Showing posts with label Dresden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dresden. Show all posts

Sunday, 13 May 2018

Today, world première of 'Mr A's amazing Maze Plays' by Johannes Wulff-Woesten in Dresden


Today, the Semperoper in Dresden presents the world première of Das Rätsel der gestohlenen Stimmen (Mr A's amazing Maze Plays) an music theatre for children composed by Johannes Wulff-Woesten, with a libretto by Manfred Weiß, based on Alan Ayckbourn's play.

(c) Matthias Creutziger

Johannes Wulff-Woesten has already composed several works for the stage, including the chamber opera Die weiße Fürstin (after Rainer Maria Rilke, 1997) and Prinz Bussel (Dresden, 2013).
Susi lives with her mother in a small house in a small town. Her father, an enthusiastic balloonist, disappeared during a hot air balloon competition when she was still very young. As the sole breadwinner, Susi’s mother works in the town’s biscuit shop. One day the girl is given a puppy, which she names Otto. He never leaves her side and accompanies her wherever she goes – for example into the garden of the old abandoned villa lying opposite their house. This is a fantastic adventure playground for Susi and Otto; until Herr Akustikus moves into the property, that is. (reproduced from the Semperoper website)
The cast includes soprano Tania Lorenzo (Susi), actor Mathias Schlung (Otto, her dog), mezzo Angela Liebold (Mutter), bass Martin-Jan Nijhof (Vater), countertenor Hagen Matzeit (Herr Akustikus) and tenor Barry Coleman (Herr Pichler). The composer conducts the Giuseppe-Sinopoli-Akademie of the Staatskapelle Dresden. Tom Quaas directs.

The venue is Semper Zwei.

Monday, 14 December 2015

New in my collection : program book for John Harbison's 'The Great Gatsby' in Dresden


This Monday morning, I have received in the mail the program book published by the Semperoper Dresden for the European première performance of John Harbison's The Great Gatsby.


It is a 48 pages book. It contains :

- synopsis of the opera ;
- an interview with the composer, by Stefan Ulrich ;
- an interview withe director Keith Warner, by Stefan Ulrich ;
- Fitzgerald und die "Lost Generation", by Stefan Ulrich ;
- Glimmerwelt und fahler Schein der "Goldenen Zwanziger", by Katrin Böhnisch ;
- Großstadt und Maschine : die Darstellung New Yorks, by Heinz Ickstadt ;
- colour photos of the production.

The whole book is in German. There is a synopsis in Engish at the end of it. It is completed by a separate 24 pages booklet with the complete cast and biographies of the artists.

In this flickr folder, you can see the scanned covers of all 381 program books for contemporary operas I have in my collection.

Sunday, 6 December 2015

Today : European première of John Harbison's 'The Great Gatsby' in Dresden


Today, John Harbison's opera The Great Gatsby, with a libretto by the composer after F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, will have its first performance in Europe at the Semper Oper in Dresden.


The opera was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera in New York to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the debut of conductor James Levine. It was first performed there on December 20, 1999. The cast included tenor Jerry Hadley (Jay Gatsvy), soprano Dawn Upshaw (Daisy Buchanan), tenor Mark W. Baker (Tom Buchanan), baritone Dwayne Croft (Nick Carraway), mezzo-soprano Susan Graham (Jordan Baker), bass Richard Paul Fink (George Wilson) and mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Myrtle Wilson). James Levine conducted and Mark Lamos directed.

The same production was also performed at the Civic Opera House in Chicago in October 2000 and then revived at the Met in April 2002. In February 2012, a reduced version, with re-orchestration for 30 musicians (instead of the original 120) by  Jacques Desjardins, was performed by Ensemble Parallèle in San Francisco.

The cast for the Dresden performances includes Peter Lodahl (Jay Gatsby), Maria Bengtsson (Daisy Buchanan), Raymond Very (Tom Buchanan), John Chest (Nick Carraway), Christina Bock (Jordan Baker), Lester Lynch (George Wilson) and Angel Blue (Myrtle Wilson). Wayne Marshall conducts the Sächsischer Staatsopernchor and the Staatskapelle Dresden. Keith Warner directs.

In my collection, I have the libretto published by G. Schirmer :


It includes the complete cast of characters with tessituras and a detailed scenario.

In 2014, on the occasion of the 40th anniversay of James Levine's debut, a recording of the broadcast of January 1, 2000, was released by the Met.


Full information on the opera, including full score, reduced version, vocal score and libretto are available on the Music Sales Classical website.

Monday, 30 March 2015

Received in the mail this morning : program book for 'Die Brüder Löwenherz' von Helmut Oehring


This Monday morning, I have received in the mail the program published by the Semperoper Dresden for the world première performance of Helmut Oehring's children opera Die Brüder Löwenherz.


It is a 8 pages brochure. It contains :

- complete cast and crew ;
- biographies of the performers (on a separate page) ;
- an interview with the composer ;
- a goose game.

I have scanned all the covers of the program books for contemporary operas I have. You can find the images in this flickr folder.

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

New Season 2015-2016 at the Semperoper in Dresden


This Wednesday morning, I have received the program book for the 2015-2016 season at the Semperoper in Dresden.

The following operas will be performed with new productions :

- Albert Lortzing : Der Wildschütz, conducted by Asher Fisch, directed by Jens-Daniel Herzog ;
- John Harbison : The Great Gatsby, conducted by Wayne Marshall, directed by Keith Warner (European première) ;
- Pietro Mascagni : Cavalleria rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo : Pagliacci, conducted by Stefano Ranzani and directed by Philipp Stölzl ;
- Paul Hindemith : Mathis der Maler, conducted by Simone Young, directed by Jochen Biganzoli ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Don Giovanni, conducted by Omer Meir Wellber, directed by Andreas Kriegenburg ;
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky : Eugene Onegin, conducted by Pietari Inkinen, directed by Markus Bothe;
- Viktor Ullmann : Der Kaiser von Atlantis, conducted by Johannes Wulff-Woesten, directed by Christiane Lutz (Semper 2).

In fact, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci will be performed in Salzburg during the 2015 Easter Festival, later this month.

The following productions will be revived :

- Georges Bizet : Carmen, directed by Axel Köhler (first performed in September 2013) ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : L'Elisir d'amore, directed by Michael Schulz (first performed in April 2012) ;
- Charles Gounod : Faust, directed by Keith Warner (first performed in June 2010) ;
- Georg Friedrich Händel : Alcina, directed by Jan Philipp Gloger (first performance in October 2011) ;
- Georg Friedrich Händel :Giulio Cesare, directed by Jens-Daniel Herzog (first performed in December 2009) ;
- Georg Friedrich Händel :Orlando, directed by Andreas Kriegenburg (first performed in January 2013) ;
- Engelbert Humperdinck : Hänsel und Gretel, directed by Katharina Thalbach (first performed in December 2006) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Le nozze di Figaro, directed by Johannes Erath (this production will be performed for the first time next June) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Die Zauberflöte, directed by Achim Freyer (first performed in Dresden probably in 2006, considering that Freyer directed this opera as soon as 1982 in Hamburg) ;
- Giacomo Puccini : La Bohème, directed by Christine Mielitz (this production is more than 22 years old) ;
- Giacomo Puccini : Tosca, directed by Johannes Schaaf (first performed in January 2009) ;
- Peter Ronnefeld : Nachtausgabe, directed by Manfred Weiß (first performed in October 2014) ;
- Gioachino Rossini : Il barbiere di Siviglia, directed by Grischa Asagaroff (performed in Dresden since at least April 2008, but also in Zurich from 1991 to 2007) ;
- Johann Strauß : Die Fledermaus, directed by Günter Krämer (first performance in December 2003) ;
- Richard Strauss : Arabella, directed by Florentine Klepper (first performed in Dresden in November 2014, original production for the 2014 Easter Festival in Salzburg) ;
- Richard Strauss : Elektra, directed by Barbara Frey (first performed in January 2014) :
- Giuseppe Verdi : Don Carlo, directed by Eike Gramss (first performed in October 2003) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Macbeth, directed by Philipp Himmelmann (first performed in October 2005) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : La Traviata, directed by Andreas Homoki (first performed in Dresden in October2009, but already performed in Leipzig and other German Cities in 2004) ;
- Richard Wagner : Der fliegende Holländer, directed by Florentine Klepper (first performance in June 2013) ;
- Richard Wagner : Lohengrin, directed by Christine Mielitz (this production is more than 22 years old) ;
- Richard Wagner : Die Walküre, directed by Willy Decker (first performance in November 2001) ;
- Carl Maria von Weber : Der Freischütz, directed by Axel Köhler (first performance next May) ;

Therefore, 31 operas by 20 composers in 5 languages will be performed next season. There will be one opera from the 21st Century, and another one contemporary. This season covers quite well the complete history of opera and its various genres.

Sunday, 22 February 2015

Today : World première of Lucia Ronchetti's 'Mise en abyme' in Dresden


Today, Lucia Ronchetti's new opera, Mise en abyme / Reflection, with a libretto by Anne Gerber and the composer after letters and librettos by Pietro Metastasio, will be performed in Dresden.


Since 2000 (L'Ape apatica), Lucia Ronchetti has composed several chamber works for the musical stage, including children operas. This new work will be performed in Semper 2.
Mise en abyme is a chamber opera reproducing the preparation (the days before the premiere) of the Didone abbandonata, the opera seria created by Domenico Sarro and Pietro Metastasio in 1724 for the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples. [...] There is an extensive collection of letters Metastasio wrote during his long life, which describe his stage directions, writing process and theories, and which report judgments and ideas about  friends, enemies and collaborators. This will be the material for the “open discussion” among the characters, "filmed" during the preparation of the premiere. [...] The presence on stage of Metastasio as dramaturge and director, sharing his ideas and intuitions with his staff, while transforming the concept of music theatre, will provide an opportunity to attempt  a “play within the play”. In 18th-century musical productions, this was the instrument of a possible mediation between conventional genres and the occasion of a sort of dialogue with the audience. (reproduced from the composer's website (http://www.luciaronchetti.com)
The cast includes Sabine Brohm (mezzo, Dorina), Yosemeh Adjei (coutertenor, Nibbio), Roland Schubert (bass, Metastasio) and Jennifer Riedel (soprano, Didone). Felice Venanzoni will conduct musicians from the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. Axel Köhler directs.

Thursday, 26 June 2014

Received in the mail this Thursday morning


This Thursday morning, I have received the following brochures in the mail :

- Dresden, Semperoper : magazine No. 7 (2013/14) ;
- Marseille, Opéra : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Prague, National Theatre  : 2014-2015 season brochure ;
- Verona, Arena festival : 2014 program brochure.

Friday, 20 June 2014

Today : new opera by Manos Tsangaris in Dresden


Today, the opera Karl May, Raum der Wahrheit, composed by Manos Tsangaris, with a libretto by Marcel Beyer, will be performed in Semper 2 (Probebühne) in Dresden.

© Matthias Creutziger
 
Here is what the librettist writes about this new work :
Karl May doesn’t always need Red Indians. KM 1, alias »Dr. Karl May«, urgently requires KM 2, alias »Captain Ramon Diaz de la Escosura«, who in turn cannot survive without KM 3, alias »Assessor Anton Clemens Laube, a member of the secret police«. And who would KM 4, alias »Prince Muhamêl Latréaumont« be, if he could not transform himself into KM 5, alias »the author Heichel, illegitimate son of an aristocrat«, or finally into his own echo, KM 25, alias »a grateful Karl May reader« ?
All the characters in this opera are crazy. And thus no one is crazy. Here everyone can speak two to three dozen languages, a skill that Karl May possessed and enjoying showing off to his readers. And if Karl May – in his various incarnations from KM 1 to KM 25 – is a complete work of art, a generator of various fictional realities, then the person at the back of it all is predestined to be the germ cell of an opera. Karl May is a playing field; an empty room, on whose walls someone has scribbled fake names in a spidery hand. Karl May, that’s what I call my gun cabinet.
The opera requires 3 singers, a speaker, a 4 voices chorus and a small orchestra with a harpsichord. It should last about 90 minutes.

The cast is the following : Julian Mehne (Mark May), Rainer Maria Röhr (Karl May jung), Julian Arsenault (Karl May alt), Julia Mintzer (Emma Pollmer) and Romy Petrick (Klara Plöhn). Erik Nielsen conducts and Manfred Weiß directs.

ß
ß
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Weiß
Weiß
Weiß

Friday, 16 May 2014

Received in the mail this Friday morning


This Friday morning, I have received the following in the mail :

- Dresden : Semperoper, magazine Nr. 6 ;
- Essen : Aalto-Musiktheater, 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Magdeburg : Theater, June-July 2014 leaflet ;
- Massy : Opéra, 2014-2015 season brochure ;
- Gent / Antwerpen : Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, 2014-2015 season program book.

Monday, 28 April 2014

Received this Monday morning


This Monday morning, I have received the following articles in the mail :

- June-July 2014 leaflet from the Stadttheater Giessen (Germany) ;
- 2014-2015 season program book from the Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse.
- 2014-2015 season program book from the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden.

Friday, 25 April 2014

Received this Friday morning


This Friday morning, I have received the following brochures in the mail :

- Semperoper Dresden : May to July 2014 ;
- Landestheater Detmold : May 2014 ;
- Landestheater Linz : May 2014 ;
- Staatstheater Hannover : May 2014.

Thursday, 17 April 2014

New Season 2014-2015 at the Semperoper in Dresden


During the 2014-2015 season, the Semperoper in Dresden will perform 30 operas of 19 different composers, in 5 languages (German, Italian, French, English and Czech).


There will be 8 new productions (including 1 world première and 1 German première) :

- Peter Ronnefeld (1935-1965) : Nachtausgabe, conducted by Ekkehard Klemm, directed by Manfred Weiß. The opera was first performed in Salzburg in 1956 and had a second production in Vienna in 1987). This will be the German première ;
- Leos Janacek : The Cunning Little Vixen, conducted by Tomas Netopil and directed by Frank Hilbrich ;
- Richard Strauss : Arabella, conducted by Christian Thielemann, directed by Florentine Klepper ;
- Engelbert Humperdinck : Königskinder, conducted by Lothar Koenigs, directed by Jetske Mijnssen ;
- Claude Debussy : Pelléas et Mélisande, conducted by Mikko Franck, directed by Alex Ollé ;
- Lucia Ronchetti : Mise en abyme / Widerspiegelung, conducted by Felice Venanzoni, directed by Axel Köhler (world première) ;
- Carl Maria von Weber : Der Freischütz, conducted by Christian Thielemann, directed by Axel Köhler ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by Omer Meir Wellber, directed by Johannes Erath.

The new production of Arabella was just performed at the Easter Festival in Salzburg, with the ensemble of the Semperoper, for only 2 performances.

The revivals are :

- Giacomo Puccini : La Bohème and Tosca ;
- Georges Bizet : Carmen ;
- Gioachino Rossini : Il Barbiere di Siviglia ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Cosi fan tutte and Die Zauberflöte ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : L'Elisir d'amore ;
- Richard Strauss : Daphne, Capriccio, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier ;
- Richard Wagner : Tannhäuser and Der fliegende Holländer ;
- Ludwig van Beethoven : Fidelio ;
- Henry Purcell : King Arthur ;
- Engelbert Humperdinck : Hänsel und Gretel ;
- Johann Strauß : Die Fledermaus ;
- Georg Friedrich Haendel : Giulio Cesare and Orlando ;
- Franz Lehar : Die lustige Witwe ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Simon Boccanegra ;

One has to remember that 9 of the 15 operas composed by Richard Strauss have been first performed in Dresden, and that in 2014 we celebrate the composer's 150th birthday.

Among all these operas, 6 were composed in the last 100 years.

Three operas for children will also be performed, including 1 world première :

- Stefan Johannes Hanke : Der Teufel mit den drei goldenen Haaren, conducted by Ekkehard Klemm, directed by Manfred Weiß ;
- Johannes Wulff-Woesten : Prinz Bussel, conducted by the composer, directed by Valentina Simeonova ;
- Helmut Oehring : Die Brüder Löwenherz (world première), directed by Manfred Weiß.

Seven operas have received their first performance in Dresden since 2007 :

- Martin Hecker : Der Narr im Waisenhaus and Dinner for One in March 2010 ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Gisela ! in November 2010 (two months after first performance during the Ruhrtriennale Festival) ;
- Miroslav Srnka : Jakub Flügelbunt, in December 2011;
- Alexander Strauch : UT-OP.Er in October 2009 ;
- Manfred Trojahn : La Grande Magia, in May 2008 ;
- Johannes Wulff-Woesten : Prinz Bussel, in April 2013.

There is one more new opera to be performed in Dresden before Summer :

- Manos Tsangaris : Karl May, Raum der Wahrheit, in June 2014.