Haydn’s Nelson Mass arrives in Cardiff under full sail

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Rebel, Purcell, Haydn: Anna Dennis (soprano), Hilary Summers (contralto), Rupert Charlesworth (tenor), Edward Hawkins (bass), BBC National Chorus and Orchestra of Wales / Christian Curnyn (conductor). Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff, 6.4.2023. (PCG)

Nelson Mass in Cardiff’s Hoddinott Hall © BBC NOW

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Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden in 2023-24

Highlights in the 2023/24 Season at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden

  • A world premiere and four additional premieres in the main hall (see PREMIERES section).
  • LINDEN 21 format with two world premieres and one revival (see section LINDEN 21).
  • BAROCKTAGE (17 to 26 November 2023), with no less than three different works revolving around the subject of »Medea« In addition to the premiere of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s late 17th-century French tragédie en musique MÉDÉE (music director: Simon Rattle, stage director: Peter Sellars, stage design: Frank O. Gehry), there will be a reencounter with Luigi Cherubini’s MEDEA directed by Andrea Breth (performed for the first time by an »early music« ensemble), as well as a melodrama by Mozart contemporary Georg Anton Benda. Accompanying Mozart’s MITRIDATE, RE DI PONTO as well as numerous concerts can be experienced.
  • The FESTTAGE (18 March to 1 April 2024) with the revival of Wagner’s RING tetralogy directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov, conducted for the first time by Philippe Jordan at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, complemented by concerts with the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Opera Children’s Orchestra.
  • 28 opera revivals – including Peter Eötvösʼs SLEEPLESS and Beat Furrer’s VIOLETTER SCHNEE, which together with the premiere of Marc-André Dalbavie’s MELANCHOLIE DES WIDERSTANDS form a »trilogy of world premieres« of recent years.
  • In addition, there will be around 100 concerts in Berlin, including 16 symphony concerts (with eight programs) and other special concerts by the Staatskapelle Berlin. Furthermore, a Canada and USA tour of the Staatskapelle Berlin under the baton of Daniel Barenboim (25 November to 6 December 2023) will take the orchestra to five major music centres.
  • The concert program for the 2023/24 season will focus on the composer Antonín Dvořák in both the symphony and chamber concerts. But several works by Anton Bruckner, whose 200th birthday will be celebrated in 2024, are also represented in the Staatskapelle’s symphony concerts, as are Gustav Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 1, 5 and 7. Works by the South Korean composer Unsuk Chin, who lives in Berlin, will be heard in two subscription concerts, as will the two violin concertos by Béla Bartók.
  • In total, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden will present more than 320 events in 2023/24, STAATSOPER FÜR ALLE in July 2024 with an open-air concert by the Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Christian Thielemann, as well as numerous projects by the Junge Staatsoper, including performances by the Opera Children’s Orchestra and the Children’s Opera House Unter den Linden.
  • We also devote special attention to the topic of sustainability with a special concert project by the Orchester des Wandels (Orchestra of Change) of the Staatskapelle Berlin at Kraftwerk Mitte and the SUSTAINABLE LISTENING series.
  • Conductors who can be experienced for the first time at the Staatsoper and with the Staatskapelle Berlin: Elim Chan, Pierre Dumoussand, Iván Fischer, Marie Jacquot, Nicola Luisotti, Joana Mallwitz, Rafael Payare, Giedré Šlekytė (debut concert), Robin Ticciati, Jaap van Zweden.
  • Directed new productions: Calixto Bieito, Silvia Costa (house debut), Claus Guth, Julia Lwowski (house debut), David Marton (house debut), Kornél Mundruczó, Peter Sellars (house debut).
  • Dani Juris will be the new chorus director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden from the 2023/24 season.
  • The new season will kick off with an opening celebration on 9 September 2023.

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Jérémie Rhorer fails to penetrate to the heart of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis

GermanyGermany Berlin Festtage [3] – Beethoven: Camilla Nylund (soprano), Anna Kissjudit (mezzo-soprano), Saimir Pirgu (tenor), René Pape (bass), Staatsopern Chor Berlin (chorus director: Martin Wright), Staatskapelle Berlin / Jérémie Rhorer (conductor). Philharmonie, Berlin, 7.4.2023. (MB)

Jérémie Rhorer conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin © Peter Adamik

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The orchestral virtuosity in Melbourne Opera’s Götterdämmerung is a lasting memory of their Ring

AustraliaAustralia Wagner, Götterdämmerung: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Melbourne Opera / Anthony Negus (conductor). Livestreamed on Australian Digital Concert Hall from the Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo, 2.4.2023. (JPr)

Bradley Daley (Siegfried), Steven Gallop (Hagen) and Christopher Hillier (Gunther) © Robin Halls

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