Austria Vienna State Opera’s ‘Opern-Air’ 2026: Soloists, Ensemble, Opera School choir, Chorus (chorus master: Thomas Lang) and Orchestra of Vienna State Opera / Marco Armiliato (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Dominik Kepczynski) from Vienna’s Burggarten, 6.9.2026 and available on ARTE.tv from 27.9.2026. (JPr)
As the Vienna State Opera website (here) floridly explains ‘10,000 happy, cheering people in the Burggarten, with thousands more gathered in front of the big screen on Vienna’s Rathausplatz and in front of their TV screens. This year’s second “Opern-Air” concert by the Vienna State Opera on 6 September, gave Vienna, the city of music, its first unforgettable highlight of the new season that had just begun!
Amid the picturesque backdrop of the Hofburg, the Palm House, the starry sky, and the lush greenery of the late-summer park, an enthusiastic, diverse audience followed all the passionately and unforgettably performed, electrifying gems from the opera repertoire, which, in a sense, served as an unofficial season opener and left the audience wanting more. Is it any wonder? After all, the star-studded lineup — featuring Asmik Grigorian, two Kammersänger Piotr Beczała and Juan Diego Flórez, as well as Ludovic Tézier — together with ensemble members of the house, the chorus and orchestra, as well as the children’s choir, gave a spectacular preview of planned new productions and revivals for the next ten months.’
As last year – and familiar from the Vienna Philharmonic’s Summer Night Concerts at Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace – the concert took place on a canopied stage that was atmospherically lit for each of the items on the programme. Guests were seated in front of it with the many thousands able to attend free sitting – with many of them picnicking – on the grass of the Burggarten, famous for its Mozart statue. Journalist and TV presenter Barbara Rett – who introduced the concert on the night with Vienna State Opera’s General Director Dr Bogdan Roščić – said at one point something about how had Kaiser Franz II imagined how the Burggarten might be used in the future he would have made it bigger.
Rett and Roščić compered the proceedings by complimenting the artists we heard performing whilst celebrating the current achievements of the Vienna State Opera; sometimes looking back – with the help of prerecorded film clips of notable Austrians discussing their memorable moments – as well as thinking ahead to its new season. (This will be edited out of the imminent rebroadcast.) Naturally this concert was also an opportunity to broaden the appeal of the venerable Viennese institution by performing – whether thorough live TV or online streaming – to some who may never have set foot in the opera house or even might need to be introduced to opera anyway. For me, the Vienna State Opera has always been quite democratic. I saw many operas in my formative years from the Parterre Stehplatz (standing room) centrally at the rear of stalls behind the great(er) and good(er) in their finery sitting in front of us there or in boxes to either side.
My overall impression was that we had a great conductor Marco Armiliato, an exceptional chorus as well as one of the world’s finest opera orchestras (made up of members of the Vienna Philharmonic of course) and four of the greatest singers of this generation; with possibly one of the best tenors (Piotr Beczała) and sopranos (Asmik Grigorian) there has ever been. Most of the singers were dressed formally and Grigorian began in a severe black dress before reappearing in an embroidered scarlet jacket and with a fascinator on her head.
The only criticism I could level at this otherwise splendid occasion was the arias were often unremittingly downbeat. Asmik Grigorian often beamed delightfully after she sang her arias often with a furrowed brow. On show were Grigorian’s trademark exquisitely shape musical phrases, delicate pianissimos or forte top notes; and notably the compelling dramatic intensity and emotional truth she brings to all she sings. Carmen’s Habanera accompanied by the (too) large and loud chorus perhaps wasn’t as relaxed as she might have wished it, but Lisa’s Aria (The Queen of Spades) was suitably emotional as her character reveals her inner turmoil and fears her fate; much like in Manon Lescaut’s ‘Sola, perduta, abbandonata’ we heard later. Grigorian will soon appear in Vienna in a new joint production of Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy and Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle.
In this concert Piotr Beczała sang an aria and duet by Puccini and other arias by Giordano and Wagner. This was an impressive breadth of composers for any singer and Beczała continues to add new roles and makes his debut as Parsifal in Vienna next April before singing it soon thereafter at The Met. He will then be 60 but Beczała goes a long way to show age is just a number because he is a relaxed, open-faced, communicative singer in whatever he is singing whether it is Giordano’s stirring ‘Un dì all’azzurro spazio’ (Andrea Chénier) or Wagner’s revelatory and otherworldly Lohengrin Narration (‘In fernem Land’). Both of these benefited from Beczała’s clear diction, refined phrasing and luminous singing. And that there is an old-fashioned quality to his singing could be heard in his resplendent – and Pavarotti-like – concluding ‘Nessun dorma’.
Both Beczała and Grigorian were at their very best in the passionate Act I duet from Madama Butterfly (‘Vogliatemi bene’) as the doomed heroine succumbs to Pinkerton’s desires. I cannot remember hearing this better sung.
Ludovic Tézier’s authoritative, noble and cultured baritone sang heartfelt and intense arias from Un ballo in machera and Macbeth; while Juan Diego Flórez’s solo contributions were the vengeance aria from I Capuleti e i Montecchi and his signature rousing, celebratory ‘Ah! Mes amis’ from La fille du régiment with its 9 high Cs which was more a triumph of technique and muscle memory than anything else as Flórez he was clearly not at ease. Together Flórez and Tézier sang a resplendent account of the very familiar friendship duet from The Pearl Fishers.
The orchestra had its moment in the spotlight with the galloping William Tell Overture which cannot fail, while the chorus’s first one was ‘Wach auf’ from Wagner’s The Mastersingers of Nuremburg. However, in the opera they are triumphantly hailing Hans Sachs whilst here the men and women looked rather too stern. Later with boys and girls from the Opera School they sang the spiritually redemptive ‘Dans le ciel’ (La Damnation de Faust) with the ethereal repeated interjections of ‘Margarita!’ from boy treble Dominik Baumgartner. Talented members of the Vienna State Opera ensemble (along with Ludovic Tézier) excelled in exhilarating moments from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and – with Juan Diego Flórez too – ‘Tutto nel mondo è burla’ from Verdi’s Falstaff which closed the concert.
The genial, supportive and unflagging conductor was the always-reliable Marco Armiliato who the night before it was revealed had only finished conducting Adriana Lecouvreur at 10.30pm!
Jim Pritchard
Featured Image: Vienna State Opera’s ‘Opern-Air’ 2026 © Marcel Urlaub
Programme:
Rossini – Overture (Guillaume Tell)
Wagner – ‘Wach auf, es nahet gen den Tag’ (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) – Chorus of Vienna State Orchestra
Bizet – Habanera (Carmen) – Asmik Grigorian and chorus
Giordano – ‘Un dì all’azzurro spazio’ (Andrea Chénier) – Piotr Beczała
Verdi – ‘Alzati … Eri tu che macchiavi quell’anima’ (Un ballo in maschera) – Ludovic Tézier
Bellini – ‘È serbata, a questo acciaro’ (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) – Juan Diego Flórez
Puccini – ‘Vogliatemi bene’ (Madama Butterfly) – Asmik Grigorian / Piotr Beczała
Bizet – ‘Au fond du temple saint (Les pêcheurs de perles) – Juan Diego Flórez / Ludovic Tézier
Wagner – ‘In fernem Land’ (Lohengrin) – Piotr Beczała
Verdi – ‘Pietà, rispetto, amore’ (Macbeth) – Ludovic Tézier
Tchaikovsky – Lisa’s Aria (Pique Dame) – Asmik Grigorian
Mozart – ‘Contessa, perdono!’ (Le nozze di Figaro) – members of the Vienna State Opera ensemble with Ludovic Tézier
Donizetti – ‘Ah! Mes amis’ (La fille du régiment) – Juan Diego Flórez and chorus
Puccini – ‘Sola, perduta, abbandonata’ (Manon Lescaut) – Asmik Grigorian
Berlioz – ‘Dans le ciel’ (La Damnation de Faust) – chorus and members of Vienna State Opera’s Opera School
Puccini – ‘Nessun dorma’ (Turandot) – Piotr Beczała and chorus
Verdi – ‘Tutto nel mondo è burla’ (Falstaff) – members of the Vienna State Opera ensemble with Ludovic Tézier and Juan Diego Flórez