Concerts with works by

Giuseppe Verdi

Falstaff

Sir John Falstaff is an anarchist who obeys only the reign of his own enjoyment, an egoist who feeds only his power-hunger and his own flesh, and who would prefer to raze the small-minded morals of his contemporaries like the walls of a fortress – by seducing two women at the same time. Needless to say, his plan is thwarted, but those trying to expose him also fail to emerge unruffled from the confusion they unleash around him – which only the audience can keep track of, barely. “Tutto nel mondo è burla,” but these jokes are only funny because falling into the abyss actually does pose quite a serious risk. Arrigo Boito, the librettist of “Otello”, distilled a sophisticated, ingenious libretto from Shakespeare’s original, driving Verdi to highly complex compositional heights. Director: Calixto Bieito Set Designer: Susanne Gschwender Costume Designer: Anja Rabes Dramaturgy: Bettina Auer Lighting Designer: Michael Bauer Premiere: January 19th 2020

Il trovatore

For Leonora, the song of the troubadour Manrico holds the promise and glow of love; Manrico's rival Count Luna perceives in it threat and danger. Verdi's opera is a celebration of Italian opera singing at its best - so it is no coincidence that the title character is a singer himself. And yet for the composer, Azucena, Manrico's mother, was the real protagonist. Il trovatore is rich in dramatic intricacies and intense emotions, which Verdi abruptly juxtaposes in images and scenes. Tragedy relentlessly unfolds before our eyes and ears until the truth is revealed in the opera's final seconds. Stage: Alex Eales Costumes: Herbert Murauer Lighting: James Farncombe Video: Philipp Contag-Lada Dramaturgy: Ralf Waldschmidt Chorus: Christian Günther

Falstaff

Sir John Falstaff is an anarchist who obeys only the reign of his own enjoyment, an egoist who feeds only his power-hunger and his own flesh, and who would prefer to raze the small-minded morals of his contemporaries like the walls of a fortress – by seducing two women at the same time. Needless to say, his plan is thwarted, but those trying to expose him also fail to emerge unruffled from the confusion they unleash around him – which only the audience can keep track of, barely. “Tutto nel mondo è burla,” but these jokes are only funny because falling into the abyss actually does pose quite a serious risk. Arrigo Boito, the librettist of “Otello”, distilled a sophisticated, ingenious libretto from Shakespeare’s original, driving Verdi to highly complex compositional heights. Director: Calixto Bieito Set Designer: Susanne Gschwender Costume Designer: Anja Rabes Dramaturgy: Bettina Auer Lighting Designer: Michael Bauer Premiere: January 19th 2020

La Traviata

Violetta is the most sought-after courtesan of the Parisian demimonde. However, her encounter with Alfredo makes her pleasure-seeking life seem questionable: they fall in love and try to build a life for themselves, far from the fast pleasures of the city. Her past, however, catches up with Violetta. Alfredo’s father persuades her that a separation is the only way to restore his family honour. Alfredo, unaware of the true reasons for her decision, insults Violetta in public. When they are finally reunited, Violetta has run out of time. Giuseppe Verdi was on the lookout for such a provocative, innovative tale when he encountered the novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas the Younger. In the spring of 1852 he saw the “Lady of the Camellias” as a play adapted by the writer himself at the Vaudeville Theatre in Paris. The impression this made on him strengthened his resolve to use the tale for his next opera; the story gave him an opportunity to reformulate his grand theme: love defeated by the resistance of society. Director: Johannes Erath Stage Designer: Annette Kurz Costume Designer: Herbert Murauer Lighting Designer: Olaf Freese Dramaturgy: Francis Hüsers Premiere: 17.02.2013

Il trovatore

For Leonora, the song of the troubadour Manrico holds the promise and glow of love; Manrico's rival Count Luna perceives in it threat and danger. Verdi's opera is a celebration of Italian opera singing at its best - so it is no coincidence that the title character is a singer himself. And yet for the composer, Azucena, Manrico's mother, was the real protagonist. Il trovatore is rich in dramatic intricacies and intense emotions, which Verdi abruptly juxtaposes in images and scenes. Tragedy relentlessly unfolds before our eyes and ears until the truth is revealed in the opera's final seconds. Stage: Alex Eales Costumes: Herbert Murauer Lighting: James Farncombe Video: Philipp Contag-Lada Dramaturgy: Ralf Waldschmidt Chorus: Christian Günther

Falstaff

Sir John Falstaff is an anarchist who obeys only the reign of his own enjoyment, an egoist who feeds only his power-hunger and his own flesh, and who would prefer to raze the small-minded morals of his contemporaries like the walls of a fortress – by seducing two women at the same time. Needless to say, his plan is thwarted, but those trying to expose him also fail to emerge unruffled from the confusion they unleash around him – which only the audience can keep track of, barely. “Tutto nel mondo è burla,” but these jokes are only funny because falling into the abyss actually does pose quite a serious risk. Arrigo Boito, the librettist of “Otello”, distilled a sophisticated, ingenious libretto from Shakespeare’s original, driving Verdi to highly complex compositional heights. Director: Calixto Bieito Set Designer: Susanne Gschwender Costume Designer: Anja Rabes Dramaturgy: Bettina Auer Lighting Designer: Michael Bauer Premiere: January 19th 2020

Springtime from Vienna

Ollikainen & Stoyanova

»The omnipotent corruptor of taste in Italy.« »Immaturity, tastelessness, and ugliness.« Quite some impudence, what Verdi heard from Wagner conductor Hans von Bülow in 1874. Another critic found: »After all, isn’t the Italian entitled to ask whether he is allowed to speak Italian with God?« And for Verdi, this is how speaking with God about death in Italian goes: happy for some theatrics, but the Mass should by no means sound »like an opera«. Whether he succeeded—everyone will have to judge for themselves.

La Traviata

Violetta is the most sought-after courtesan of the Parisian demimonde. However, her encounter with Alfredo makes her pleasure-seeking life seem questionable: they fall in love and try to build a life for themselves, far from the fast pleasures of the city. Her past, however, catches up with Violetta. Alfredo’s father persuades her that a separation is the only way to restore his family honour. Alfredo, unaware of the true reasons for her decision, insults Violetta in public. When they are finally reunited, Violetta has run out of time. Giuseppe Verdi was on the lookout for such a provocative, innovative tale when he encountered the novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas the Younger. In the spring of 1852 he saw the “Lady of the Camellias” as a play adapted by the writer himself at the Vaudeville Theatre in Paris. The impression this made on him strengthened his resolve to use the tale for his next opera; the story gave him an opportunity to reformulate his grand theme: love defeated by the resistance of society. Director: Johannes Erath Stage Designer: Annette Kurz Costume Designer: Herbert Murauer Lighting Designer: Olaf Freese Dramaturgy: Francis Hüsers Premiere: 17.02.2013

La Traviata

Violetta is the most sought-after courtesan of the Parisian demimonde. However, her encounter with Alfredo makes her pleasure-seeking life seem questionable: they fall in love and try to build a life for themselves, far from the fast pleasures of the city. Her past, however, catches up with Violetta. Alfredo’s father persuades her that a separation is the only way to restore his family honour. Alfredo, unaware of the true reasons for her decision, insults Violetta in public. When they are finally reunited, Violetta has run out of time. Giuseppe Verdi was on the lookout for such a provocative, innovative tale when he encountered the novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas the Younger. In the spring of 1852 he saw the “Lady of the Camellias” as a play adapted by the writer himself at the Vaudeville Theatre in Paris. The impression this made on him strengthened his resolve to use the tale for his next opera; the story gave him an opportunity to reformulate his grand theme: love defeated by the resistance of society. Director: Johannes Erath Stage Designer: Annette Kurz Costume Designer: Herbert Murauer Lighting Designer: Olaf Freese Dramaturgy: Francis Hüsers Premiere: 17.02.2013

La Traviata

Violetta is the most sought-after courtesan of the Parisian demimonde. However, her encounter with Alfredo makes her pleasure-seeking life seem questionable: they fall in love and try to build a life for themselves, far from the fast pleasures of the city. Her past, however, catches up with Violetta. Alfredo’s father persuades her that a separation is the only way to restore his family honour. Alfredo, unaware of the true reasons for her decision, insults Violetta in public. When they are finally reunited, Violetta has run out of time. Giuseppe Verdi was on the lookout for such a provocative, innovative tale when he encountered the novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas the Younger. In the spring of 1852 he saw the “Lady of the Camellias” as a play adapted by the writer himself at the Vaudeville Theatre in Paris. The impression this made on him strengthened his resolve to use the tale for his next opera; the story gave him an opportunity to reformulate his grand theme: love defeated by the resistance of society. Director: Johannes Erath Stage Designer: Annette Kurz Costume Designer: Herbert Murauer Lighting Designer: Olaf Freese Dramaturgy: Francis Hüsers Premiere: 17.02.2013

Europakonzert Riccardo Muti and the Berliner Philharmoniker in Bari

With its brick-red façade, a gleaming white entrance area and a magnificent red and gold auditorium, the venue for this year’s European Concert, Bari’s Teatro Petruzzelli, is an architectural jewel. Under the direction of Riccardo Muti, the Berliner Philharmoniker will present a mixed programme of Italian and German music. Rossini’s rousing William Tell Overture and the atmospheric ballet music from Verdi’s opera The Sicilian Vespers exude Italianità. Completing the programme, the dusky mixture of yearning and consolation in Brahms’ Second Symphony make the work a seminal example of late German Romanticism.

Guest performance Bologna

The Berliner Philharmoniker will also be stopping off in Bologna as part of their European concert tour of Italy. Conducted by Riccardo Muti, they invite you to a concert with an attractive Italian-German programme. Rossini’s rousing overture to William Tell and the atmospheric ballet music from Verdi's opera The Sicilian Vespers bring Italian flair to the stage. Brahms’ Second Symphony provides an exciting contrast – a work full of cantabile melodies, pastoral moods and darkly coloured timbres, which is considered the epitome of German late Romanticism.

Guest performance

CANCELLED: K&K Philharmoniker / Soloists / Matthias & Max Kendlinger

This event has been cancelled – it will not be rescheduled on an alternative date. Tickets can be returned where they were purchased. When Verdi’s »Patria oppressa« meets Kendlinger’s »Höre Mensch«, musical forces unite for human rights. There is an essential point of contact in the work of the maestro of Italian opera and the contemporary Austrian composer Matthias Georg Kendlinger – it is always people who take centre stage.

Concert in Paris

Pacific Quartet

Jubilee concert 100 years Rundfunkchor Berlin

Stiffelio

Love, betrayal, death, and forgiveness – Verdi's "Stiffelio" is full of drama. Too much for the censors, who banned the first version before its 1850 premiere. The original scores, believed lost, were rediscovered in Naples over 100 years later. Audiences can expect an exciting encounter with a rarely performed early work.

Sonya Yoncheva

Sonya Yoncheva is celebrated worldwide as a star soprano. She is one of the most sought-after opera stars and performs at the most important opera houses. Whether at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Vienna State Opera, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Arena di Verona or the »Concert de Paris« in front of the Eiffel Tower – Sonya Yoncheva delights audiences with her incredible brilliance and warmth. Her touching, enchanting voice is unique. The star soprano can now be experienced at the Elbphilharmonie with a very special programme curated by her. Sonya Yoncheva presents the most beautiful moments of opera. She will be joined by the sought-after conductor Francesco Ciampa and the renowned Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra.

Open Air im Grugapark

The open-air concert at the Grugapark music pavilion is a beloved tradition. This season, the Essen Philharmonic, led by Tommaso Turchetta, ends with a colorful program, welcoming summer.

Jonathan Tetelman / Hamburger Camerata / Frédéric Chaslin

Voice and charisma – that is the unanimous, enthusiastic judgement of the critics when it comes to Jonathan Tetelman. »A star par excellence« is how the New York Times describes him. The Chilean-American tenor is on stage as Alfredo in »La Traviata« at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden or as Pinkerton in »Madame Butterfly« at the Metropolitan Opera and demonstrates his skills in a »dark-coloured tenor timbre« (SZ) and with »balsamic verve« (Der Tagesspiegel), while the audience listens spellbound. Jonathan Tetelman makes his Elbphilharmonie debut with a sonorous journey through the most beautiful tenor arias from the great operas of Puccini, Verdi and others.

Heavenwards

Admission is free (without access card). Towards the end of his life, Giuseppe Verdi, likely the most significant Italian opera specialist, returns to his artistic roots: church music. His four sacred pieces (Quattro pezzi sacri) seem to be striving towards heaven like pillars in a Gothic cathedral. The Ave Maria, sung a cappella, the stirring and painful Stabat Mater, and last but not least, the Te Deum, a hymn of praise in a voluminous, ceremonious setting for double chorus, solo soprano and orchestra: All this is unmistakably Verdi, expert in theatrics and master of musical effects. 100 years before Verdi, another theatre magician turned the church into a big stage: Like many of his works, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Mass in C minor is luminous and magnificent, and at the same time enigmatic and deeply mysterious. To this day, it is not clear why Mozart set to work on this monumental profession of faith: Was he honouring the vow he had made when he married his beloved Constanze Weber in the same year he wrote the mass? Or was it simply the expression of his very own personal spirituality? And what’s more: Why did the composition remain unfinished, just like the Requiem nine years later? What makes the C minor Mass so touching to the day is the immediacy of the emotions and feelings that are conveyed. And when the soprano spins her seemingly endless melodies in the famous aria »Et incarnatus est«, it feels as though the music opens the gates to heaven. A classic Mozart moment.

Opera Classics: Verdi, Puccini, Bizet and Lehár

Macbeth Premiere

Macbeth

Macbeth

Macbeth

Macbeth