturgy of the evening comes together: An audience holds its breath” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). “Really an event … a phantastic conjunction of stars … a memorable interpretation“. (El Periódico)

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“There had never been a communicator about music with anywhere near Bernstein’s brilliance, humor, energy, reach and importance.” (New York Times) Young People’s Concerts Vol. 3 comprises 18 episodes of the legendary series, which remains unmatched until today. “Leonard Bernstein did this better than anyone. He was brilliant – as a musician and as an ambassador for music” (Whoopie Goldberg). Awarded three Emmys and hailed by Variety as “a rare moment in the symbiosis of the arts and broadcasting”, Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts left their mark on television history. Aired at prime-time on CBS from 1958 to 1972, 52 one-hour programs were written and hosted by Leonard Bernstein, “certainly the most influential American maestro of the 20th century” (New York Times). With the New York Philharmonic and guest artists providing the live music, these programs brought musical concepts and music history to life for generations of viewers. Volume III includes 18 Episodes - the Concerts Nos. 29-43 plus Young Performers Nos. 7-9 (featuring Edo de Waart, Horacio Gutiérrez, Young Uck Kim)

At Salzburg Festival, Cecilia Bartoli shines as Ariodante with her dazzling coloratura in a highly acclaimed new production by the German director Christoph Loy, who is known for his clever psychological stagings. Loy turns Handel's splendid baroque opera into an exciting and differentiated reflection on gender roles. A high-class ensemble, first and foremost a brilliant Cecilia Bartoli in the trouser role of the knight Ariodante who effortlessly switches between cheerful and lamenting virtuoso singing makes the production a true triumph. At her side perform audience favorite Rolando Villazón as Lurcano and young American soprano Kathryn Lewek, praised by critics as a “true discovery“ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). Gianluca Capuano at the podium of the Musiciens du Prince – Monaco “provides for elegance, richness of color and a sensitive, stirring realization of the ingenious score.“ (Kurier). “Cecilia Bartoli is a league of her own!" (Der Standard). "The singing was sensational" (LA Times)

Known as a creator of astonishing images, stage director and visual artist Robert Wilson delivers a magnificent production of Mozart’s adaption of Handel’s Messias. Mozart was commissioned by Gottfried van Swieten to modernize the score fifty years after Handel’s popular composition (1742), mainly by arranging the wind parts and partially re-composing them. With Marc Minkowski a conductor has been engaged who understands perfectly how to combine baroque style with the tonal possibilities of an orchestra of the classical period like the Musiciens du Louvre. The excellent soloist quartet with Elena Tsallagova, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Richard Croft and José Coca Loza merges perfectly into Wilson’s enormous flood of images. “A complete artwork”, praises Opernglas; “stunningly beautiful” (BR Klassik); “A stellar moment for the music” (orf.at); “Timelessly beautiful” Süddeutsche Zeitung

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None other than Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz has been engaged for the stage direction of the new production of Fidelio from the Theater an der Wien. There, at one of the oldest opera houses in Vienna, L.v. Beethoven was what one would call today a composer-in-residence. And he was this in two respects: here he lived for two years in an apartment in the wing of the building. And it was here that he premiered many of his most famous orchestral works, symphonies and his only opera: Fidelio. In his third opera production Waltz brilliantly stages the second version of the opera in the breathtaking set designed by the German-American architectural practice Barkow Leibinger. The abstract staircase landscape in the form of a double helix, symbolizing prison, extends space into the back theatre and is infinitely changeable in the cinematic lighting concept of Hollywood regular Henry Braham. Manfred Honeck at the rostrum of the dynamic Wiener Symphoniker leads a superb and versatile cast of “vocally oustanding“ (Der Standard) singers: Nicole Chevalier bewitches vocally and dramatically on her stage debut as Leonore, Eric Cutler gives Florestan a powerful voice. Christof Fischesser, Gábor Bretz, Mélissa Petit complete the strong ensemble. But the production, which was sold out months before, never saw its stage premiere, as the Theater an der Wien sadly had to shut down due to the Covid 19 pandemic a few days before. Thanks to an incredible effort by all participants, the opera house was converted into a film studio at short notice so that Christoph Waltz’s “convincing production” (Die Zeit) of Beethoven‘s flaming musical plea for freedom and humanity could be preserved for posterity. “An ingenious, enigmatic direction” (Münchner Merkur)

Catalani’s masterpiece, first performed in 1892 at La Scala in Milan, is best known for its aria “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana”. With nuanced harmonies and colourful instrumentation, he pays great attention to the orchestra sound. He chose highly unusual material for his opera: the successful novel Die Geier-Wally by Wilhelmine von Hillern tells the story of a young woman who does not fit any of the gender clichés of the time. Unlike many earlier operatic heroines commanded to marry against their will, Wally does not look for a solution in society, but instead runs away to the mountains. Her husband must be her equal, someone unafraid to face both a bear and her father. “Izabela Matula - A Wagnerian hell of a woman with a great soprano.” (Kronenzeitung) / “Catalani’s highly dramatic music finds an intense advocate in Andrés Orozco-Estrada on the podium of the excellently disposed Wiener Symphoniker.” (Wiener Zeitung)

REVIEW

The career of the short-lived Catalani only really produced one opera of substance in the shape of his proto-verismo treatment of La Wally, based on a German play by Wilhelmine von Hillern...hailed by Toscanini as a work of genius[.] Competition with the slightly younger Puccini, no less than his early death, effectively condemned Catalani to near-eclipse outside his native Italy.

In the second Act, following the death of her father, Wally is able to let her real feelings show, only to find that she is treated as a figure of mockery not only by her supposed friends but also by the man she really loves, who only kisses her in order to win a bet with his mates. Her sudden transformation from suppressed romance to incandescent jealousy is superbly handled here, and the characterisation suddenly begins to assume a realism that one might have never expected from the more forthright interpretations featured on those old sound recordings. The working out of the jealousies over the next two Acts is sympathetically handled, until in the final scene the hero is overwhelmed and swept away by an avalanche (one of those operatic endings that will always assure La Wally a place in the more comic annals of theatrical history). The music here rises to real heights, with the extensive prelude to Act Four a magnificent evocation of the high peaks of the Alps and its cavernously wide-spaced woodwind octaves clearly providing a model for Prokofiev in the opening of his Alexander Nevsky over sixty years later.

As may be gathered from the foregoing, much of the responsibility for the impact of the opera lies with the singers; an insensitive performance can effectively reduce the music to simple ranting. And the cast here is very impressive indeed. In the title role Izabela Matula has the full Valkyrie metal for her big moments, but at the same time is able to fine down her voice to delicate half-tones which encompass much of the heroine’s more vulnerable emotions. Her singing of her big aria is steady as a rock, and she holds the audience in the palm of her hand to the extent that they do not ruin the transition into the closing scene of Act One by bursting in with unwanted applause. As her feckless lover (who cannot even be bothered to tell her that the woman of whom she is so jealous is actually his sister), Leonardo Capalbo looks every inch the charming playboy, and one can well believe both in his callous disregard for her feelings and then in his sudden realisation of love even when he is told that she planned to have him murdered. His singing is pretty special too, heartfelt and charming by turns.

Even better is Jacques Imbrailo as his rival, far from the cardboard villain that one finds in other performances, and singing in a manner that well suits his move into Italian repertory. He too finds plenty of dramatic meat in his part, and evokes pity as he degenerates into a shabby muddy wreck while still craving the affection that he understands he can never receive. Alastair Miles makes something sympathetic even of the blustering and bullying father, and Ilona Revolskaya is thoroughly believable as the scruffy boy who becomes the heroine’s only genuine friend. Sofia Vinnik makes much of little as Hagenbach’s misunderstood sister, and even Zoltán Nagy as the anonymous peasant creates a real character with sympathetic eyes staring out even through his alcoholic haze. The Arnold Schoenberg chorus assume their operatic roles with full-bodied and enthusiastic commitment, and they mix well and unobtrusively with the extras. And one must not overlook the contribution of Tiziano Mancini, who as always seems to appreciate when we need to see the singers in close-up and when it is best to draw back.

[The] direction of the singers themselves is superbly well handled by Barbora Horáková Joly, who gets the best results from her performers. The reputation of La Wally as a precursor of the later verismo style is well deserved, and the fact that the action here is updated to the present day disturbs me not one whit. Indeed the costumes serve to emphasise the very real nature of the characters in terms of modern psychology, and the singers are not afraid to get themselves believably grubby, dirty and blood-stained. Even the only slightly incongruous element, that of the stern father dictating precisely who his daughter shall marry, is unfortunately still with us today, although one might hope that the heroine’s reaction would be more rebellious nowadays.

I can earnestly recommend this video as – finally – a substitute for the Decca audio set that has perforce served us for half a century, and the best available performance of an opera that really does not deserve its almost total neglect outside Italy.

--MusicWeb International (Paul Corfield Godfrey)

 

Triumphantly premiered in 1724 at the King’s Theatre in London, George Frideric Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto masterfully combines human emotions: Triumph with sorrow, despair with happiness and love with profound melancholy in the face of the transience of all earthly life. Star director Keith Warner creates a production that imaginatively blends silent film and baroque opera, delightfully echoing Mankiewicz’s legendary Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton. An excellent cast of singers is led by two of the world’s leading countertenors: Bejun Mehta and Christophe Dumaux. Louise Alder shines as the seductive Cleopatra. Patricia Bardon, Simon Bailey and Jake Arditti are further highlights in this extraordinary group of singers, while Ivor Bolton provides the appropriate soundtrack on the podium of the Concentus Musicus Wien. “Many of the excellent singing actors present themselves in top form.” (Kurier) “A triumph! A must for baroque opera fans.” (Kronenzeitung) “A finely balanced mixture of poetry and comedy, of cinematic action and touching contemplation.” (Der Standard)

In its 100th anniversary edition, the Salzburg Festival celebrates a real triumph with a mind-blowing new production of Elektra, one of the most famous masterpieces of opera history by the two festival founders Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The Lithuanian soprano Ausrine Stundyte as vengeful and traumatized Elektra turns the opening of the Festival into a real knockout performance! Her sister Chrysotemis is sung by her compatriot Asmik Grigorian, who made her international breakthrough as acclaimed Salome at the 2018 Salzburg Festival, and whose performance once again draws the audience into spell. Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as Klytämnestra, Derek Welton as Orest and Michael Laurenz as Ägisth complete an ensemble of top-notch singers. The staging by Krzysztof Warlikowski of this work about matricide, obsession, revenge and physical degradation is a deep psychological study of a broken family. Franz Welser-Möst brings his trademark flair to the pit where the brilliantly effervescent and then again heartrendingly gentle playing Wiener Philharmoniker create gloriously exultant Strauss moments. “To have chosen Elektra of all pieces, was audacious – and to have brought it off so well, triumphant” (The Times) “One Highlight of the centenary season.” (The Telegraph)

John Cranko’s The Taming of the Shrew is one of the greatest ballet comedies of the 20th century. Inspired by William Shakespeare’s world-famous play, Cranko brings to vivid life the story of the shrewish Katherina whom no one wants to marry and the dashing and clever Petruchio who makes her his wife and “tames” her. Set to cheerful and boisterous music by Kurt-Heinz Stolze after Domenico Scarlatti, and with colorful costumes and a charming set by Elisabeth Dalton, The Taming of the Shrew evokes the sunlit streets and gardens of Italy. The perfect ballet for the whole family, danced by the Stuttgart Ballet – “this company is world class” (Tanznetz).

Few musicians in the world are as intimately familiar with Beethoven’s piano sonatas as Daniel Barenboim, who has been exploring these works since the earliest days of his career - a musical novel in 32 chapters and an artistic cosmos in itself. Barenboim recorded the full cycle of Beethoven sonatas in the Pierre Boulez Saal in 2020 and presents these works in chronological order of their creation - providing an exciting look at the composer’s artistic development. With this sonata cycle, Barenboim has set himself a legacy!

The box includes 234 minutes of bonus material: a 42-minute interview with Barenboim on Beethoven and 3 masterclasses with him as well, working with students of the Barenboim-Said Academy. This section of the program features Alexandre Kantorow (winner of the 1st price and gold medal at the Tschaikowsky Competition, working on Sonata No. 2), Nathalia Milstein on Sonata No. 15 “Pastoral” and Fabian Müller on Sonata No. 23 “Appassionata”). “No matter how many times you play them there are always fresh, personal perspectives waiting to be discovered.” (Daniel Barenboim)

Since the death of Herbert von Karajan in 1989, the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s concerts around Ascension Day (15 August) have firmly been in the hands of Riccardo Muti. Always sold out, they are among the highlights of every festival summer. For this year’s concert and on occasion of his 80th birthday, the maestro was acclaimed for his interpretation of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, a piece he has never conducted before. “Muti is a master in conveying extremes: monumentality, where it is compositionally intended, and highest internalization alternate with each other in a dense interplay.” (FAZ) “Muti mastered the work and presented it as stringently as perhaps no one else can do it today.” (Die Presse)

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Acclaimed by critics as an evening of superlative, Martha Argerich – arguably the greatest living pianist – joins Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra for an unforgettable interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. Argerich’s playing is full of astonishing virtuosity and uncompromising, alternating with breakneck passages and tender tones: “Martha Argerich is and remains unique” (Die Presse). In addition to Tchaikovsky’s brilliant piece, Schubert’s Symphony “Unfinished” is played, a work that has never been performed during the composer’s lifetime. “Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra provide an exceptional atmosphere in the Festspielhaus.” (Salzburger Nachrichten)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau hailed “Platée” as “the best musical play ever to be heard in our theatres.” In Robert Carsen’s production, the mythological events take place in the world of Parisian haute couture and Jupiter is portrayed as the fashion god Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019) – who has now really been transferred up to Olympus. This ingeniously apt transposition of this satirical opera into the modern day has long been a hit! The renowned specialist in baroque music, William Christie, conducts his Les Arts Florissants, the Arnold Schoenberg Chor and a fantastic cast. “A candy-colored baroque dream” Salzburger Nachrichten // “A must-see - and not only for fashion freaks!” (Bühne)

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55 years after its premiere, the Stuttgart Ballet revisits John Cranko’s legendary “Romeo and Juliet” – the very choreography which laid the foundations for the “Stuttgart Ballet Miracle”, the company’s meteoric rise to fame. Vividly etched characters, breathtaking pas de deux, dashing sword fights, colorful ensemble scenes, magnificent sets and costumes evoking the sunlit streets of Verona – all this is Cranko’s “Romeo and Juliet”. John Cranko, who led the Stuttgart Ballet from 1961 until his death in 1973, created the choreography of “Romeo and Juliet” especially for his ensemble. Set to Sergei Prokofiev’s lush score, Cranko’s ballet is one of the definitive versions of the Shakespearean love tale being performed around the globe today. This production is marked by yet another anniversary: Marcia Haydee, Cranko’s muse and prima ballerina, was the very first, highly acclaimed Juliet. Haydee, who followed Cranko as artistic director of the Stuttgart Ballet, participates in this performance as Julia’s nurse, celebrating her 80th birthday on stage. She is joined by two other stars of the ensemble, Haydee’s former dance partner Egon Madsen as Friar Lawrence and Artistic Director Reid Anderson as Lord Capulet. As danced by the Stuttgart Ballet – one of the world’s leading ballet companies – this performance is “a revelation” (Daily Express).

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REVIEW:

Several choreographers have had a go at it, but this 1961 version, by John Cranko, is by some way the finest of all I have seen. It is not surprising that it remained his signature work and has remained in the repertory of the Stuttgart company, for whom he wrote it, ever since he created it. This is a recent performance, with excellent sound and picture quality. All the dancers act as well as dance, and every one has an individual character. The set and costumes bring Renaissance Verona to life, the orchestral playing is very good and the whole performance is a delight.

– MusicWeb International

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Operetta enthusiast Barrie Kosky has landed a gigantic success with Offenbach’s subversive and hilarious reversion of the Orpheus myth at the Salzburg Festival. Kosky created a magically precise and witty staging with numerous extravagant costumes in a glittering opulent scenery and a literally devilish choreography. For the dialogues he has found an impressively ingenious solution as they are not spoken by the singers. Rather they are performed by the brilliant German actor Max Hopp as John Styx “who performs a true vocal miracle” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) in a slapstick-like manner. The superb cast impresses with virtuoso singing as well as ravishingly comedic acting, first and foremost the American coloratura soprano Kathryn Lewek as Eurydice “with crystal clear coloraturas and sovereign top tones” (Salzburger Nachrichten), the Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter as severe L’Opinion publique or the Austrian bass baritone Martin Winkler as foolish father of the gods Jupiter. Under the Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola’s precise conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker provide an exquisite “sparkling orchestral sound” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). “A frantic and fabulous show” (New York Times)

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“He was out to create something ‘unheard-of’,” observed conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt beforehand. And true to form: What the conductor had offer as he commenced his Mozart/Da Ponte cycle in the Theater an der Wien was something we “had never before heard like this” (Kurier). Nikolaus Harnoncourt, “master” of period performance practice, realized a project that had long been one of his dearest wishes: for the first time, he and his “original-sound orchestra” Concentus Musicus and his personal choice of singers were presenting the complete Mozart/Da Ponte cycle and harvesting the fruits of his Mozart research – an “enthusiastically acclaimed cycle!” (news.at). During an intensive phase of rehearsal and preparation, he was in search of a Mozart hermeneutic resting on historical sources and yet anchored in our own time, in order to stage the whole Da Ponte “trilogy” – Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte – in a matter of a mere six weeks. “The culmination of Harnoncourt’s involvement with [Mozart’s Da Ponte operas] – “A Mozart drawn from historical sources and yet anchored in our own time.” (Die Presse)

At Theater an der Wien Stanislaw Moniuszko’s Polish national opera Halka is performed by a superb cast including Corinne Winters (“devotedly”) , Piotr Beczala (“vocally outstanding”) and Tomasz Konieczny (“his acting is piercing”) (Der Standard). With libretto by young Polish poet Wlodzimierz Wolski, the opera is widely considered to be one of Moniuszko’s greatest operas, and in fact was described by noted musicologist Carl Dalhaus as “The Polish national opera.” The Polish leading team, above all stage director Mariusz Trelinski, puts the plot into a supercooled crime aesthetic. The ORF Radio Symphonie-Orchester Wien under the baton of Lukasz Borowicz plays with perceptible delight. “A gripping opera evening” (Wiener Zeitung).

REVIEW:

Luxury casting here outrivals previously recorded versions. With her bright, sumptuous soprano, Winters makes a powerful Halka, less obvious victim, more troubled woman struggling at the bottom of the social heap. Her acting skills are on full display as she takes us on one woman’s harrowing journey. Konieczny’s gritty baritone is perfect for Janusz, a love rat, but a guilty one from the start where he finds himself haunted by a vision of Halka’s bloated corpse. Jontek is usually played as a bit of a sympathetic best friend but here Beczala creates a far more interesting and conflicted character seething with thwarted passion and class resentment. His glorious tenor with ringing top notes is perfectly suited to what is some of the opera’s finest music, including the hit aria The Fir Trees Sigh on Mountain Peaks.

Moniusko specialist Łukasz Borowicz paces it all splendidly with fine playing by the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester and sturdy singing from the Arnold Schoenberg Chor. Tiziano Mancini’s video edit helps with both mood and dramatic pace making this good-looking video as fine a way as any to become acquainted with Poland’s national opera. 

-- Limelight

While love is breaking into the lives of two young people, an artificial being will challenge what they believed they knew about it…

Revisiting this classic of the Romantic repertoire, Jean-Christophe Maillot gives us, with an original musical score, a reflection on the search for the ideal partner in a technologically advanced society. Is it still the flesh and blood being with which we are familiar or a different being, making us question our allegiance to the human race?

Le nozze di Figaro is Lorenzo Da Ponte's and Mozart's first of their three jointly created operas about attempts at interpersonal relationships: a turbulent comedy with erotic entanglements, which was not a harmless comedy even in Mozart's day. Director Martin Kusej moves the drama of love and jealousy to a mafia-like urban milieu where conflicts are fought out with pistols. Young French conductor Raphael Pichon, "original sound expert" (Der Tagesspiegel) and for the first time on the podium of the Wiener Philharmoniker, leads a young ensemble of singers around clan boss Almaviva ("vocally flawlessly brilliant: Andre Schuen", Hamburger Abendblatt). "Kusej's staging is musical, Pichon's conducting theatrical; the two work together to a degree that is far more rare than it should be. Every detail has been carefully thought through, and the symbiosis is breathtaking." (Financial Times) "Martin Kusej's new Figaro is slick, dark and grimly entertaining." (Financial Times) "One will rarely, if ever, hear 'Le nozze di Figaro' so well balanced on stage, with such a homogeneous ensemble of such class, with such a precise Mozart sound." (Frankfurter Rundschau)

With his MacBeth, Giuseppe Verdi broke with the operatic conventions of the time and created one of his darkest and most abysmal works. Directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski, the timeless drama unfolds in a new interpretation that takes the audience on an intense journey into human abysses. An opera of this kind demands not only outstanding voices but also outstanding actors. "Vladislav Sulimsky is forceful and brutish in the title role, at times truly frightening, always utterly assured." (Financial Times) Asmik Grigorian is giving her debut as Lady MacBeth and performs "with an urgency of expression that needs no further explanation." (Salzburger Nachrichten) "Her singing becomes a victory over expressive resistance." (Frankfurter Allgemeine) "Philippe Jordan celebrated a triumph on the podium of the Wiener Philharmoniker" (Kurier), his "MacBeth crackles with power and electricity, propelled by it's own velocity. The orchestra attacks the score with relish." (Financial Times) "Thrills, spills and impressive vocal stunts" (Financial Times) "Her singing becomes a victory over expressive resistance." (Frankfurter Allgemeine) "A triumph for 'Lady MacBeth' Asmik Grigorian." (Kronen Zeitung)

Three legendary performances from the Stuttgart Ballet in the choreography of John Cranko: Onegin, Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew. Including bonus conversations on each ballet and three documentaries on the Stuttgart Ballet and its outstanding dancers Marcia Haydée and Friedemann Vogel. The 3 documentaries are for the first time available on DVD and Blu-ray! (Unitel)

Janáček’s opera Káta Kabanová is set in a small Russian town and is based on the play The Storm by Aleksandr Ostrovsky. The story revolves around the central character, Káťa – sung by “the phenomenal Corinne Winters” (Neue Musikzeitung) – who is trapped in a loveless marriage to an abusive man named Boris. Despite her unhappiness, she is bound by the strict societal norms of her time and is unable to escape the situation. However, when she meets and falls in love with a young man named Vána Kudrjáš, she finally experiences happiness and passion. But their relationship is short-lived, as Boris finds out and forces Káta to confess her infidelity in front of the entire town.

Overwhelmed by the shame and guilt, she drowns herself in the nearby river. The opera explores themes of social conformity, oppression, and the consequences of forbidden love. Janáček’s use of musical leitmotifs and repetitive themes reflect the characters’ emotions and psychological states, adding depth and nuance to the story. Stage director Barrie Kosky managed to create an intimate but impressive setting in the magnificent Felsenreitschule. “Jittery and balletic, ecstatic and anxious, Winters has a child’s volatile presence, and her livewire voice conveys Kát'a’s wonder and vulnerability.” (The New York Times) “Corinne Winters is “Kát'a Kabanova”: a great, luminous longing from head to toe. With director Barrie Kosky and conductor Jakub Hruša, she makes the opera in Salzburg a triumph.” (Der Tagesspiegel)

Evgeny Kissin appeared in Salzburg in 2021 with compositions of the late Romantic and classical modern periods in the Großes Festspielhaus. Since his debut in 1987, the pianist has been a welcome guest at this festival, impressing with the maturity and brilliance of his playing. Kissin loves the dialogue with the audience and the direct power of the concert moment. PROGRAM Chopin: Scherzo Nos 1 & 2, Polonaise in A flat major, Op. 53 “Héroïque”, Nocturne in B major, Op. 62/1, Impromptu Nos 1-3; Berg: Piano Sonata, Op. 1; Khrennikov: Three pieces for piano, Op. 5: No. 3 Dance, Five pieces for piano, Op. 2; Gershwin: Three Preludes for Piano; Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Songs Without Words, Op. 38: No. 6 Duetto

When Brahms composed his "German Requiem", he thought little of the salvation of the deceased. With his music, Brahms wanted to give comfort to the bereaved, so he decided against the usual Latin text of the Roman Catholic Church and chose German texts from Luther's Bible instead. Nevertheless, or precisely because of this, the work thrilled the audience and made it a triumphant success for Brahms. In this performance Christian Thielemann, doubtless one of the leading conductors for the romantic symphonic music, at the podium of the Wiener Philharmoniker, together with the Wiener Singverein, the choir that first performed the first three movements of the Requiem in December 1867, and a duo of outstanding singers, "conjures unforgettable moments" (BR Klassik). Soloists of the evening were French-Danish soprano Elsa Dreisig ("delicate", Der Standard) and German baritone Michael Volle. Thielemann's "differentiated conception finds a harmonious balance between intimacy and archaic moments and transports Brahms's core message of consolation to the audience's delight in an immediate way." (Salzburger Nachrichten) "A musical highlight" (Kurier) "Beautiful to cry" (BR Klassik)