Today : world première of 'The Snow Queen' by Hans Abrahamsen in Copenhagen

Today, the Royal Opera Theater in Copenhagen presents the world première of Snedronningen (The Snow Queen), an opera composed by Hans Abrahamsen with a libretto based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale.

It is the composer's first opera.

The children, Gerda and Kay, are close friends. They live across an alley from each other and happily chat, play, and tend a rose which is growing in their backyard. The children are content until tragedy strikes: Kay’s eye and heart are pierced with fragments of a mirror, and the loving boy Kay then vanishes. The Snow Queen has put him under her spell and taken him to her palace of snow and ice. It is up to Gerda to find him and free him. (reproduced from the Music Sales Classical website)

The cast includes soprano Sofie Elkjær Jensen (Gerda), mezzo Elisabeth Jansson (Kay), mezzo Johanne Bock, bass baritone Johan Reuter (Snow Queen), soprano Sibylle Glosted (Princess) and tenor Gert Henning-Jensen (Prince). Michael Boder conducts the Kongelige Kapel and the Kongelige Operakor. Francisco Negrin directs.

The performance should last about 2 hours, including one interval.

According the Music Sales Classical website, the required orchestra is the following :

- 4 flutes, 3 oboes, 4 clarinets, 3 bassoons ;
- 6 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba ;
- timpani, 5 percussions ;
- 2 harps, accordion, synthesizer, celesta ;
- strings (12.12.8.8.6)

On December 21, 2019, the opera will be performed in Germany for the first time, at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, conducted by Cornelius Meister and directed by Andreas Kriegenburg.

On November 27, 2015, the Deutsches National Theater in Weimar presented the world première of an opera by Georg Alexander Albrecht based on the same fairy tale.

Received : two programme books from Copenhagen

Yesterday, I have received in the mail two programme books from the Danish Royal Opera :

- John Frandsen : Martyriet, January 28, 2017 (world première) ;
- Jake Heggie : Dead Man Walking, January 24, 2017 (new production).

The first one is a 12 pages leaflet. It contains :

- complete cast and crew ;
- synopsis ;
- three short articles on Kaj Munk and the opera.

It is entirely in Danish.

The second is 44 pages book. It contains :

- complete cast and crew ;
- synopsis ;
- several colour photos of rehearsals ;
- Making a man out of a murderer, an interview of director Orpha Phelan, by dramaturg Louise Nabe ;
- A room for forgiveness, by prison chaplain Peter Walin ;
- The death penalty in Denmark - a historical review, by historian Thomas Oldrup ;
- biographies of production team.

It is entirely bilingual Danish / English, except the biographies.

The scanned covers of the 445 programme books of contemporary operas I have in my collection are available in this flickr folder.

Today : world première of John Frandsen's 'Martyriet' in Copenhagen

Today, the Cumulus Teatret presents the world première of John Frandsen's chamber opera Martyriet (The Martyrdom) at the Royal Danish Opera (Takkelloftet) in Copenhagen. The libretto in Danish was written by Vilhelm Topsøe.

It is the composer's 8th opera. His catalogue already includes Amalie (1995), i-k-o-n™ (2002), ½LELUJA (2002) and Et Dukkehjem (The Doll's House, after Henrik Ibsen, 2014).

Prior to World War II, Kaj Munk expressed great admiration for the German dictator Adolf Hitler. But during the Danish Occupation, he became such an outspoken opponent of the Nazi regime that he was liquidated by an SS patrol in January 1944. Kaj Munk gradually slips away from his family in his search for God’s plan for him. Meanwhile, his wife Lise tries in vain to persuade him to choose life as a father rather than martyrdom to his cause.(reproduced from the Danish Royal Opera website)

The cast includes countertenor Morten Grove Frandsen (Kaj Munk) and mezzo Liv Oddveig Midtmageli (Lise Munk).They are joined by the progressive folk music ensemble Kottos (recorders, accordion, bouzouki and cello). Tine Topsøe directs.

The performance should last about 75 minutes.

Received in the mail this morning : program leaflet for Gumundsen-Holmgreen's 'Sun goes up, sun goes down'

This Monday morning, I have received in the mail the program leaflet published by the Danish National Opera for the world première performance of Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen's first opera Sol går op, sol går ned (Sun goes up, sun goes down).

It is a 8 pages leaflet, entirely in Danish. It contains :

- complete cast and crew (including the duration of the performance) ;
- an article by the composer on vernacular and Bible languages ;
- an article by stage director Eva-Maria Melbye ;
- some pictures from the performances.

Today : world première of Pelle Gudmunsen-Holmgreen's first opera in Copenhagen

Today, the first opera of Danish composer Pelle Gudmunsen-Holmgreen will be performed in Copenhagen, on the small stage of the Danish National Opera (Takkelloftet, 200 seats).

The title of the opera is Sol går op, sol går ned (Sun goes up, sun goes down) and it is described by the composer as a stage symphony with singers, actors, dancers and musicians. The libretto in Danish is inspired by the Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes from the Old Testament.

The cast includes soprano Aileen Itani (Sulamith), baritone Andreas Landin (Young Salomo), bass Sten Byriel (Old Salomo), the actors Hadi Ka-Koush, Ida Cæcilie Rasmussen, Lado Hadzic, Lars Knutzon, the dancers Vigdis Hentze Olsen abd Alexandre Bourdat. Jakob Hultberg conducts and Eva-Maria Melbye directs.

The ochestra consists of 1 clarinet, 3 trombones, percussion, electric guitar, bass guitar, violin, viola and violoncello. There is also a 4 voices chorus. The opera is published by Wilhelm Hansen.

The opera should last about 85 minutes, not including a 25 minutes interval. There is no broadcast planned yet.

Received in the mail this Thursday morning : Program book for 'Gesualdo Shadows' by Bo Holten

This Thursday morning, I have received the program book published by The Royal Theater in Copenhagen for the world première performance of Bo Holten's opera Gesualdo - Shadows.

It is a 16 pages booklet, entirely in Danish. It contains :
- the complete cast and crew,
- the synopsis, by Eva Sommestad Holten,
- a biography of Carlo Gesualdo,
- an article on 'the opera's libretto and the libretto role',
- three acts, three cities : Napoli, Ferrara, Gesualdo,
- color photos of rehearsals,
- biographies of composer, librettist, choreographer and singers.

Today : World première of 'Gesualdo Shadows' by Bo Holten in Copenhagen

Today, Bo Holten's new opera, Gesualdo - Shadows, with a libretto by Eva Sommestad Holten, will be performed for the first time in Copenhagen, on the small stage of the Opera House, the 'black box' theater, also known as Takkelloftet.

It is the composer's third opera after Maria Paradis (the story of a pianist child prodigy, contemporary of Mozart, who became blind at the age of four and was treated by Doctor Mesmer and his magnetism), and The Visit of the Royal Physician (published on DVD by Dacapo). It seems to be a new version of the 2003 work Gesualdo - Fyrste - Musiker - Morder.

We follow Carlo Gesualdo from his emotional youth in Naples to a time of artistic fervour in Ferrara and an old age of hardships, beauty, mystery and melancholy, confined to his princely palace on a mountaintop in the town of Gesualdo in Southern Italy. The story is a psychological drama about a time when art flourished, while society was scourged by reckless violence. (reproduced from the Danish Royal Theater's website)

The opera has been composed for a baroque orchestra consisting of oboe, 2 trombones, lute (theorbo), harpsichord (organ) and strings. It should last about 2 hours. It will be performed by Gert Henning-Jensen (Gesualdo), Ann-Christine Wesser Ingels (Léonora d'Este), Guido Paevatalu (Duke Alfonso of Ferrara), Jesper Buhl (Alfonso Fontanelli), Tor Lind (Shadow) and Hanna Kappelin (Maria D'Avalos). The composer will conduct the vocal ensemble Musica Ficta and the Concerto Copenhagen. Deda Cristina Colonna will direct.

It is at least the third opera to be composed after the famous Renaissance composer, after Alfred Schnittke's Gesualdo first performed at the Vienna State Opera in May 1995 and Marc-André Dalbavie's opera with the same title first performed in Zurich in October 2010.

New season 2014-2015 at the Kongelige Teater in Copenhagen

Fourteen opera will be performed in Copenhagen during the 2014-2015 season, including two operas by Carl Nielsen for the celebration of his 150th birthday, and two world premières.

The two world premières are :

- Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen : Sol går op, sol går ned (Sun goes up, sun goes down), conducted by Jakob Hultberg, directed by Eva-Maria Melbye, in January 2015 ;
-  Bo Holten : Gesualdo - Shadows, conducted by the composer, in November 2014.

Another contemporary opera, Magnar Åm's Is-Slottet (The Ice Castle) will be performed there in October 2014, shorlty after the world première by Den Ny Opera in Esbjerg in September.

Other operas to be performed are :

- Richard Strauss : Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Michael Boder, directed by Marco Arturo Marelli ;
- Giacomo Puccini : Tosca, conducted by Ivan Anguélov, directed by Peter Langdal ;
- Dmitri Shostakovich : Lady Macbeth from the Mtsensk district, conducted by Alexander Vedernikov, directed by Peter Konwitschny ;
- Alban Berg : Lulu, conducted by Michael Boder, directed by Stefan Herheim ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Rory McDonald, directed by Marco Arturo Marelli ;
- Georg Friedrich Haendel : Alcina, conducted by Lars Ulrik Mortensen, directed by Francisco Negrin ;
- Carl Nielsen : Maskarade, conducted by Per Otto Johansson, directed by Kasper Holten ;
- Carl Nielsen : Saul og David, conducted by Michael Schønwandt, directed by David Pountney ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Les Vêpres siciliennes, conducted by Paolo Carignani, directed by Stefan Herheim.

Two visiting productions from the Jyske Opera are also invited :

- Giacomo Puccini : La Bohème, conducted by Michael Balke, directed by Alfonso Romero Mora ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Cosi fan tutte, conducted by Bejamin Bayl, directed by Elisabeth Linton.

Received in the mail this Friday morning

This Friday morning, I have received the following :

- Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Teater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- London, English National Opera : Autumn 2014 - Spring 2015 brochure ;
- San Francisco, Opera : 2014-2015 season brochure ;
- Trier, Theater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Weimar, Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle : 2014-2015 season program books ;
- Wiesbaden, Hessisches Staatstheater : 2014-2015 season program book.