Concert highlights from Verdi’s opera Don Carlo ends the season’s hiatus for visitors to the Semperoper: With stars Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov – the interim programme Aufklang! will present special formats until the scheduled summer break
The Semperoper Dresden welcomes back its audiences on 19 June 2020 with – as always – a glittering array of artists. For four consecutive evenings, global opera star Anna Netrebko will appear together with the internationally acclaimed Yusif Eyvazov as well as the equally celebrated and locally beloved artists Elena Maximova, Mariya Taniguchi, Alexandros Stavrakakis, Sebastian Wartig and Tilmann Rönnebeck in a concert reduction of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Don Carlo. This performance of selected arias and ensemble numbers will be accompanied by a chamber orchestra featuring violin, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, cor anglais, harmonium and piano. The musicians of the Staatskapelle Dresden will be conducted by Johannes Wulff-Woesten.
This opening event in the Aufklang! series at the Semperoper is a nod to the Dresden premiere of Don Carlo, rescheduled for the 2020/21 season, in which Anna Netrebko was to have made her role debut as Elisabetta last May. Despite the postponement of the premiere, the Russian-Austrian opera diva is returning to Dresden this season following her 2016 debut. Anna Netrebko will bring her unique charisma to this musical event with which the Semperoper opens its doors after a three-month closure due to Corona.
The eagerly awaited performances mark the beginning of a series of diverse events under the motto Aufklang!, each lasting about 90 minutes, with which the Semperoper is resuming public performances while obeying the current hygiene regulations and with limited seating capacity. The title of the series alludes to the traditional Auftakt! kickoff event, a potpourri of musical excerpts from its upcoming programme with which the Semperoper Dresden welcomes back its guests every year after the summer break.
The complete Aufklang! programme features two evenings of songs and arias performed in concert by Semperoper soloists under the titles Passion and Favourite Songs on the weekend of 4/5 July 2020, an extraordinary orchestral evening recital on 27/28 June 2020 as well as a non-subscription Beethoven concert presented by the Staatskapelle under Principal Conductor Christian Thielemann on 11 July 2020.
Further details of Staatskapelle events can be found if you click here.
All events are being run in accordance with the hygiene concept approved by Dresden’s public health authority. Only a limited number of tickets are available due to the reduced seating capacity. Ticket sales begin at 10 am on Tuesday, 16 June 2020; all purchases must be made online. More information on the events, the safety measures in place when visiting the Semperoper and price categories can also be found on our website.
Aufklang! Don Carlo – Highlights from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera in concert performance at 8 pm on Friday, 19 June 2020, in the Semperoper. Further performances on 20, 21 & 22 June 2020 (all concerts begin at 7 pm). With Anna Nebtrebko, Elena Maximova, Mariya Taniguchi, Yusif Eyvazov, Tilmann Rönnebeck, Alexandros Stavrakakis, Sebastian Wartig and members of the State Opera Chorus. The chamber orchestra, conducted from the keyboard by Johannes Wulff-Woesten, will feature Staatskapelle musicians Robert Lis (violin), Simon Kalbhenn (cello), Andreas Wylezol (double bass), Andreas Kißling (flute), Sebastian Römisch (oboe), Volker Hanemann (cor anglais) and Jobst Schneiderat (harmonium).
Aufklang! Extraordinary orchestral evening recital – William Brade: English Consort Music (arr. Ken Bell), Wolf: Italian Serenade, Mendelssohn: Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in D Minor and Haydn: Symphony No. 64 in A Major, Hob I:64 at 7 pm on Saturday & Sunday, 27/28 June 2020, in the Semperoper with members of the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Matthias Wollong (violin).
Aufklang! Passion – Songs and arias performed by Semperoper soloists at 7 pm on Saturday, 4 July 2020, in the Semperoper with Katerina von Bennigsen, Michal Doron, Ute Selbig, Jürgen Müller, Aaron Pegram and Tilmann Rönnebeck, conductor and piano: Alexander Bülow and Hans Sotin.
Aufklang! Favourite pieces – Songs and arias performed by Semperoper soloists at 7 pm on Sunday, 5 July 2020, in the Semperoper with Hrachuhi Bassénz, Roxana Incontrera, Christa Mayer, Joseph Dennis, Markus Marquardt and Alexandros Stavrakakis, conductor and piano: Clemens Posselt and Sebastian Ludwig.
Aufklang! Beethoven non-subscription concert – Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21, and Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 at 8 pm on Saturday, 11 July 2020, in the Semperoper with members of the Staatskapelle Dresden under the baton of Christian Thielemann.