Club Classique: Highlights from Carmen (reinvented)

Bizet: Carmen

Free and untamed is how the heroine of Bizet’s world-famous opera »Carmen« wants to live her life – and she would rather perish than submit to a man’s will. And at the end Carmen does indeed die to the sounds of what may be the most passionate opera music ever written. After countless highlights in the Baroque repertoire, masterful Mozart interpretations and excursions into the world of German Romanticism, conductor René Jacobs and the B’Rock Orchestra venture into the heated bullfighting atmosphere of this piece, which premiered in 1875 2 in a very special version. »Carmen« is performed in a version that Bizet originally intended before the director of the Opéra comique urged him to make far-reaching changes. The original manuscripts of the original version have now been analysed and used as a basis to reconstruct a »Carmen« that has never been heard before. Gaëlle Arquez as an experienced Carmen and Sabine Devieilhe as her rival Micaëla sparkle as the two female leads, creating an explosive, passionate mixture together with the baritone Thomas Dolié as toreador Escamillo and tenor François Rougier as the man obsessed with Carmen, Don José. In this concert performance version, too, »Carmen« promises to set the auditorium on fire.

Dr. Hoch's Highlights

This concert features chamber music by Joachim Raff, the first director of the Dr. Hoch's Conservatory, and Clara Schumann, the first and most famous professor of this Frankfurt institution. Raff, a self-taught composer, achieved fame comparable to Wagner and Liszt but was later forgotten. The concert presents two of his chamber music pieces and a piano trio by Clara Schumann.

»Le Passion de Carmen«

Soprano Stella Motina and pianist Vera Bogdanchikova take the audience on an unforgettable musical journey through the south of Spain and explore the passion of Carmen. From Manuel de Falla’s »Seven Spanish Folk Songs«, which illuminate love in ever new facets, they move on to Dvořák’s »Cigánské Melodie«, which awakens the desire to dance. To the sound of castanets, the audience finally arrives in Seville and takes a break in the »Lillas Pastia« taverna. The best melodies from »Carmen« by Georges Bizet are played here. Carmen, the beautiful, self-confident woman, enjoys her freedom. An adventure unfolds: love, passion, jealousy and the prophecy of fate. The beating of the chords is reminiscent of the stamping of feet in flamenco, in which the woman seems to lift her heels to assert her personal independence. The exciting journey comes to an end, but of course the listeners can linger for a moment and prolong the melodic excursion. The artists have prepared something very special.

Guest performance Songs on New Year's Eve Highlights from Musicals, Operettas and Films

Guest performance Songs on New Year's Eve Highlights from Musicals, Operettas and Films

Mahler Chamber Orchestra: Music from the New World

Antonello Manacorda and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra open our International Chamber Orchestra series with music from the “New World”. Anton Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony, written in New York, clearly expresses the influences of both indigenous and African American melodies – although the work is also unmistakably Bohemian in colour. 2024 marks the 150th birthday of the brilliant Charles Ives, the first American composer to gain truly global recognition. Anna Prohaska sings selected songs by Ives, juxtaposed with songs by Gustav Mahler, his European contemporary.

Classical Highlights: Classics for String Quartet

For lovers of chamber music the Recital Hall is the venue of choice. You can hear the musicians breathe and you can practically touch them. This hall is also cherished by musicians for its beautiful acoustics and direct contact with the audience. In the Recital Hall you can hear the best musicians of our time. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Recital Hall for yourself!

Springtime from Vienna

Springtime from Vienna