New in my collection : programme book for 'Persinette' by Albin Fries in Vienna

Yesterday, I have received in the mail the programme book for Persinette, an opera composed by Albin Fries, first performed in Vienna on December 21st, 2019.

It is a 18 pages brochure. It contains :

- synopsis ;
- short biographies of the composer Albin Fries and the librettist Birgit Mathon ;
- Daten & Fakten, essential facts about the opera ;
- 3 questions to the composer Albin Fries ;
- interview with the stage director Matthias von Stegmann ;
- important notions about opera explained by conductor Guillermo Garcia Calvo ;
- several color photos of rehearsals.

I now have the programme books for 712 contemporary operas. I have scanned all the covers and uploaded the images on flickr.

I am cataloguing all the programme books I have on LibraryThing. I hope to complete the process before the end of April 2020.

Today : world première of 'Was ist los dei den Enakos ?' by Elisabeth Naske in Vienna

Today, the Wiener Staatsoper presents the world première of Was ist los bei den Enakos ? (What's up with the Enako family?), a children opera composed by Elisabeth Naske with a libretto by Ela Baumann.

Elisabeth Naske has already composed several stage works for children, including Die feuerrote Friederike (Vienna, 2004), Die Omama im Apfelbaum (Vienna, 2007), Das Städtchen Drumherum (Vienna, 2013) and Der Wunschpunsch (Lucerne, 2014).

The same thoughts, the same happiness, the same feelings : that’s how easy it is to govern a people ! But of course such equality is nothing less than limitation, dictatorship and oppression, as the people of Enakos discover. However, individuality suddenly flourishes in the state of uniformity once the people of Enakos realize that equality does not always achieve one’s objectives, and that proscribed equality has nothing to do with freedom. In the end, everyone discovers their personal uniqueness before uniting in the final chorus. (reproduced from the Wiener Staatsoper website)

Rick Stengårds conducts the Stage Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera. Ela Baumann directs.

The requested orchestra is the following (according to the Schott Music website) :

- 2 flutes, 2 clarinets ;
- 2 horns ;
- percussion (3 players) ;
- strings (at least 1.1.1.1.1).

The venue is the Agrana Studiobühne. The performance should last about 1 hour. The score is published by Schott Music.

Programme book for 'Die Weiden' by Johannes Maria Staud in Vienna

This morning, I have received the programme book published by the Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper) for the world première performance of Die Weiden, an opera composed by Johannes Maria Staud with a libretto by Durs Grünbein, on December 8, 2018.

It is a 140 pages book. It contains :

- Inhaltsangabe and Ausführliche Inhaltsangabe ;
- several color photos of rehearsals ;
- technical details : complete cast with tessitura, litterature sources, location and time of the action, complete orchestral setting (with detailed percussion section and musicians on stage), duration, cast for the first performance ;
- detailed biography of the composer Johannes Maria Staud ;
- detailed biography of the librettist Durs Grünbein ;
- list of operas composed by Staud ;
- excerpt of Die Weiden by Algernon Blackwood ;
- excerpt of Das Herz der Finsternis by Joseph Conrad ;
- Andreas Lang : Ein Fluss als Protagonist ;
- Johannes Maria Staud : Anmerkungen über die Musik der Weiden ;
- excerpt of Der arme Spielmann by Franz Grillparzer ;
- Oliver Rathkolb : Die Todesmärche von Engerau ;
- Miklos Radnoti : Gewaltmarsch 1944 (poem) ;
- Peter Filzmaier : Die Welt der Demagogen und Populisten ;
- Franz Tumler : Sätze von der Donau (poem) ;
- Rotraud A. Perner : 'Aber vielleicht war all das nur Wahnsinn' ;
- Ilse Aichinger : excerpt of Unglaubwürdige Reisen ;
- Konrad Paul Liessmann : 'Dreitausend Jahre denken' ;
- Hans Dieter Schäfer : Die unsichtbare Tätowierung ;
- Andreas Lang : Aber Lea verkarpft nicht..., discussion with Johannes Maria Staud and Durs Grünbein ;
- Oliver Lang : Eine Oper zum Leben erweckt, dialogue with conductor Ingo Metzmacher ;
- Andreas Lang : Eine Oper als Interpretation der Wirklichkeit, dialogue with director Andrea Moses ;
- Urs Dürbein : epilogue of the libretto.

The book is entirely in German. The Vienna State Opera has also published an English version of this book.

I now have 607 programme books for contemporary operas. You can see all the scanned covers in this flickr folder.

The three libretti written by Durs Grünbein for Joahnnes Maria Staud (Berenice, Munich, 2004, Die Antilope, Lucerne, September 3, 2014 and Die Weiden) have been published in a single volume by Suhrkamp.

Today : world première of 'Die Weiden' by Johannes Maria Staud in Vienna

Today, the Wiener Staatsoper presents the world première of Die Weiden (The Willows), an opera in six parts, four passages, one prolog, one prelude, one interlude and an epilogue composed by Johannes Maria Staud with a libretto by Durs Grünbein.

It is the composer's third opera after Berenice (Munich, 2004) and Die Antilope (Luzern, 2014).

The opera is a journey 'into the heart of darkness' on a major river in Central Europe today, which can unquestionably be identified as the Danube. The events are fluctuating between a travel story of two lovers falling out with each other and a surreally distorted observation of the threatening developments today. We achieve this by means of pandemoniac hallucinations on the part of one of the protagonists, as well as by the transformation motif of a man-carp. (reproduced from the Breitkopf & Härtel website)

The cast includes mezzo Rachel Frankel (Lea), baritone Tomasz Konieczny (Peter), tenor Thomas Ebenstein (Edgar), soprano Andrea Carroll (Kitty), mezzo Monika Bohinec (Lea's Mother), tenor Herbert Lippert (Lea's Father), alto Zoryana Kushpler (Peter's Mother) and bass Alexandru Moisiuc (Peter's Father). Ingo Metzmacher conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Wiener Staatsoper. Andrea Moses directs.

The required orchestra is the following (reproduced from the publisher's website) :

- 3 flutes (doubling alto flute and piccolo), 3 oboes (doubling English horn and musette), 3 clarinets (doubling bassethorn and double bass clarinet), soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, 2 double bassoons ;
- 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba ;
- timpani and percussion (4 players) ;
- harp, piano ;
- strings (14.12.10.8.6).

The performance should last about 3 hours, including the intermission. The score is published by Breitkopf & Härtel.

Today : world première of Oscar Strasnoy's 'Comeback' in Berlin

Today, the Staatsoper im Schiller Theater Berlin presents the world première performance of Oscar Strasnoy's new stage work, Comeback, with a libretto by Christoph Hein.

Oscar Strasnoy has composed several works for the stage, operas, operetta and musical-theatre, since Midea (Spoleto, 2000), including Le Bal (Hamburg, 2010), Un Retour (Aix-en-Provence, 2010) and Cachafaz (Quimper, 2010).

Tilla Durieux was once very successful on stage. Years later, things are different. After the suicide of her husband Paul Cassirer and the seizure of power by the National Socialists, she left Germany and experienced years of privation in Croatia, working as a seamstress, before returning to her homeland seven years after the end of the war. Emil Jannings was a successful actor for silent films. He must now answer the questions of his nephew Jörg about his behavior during the Nazi dictatorship. (freely translated from the Staatsoper website)

The cast includes bass baritone Ralf Lukas (Emil Jannings), soprano Josephine Renelt (Tilla 1), soprano Maria Husmann (Tilla 2), baritone Martin Gerke (Paul), countertenor Johannes Euler (Jörg Jannings) and mezzo Nadia Steinhard (Gussy Holl). Max Renne conducts and Ingo Kerkhof directs.

New in my collection : program book for Miroslav Srnka's 'South Pole' in München

This Friday morning, I have finally received in the mail the program book for the world première of Miroslav Srnka's opera South Pole, in Munich.

It is a 336 pages book. It contains :

- black and white original photos of Robert Scott, Roald Amundsen and their teams ;
- the complete cast, with tessituras and the compklete orchestra setting ;
- the complete libretto in the original English with a German translation ;
- 40 black and white photos of the expeditions ;
- Frank Hilberg : Szenen eines Wettlaufs, die Oper South Pole von Miroslav Srnka ;
- Marie Luise Maintz : Von der Erfindung der Musik, der Komponist Miroslav Srnka ;
- Chris Mead : Seelenchirurgie, über das Werk von Tom Holloway ;
- Wozu sind wir aufgebrochen ?, a discussion with the composer and the director Hans Neuenfels ;
- Tor Bomann-Larsen : Der Traum vom Südpol, Amundsens Telegramme und andere verschlüsselte Botschaften ;
- Ute Frevert : Vermessene Gefühle - Ehre, Heldentum und Wettkampf in der Antarktis ;
- Michael Beckerman : Kalte Klänge - Über das Verhältnis von Temperatur und Musik ;
- a chronology table of the expeditions to the South Pole ;
- 21 color photos of the dress rehearsal with piano (January 21st, 2016) ;
- plot summary in German, English and French.

There is a separate folded map of the South Pole, showing the paths followed by the explorers, with a diagrammatic sketch of the opera. Unfortunately, the size of the characters is so small it is impossible to read.

I now have 396 program books for contemporary operas. The covers can be seen in this flickr folder.

Today : world première of 'South Pole' by Miroslav Srnka in Munich

Today, the new opera composed by Miroslav Srnka, South Pole (a double opera in two parts), with a libretto in English by Tom Holloway, will have its world première performance in Munich, at the Nationaltheater.

It is Srnka's third opera, after Wall (Berlin, 2005) and Make No Noise (Munich, 2011).

In 1910 two competing teams set out on an expedition to the Antarctic : a band of British explorers, led by Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen's Norwegian party went head to head in a race to be the first humans to reach the South Pole. Amundsen arrived at his destination one month before Scott ; Scott and his four companions lost their lives in a snowstorm on the return journey. The news of Amundsen's success was shortly followed by that of Scott's heroic failure. It was Scott whose name became the stuff of tragic legend. The opera reads between the lines of the official reports and imagines what was going through the minds of the men during this long winter : the emotions this solitude in a world of ice evoked ; how collaboration can lead to rivalry and tension ; how conflict involving national pathos and everyday tasks can result in comical situations ; to what extent the men thought about the wives they had left behind. Ultimately, the South Pole is just a white speck in the middle of a white landscape. The attraction of reaching this point seems utterly abstract ; l'art pour l'art of achieving the impossible. (reproduced from the Bavarian State Opera website)

According to the Bärenreiter website, the orchestra is the following :

- 4 Flutes (2nd and 3rd also Piccolo, 4th also Bass Flute), 3 Oboes, 2 Clarinets in Bb (both also Bass Clarinet), 3 Bassoons (2nd and 3rd also Contrabassoon) ;
- 2 Horns in F, 4 Trumpets in C, 3 Trombones, Bass Tuba) ;
- Accordion, Harp, Piano 4 hands ;
- Percussions 1-4 ;
- 6 Horns and 6 Clarinets on stage ;
- Strings 14.12.10.8.6.

The cast includes tenor Roland Villazon (Robert Falcon Scott), baritone Thomas Hampson (Roald Amundsen), mezzo Tara Erraught (Kathleen Scott), tenor Kevin Conners (Edward "Uncle Bill" Wilson) and soprano Mojca Erdmann (Landlady). Kirill Petrenko conducts the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Hans Neuenfels directs.

The full score (2 volumes) can be downloaded from the publisher's website.

The duration should be about 2 hours. The first performance will be broadcast with a slight delay (the performance starts à 7:00 PM, the broadcast at 10:40 PM) by Arte.

Today : world première of Toshio Hosokawa's 'Stilles Meer' in Hamburg

Today, the Staatsoper Hamburg presents the world première performance of Toshio Hosokawa's new opera, Stilles Meer, with a libretto by Hannah Dübgen after an original text by Oriza Hirata based on the Noh play Sumidagawa and translated into German by Dorothea Gasztner. The same play was adapted by William Plomer for Benjamin Britten's first church parable Curlew River in 1964.

It is Hosokawa's fifth opera, after Vision of Lear (1998), Hanjo (2004), Matsukaze (2010) and The Raven (2012).

A hill with a wide view over the ocean. Claudia spents most of her time standing there since her husband Takashi and her son Max died in the tsunami. For every dead soul there is a lantern on the sea. Claudia's former boyfriend and father to her son implores her to look at the reality. But the reality is that the evacuation following the tsunami prevented the victim's bodies to be recovered. A ritual allows Claudia to see her child's soul, but she cannot let it go. The image fades away in her arms. (freely translated from the Staatsoper website).

The cast includes soprano Susanne Elmark (Claudia), mezzo-soprano Mihoko Fujimura (Haruko), countertenor Bejun Mehta (Stephan), tenor Viktor Rud (Hiroto) and baritone Marek Gasztecki (A Fisherman). Kent Nagano conducts the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg and the Vokalsolisten Hamburg. Oriza Hirata directs.

The orchestra is the following (according to the publisher's website, Schott Music, Tokyo) :

- 2 flutes (doubling piccolo and alto flute), 2 oboes (doubling English Horn), 2 clarinets (doubling bass clarinet), 1 bassoon, 1 contrabassoon ;
- 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba ;
- 4 percussions ,
- harp, celesta and strings.

The performance should last about 90 minutes. The first performance will be broadcast live by NDR Kultur.

Today : world première of Michael Wertmüller's 'Weine nicht, singe' in Hamburg

Today, the Staatsoper Hamburg presents on its second stage (Opera stabile) the world première performance of Weine nicht, singe, by composer Michael Wertmüller, with a libretto by Dea Loher.

The Levant. Mira, a fourteen-year-old girl, grandfather Zeno, mother Altai and father Ron are welcoming Aki, who left fifteen years ago. He wants to pay back the money he borrowed, trying to open an auto repair shop with his brothers in the South. But the borders were shut down. Now the former neighbor speaks a different language and believes in another God. and Mira shouts her hatred to him, because he has left his aunt Oona behind. But splinters in Zeno's brain hurts him : 'Mira has to make peace with her father' (free translation after the Staatsoper's website).

The cast includes actor Josef Ostendorf (Zeno), baritone Holger Falk (Aki), tenor Jürgen Sacher (Ron), soprano Ruth Rosenfeld (Altai), and actress Tina Keserovic (Mira). They are joined by the Ensemble Resonanz and the Steamboat Switzerland trio. Titus Engel conducts and Jette Steckel directs.

The opera should last about two hours.

Received in the mail this Friday morning

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

- Amsterdam, Het Concertgebouw : July-August 2014 agenda and magazine ;
- Limoges, Opéra-Théâtre : 2014-2015 season program brochure ;
- Vichy, Opéra : Summer season brochure ;
- Wien, Wiener Staatsoper : October 2014 leaflet.

Received in the mail this Friday morning

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

- Michel Legrand : Dreyfus, Nice, May 16, 2014 : program book for the world première performance ;

 
- Basel, Theater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Dortmund, Theater : 2014-2015 season program book and June-July 2014 leaflet ;
- Gera / Altenburg, Theater & Philharmonie Thüringen : 2014-2015 season program book, May and June 2014 leaflets ;
- Mannheim, Nationaltheater : June 2014 leaflet ;
- München, Bayerische Staatsoper : September to December 2014 brochure ;
- Münster, Theater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Saarbrücken, Saarländisches Staatstheater : June 2014 leaflet ;
- Zürich, Opernhaus : 2014-2015 season program book.

New Season 2014-2015 at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich

There is no world première scheduled next year at the Bavarian Opera in Munich, but a great deal of 20th century operas, new productions or revivals. Altogether, 7 new productions and 37 revivals, in 5 languages.

The 6 new productions are :

- Leos Janacek : The Makropulos Case, conducted by Tomas Hanus, directed by Arpad Schilling ;
- Giacomo Puccini : Manon Lescaut, conducted by Alain Altinoglu, directed by Hans Neuenfels ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : Lucia di Lammermoor, conducted by Kirill Petrenko, directed by Barbara Wysocka ;
- Alban Berg : Lulu, conducted by Kirill Petrenko, directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov ;
- Claude Debussy : Pelléas et Mélisande, conducted by Constantinos Carydis, directed by Christiane Pohle ;
- Richard Strauss : Arabella, conducted by Philippe Jordan, directed by Andreas Dresen ;
- Pierangelo Valtinoni : Pinocchio, conducted by Stellario Fagone, directed by Axel Ranisch.

The 37 following productions will be revived :

- Vincenzo Bellini : Norma, directed by Jürgen Rose ;
- Georges Bizet : Carmen, directed by Lina Wertmüller ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : L'Elisir d'amore, directed by David Bösch, and Roberto Devereux, directed by Christof Loy ;
- Engelbert Humperdinck : Hänsel und Gretel, directed by Richard Jones ;
- Claudio Monteverdi : L'Orfeo, directed by David Bösch ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus : La Clemenza di Tito, directed by Jan Bosse ; Cosi fan tutte, directed by Dieter Dorn ; Don Giovanni, directed by Stephan Kimmig ; Die Entführung aus dem Serail, directed by Martin Duncan ; Le Nozze di Figaro, directed by Dieter Dorn and Die Zauberflöte, directed by August Everding ;
- Jacques Offenbach : Les Contes d'Hoffmann, directed by Richard Jones ;
- Giacomo Puccini : La Bohème, directed by Otto Schenk ; Madama Butterfly, directed by Wolf Busse and Tosca, directed by Luc Bondy ;
- Gioachino Rossini : La Cenerentola, directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle ; Guillaume Tell, directed by Antu Romero Nunes and Il Turco in Italia, directed by Christof Loy ;
- Richard Strauss : Elektra, directed by Herbert Wernicke ; Die Frau ohne Schatteni directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski and Die schweigsame Frau directed by Barrie Kosky ;
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky : Eugene Onegin, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Falstaff, directed by Eike Gramss ; La Forza del destino, directed by Martin Kusej ; Don Carlo, directed by Jürgen Rose ; Nabucco, directed by Yannis Kokkos ; Rigoletto, directed by Arpad Schilling ; Simon Boccanegra, directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov ; La Traviata, directed by Günter Krämer and Il Trovatore, directed by Olivier Py ;
- Richard Wagner : Der Ring des Nibelungen, directed by Andreas Kriegenburg and Tristan und Isolde, directed by Peter Konwitschny ;
- Bernd Alois Zimmermann : Die Soldaten, directed by Andreas Kriegenburg.

New Season 2014-2015 at the Staatsoper Hamburg

During the 2014-2015 season, the Staatsoper Hamburg will perform the following 32 operas in 5 languages :

8 new productions (including 2 world premières) :

- Jacques Offenbach : La Belle Hélène, conducted by Gerrit Prießnitz, directed by Renaud Doucet ;
- Arthur Honegger : Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, conducted by Simone Young (in concert) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Luisa Miller, conducted by Simone Young, directed by Andreas Homoki ;
- Giacomo Puccini : La Fanciulla del West, conducted by Carlo Montanaro, directed by Vincent Boussard ;
- Erich Wolfgang Korngold : Die tote Stadt, conducted by Simone Young, directed by Karoline Gruber ;
- Beat Furrer : La bianca notte / Die helle nacht, conducted by Simone Young, directed by Ramin Gray (world première) ;
- Huw Watkins : In the Locked Room (German première) and Michael Langemann : Persona (world première), conducted by Daniel Carter, directed by Petra Müller.


and 24 revivals :

- Ludwig van Beethoven : Fidelio, directed by Hans Neuenfels ;
- Georges Bizet : Carmen, directed by Jens-Deniel Herzog ;
- Claude Debussy : Pelléas et Mélisande, directed by Willy Decker ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : L'Elisir d'amore, directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : Lucia di Lammermoor, directed by Sandra Leupold ;
- Georg Friedrich Haendel : Almira, directed by Jetske Mijnssen ;
- Engelbert Humperdinck : Hänsel und Gretel, directed by Peter Beauvais ;
- Leos Janacek : Jenufa, directed by Olivier Tambosi ;
- Leos Janacek : The Little Cunning Vixen, directed by Johannes Erath ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Die Entführung aus dem Serail, directed by Johannes Schaaf ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Le Nozze di Figaro, directed by Johannes Schaaf ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Die Zauberflöte, directed by Achim Freyer ;
- Francis Poulenc : Dialogues des Carmélites, directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff ;
- Giacomo Puccini : La Bohème, directed by Guy Joosten ;
- Giacomo Puccini : Madama Butterfly, directed by Vincent Boussard ;
- Gioachino Rossini : Il Barbiere di Siviglia, directed by Gilbert Deflo ;
- Gioachino Rossini : La Cenerentola, directed by Renaud Doucet ;
- Richard Strauss : Elektra, directed by August Everding ;
- Richard Strauss : Salome, directed by Willy Decker ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Aida, directed by Guy Joosten ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Un Ballo in maschera, directed by Alexander Schulin ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Simon Boccanegra, directed by Claus Guth ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : La Traviata, directed by Johannes Erath ;
- Richard Wagner : Tannhäuser, directed by Harry Kupfer.

New Season 2014-2015 at the Staatsoper in Berlin

This will be the fifth season of the Staatsoper Berlin in the Schiller Theater, while the house Unter den Linden is being renovated. There will be 6 new productions :

 
- Giacomo Puccini : Tosca, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, directed by Alvis Hermanis ;
- Benjamin Britten : The Turn of the Screw, conducted by Ivor Bolton, directed by Claus Guth ;
- Carl Maria von Weber : Der Freischütz, conducted by Sebastian Weigle, directed by Michael Thalheimer ;
- Richard Wagner : Parsifal, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov ;
- Georg Philipp Telemann : Emma und Eginhard, conducted by René Jacobs, directed by Eva-Maria Höckmayr ;
- Richard Strauss : Ariadne auf Naxos, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher, directed by Hans Neuenfels ;

The 16 following productions will be revived :

- Kurt Weill : Aufstieg unf Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, directed by Vincent Boussard ;
- Leos Janacek : From the House of the Dead, directed by Patrice Chéreau ;
- Leonard Bernstein : Candide, directed by Vincent Boussard ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Die Entführung aus dem Serail, directed by Michael Thalheimer ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Die Zauberflöte, directed by August Everding ;
- Charles Gounod : Faust, directed by Karsten Wiegand ;
- Gioachino Rossini : Il Barbiere di Siviglia, directed by Ruth Berghaus ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : La Traviata, directed by Peter Mussbach ;
- Alban Berg : Lulu, directed by Andrea Breth ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Macbeth, directed by Peter Mussbach ;
- Toshio Hosokawa : Matsukaze, directed by Sasha Waltz ;
- Morton Feldman : Neither, directed by Katie Mitchell ;
- Richard Wagner : Tannhäuser, directed by Sasha Waltz ;
- Igor Stravinsky : The Rake's progress, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski ;
- Richard Wagner : Tristan und Isolde, directed by Harry Kupfer ;
- Alban Berg : Wozzeck, directed by Andrea Breth.

In the Werkstatt of the Schiller Theater, 3 chamber operas are to be performed : Francis Poulenc, La Voix humaine, Marc Neikrug, Through Roses, Ernst Krenek, Tarquin.

The 22 operas in 5 languages cover a wide range of opera styles, from Telemann to Feldman. This is quite a promising season, though there are no world première. The last time a new opera was performed for the first time was in October 2010 with Metanoia by Jens Joneleit.

Received in the mail this Saturday

This Saturday,  I have received the following in the mail :

- Bremen, Theater : 2014-2015 season program ;
- Chemnitz, Theater : June 2014 leaflet ;
- Detmold, Landestheater : June 2014 leaflet ;
- Vienna, State Opera : September 2014 leaflet ;
- Paris, Cité de la Musique : Autumn 2014 program book ;
- Paris, Philharmonie : January to June 2015 program book.

Received yesterday in the mail

Yesterday, I received the following brochures in the mail :

- Berliner Philharmoniker, 2014-2015 season ;
- Bühnen Hannover : Magazin n° 5 (Hannoversche Allgemeine, April 25, 2014) ;
- Staatsoper Hannover : 2014-2015 season, with Konzerte 2014-2015 book and Schauspiel Hannover (2014-2015 season program book) ;
- Braunschweig, Staatstheater : June 2014 brochure ;
- Bonn, Theater : June-July 2014.

Next season, the Berliner Philharmoniker will perform the following operas :

- Hector Berlioz, La Damnation de Faust, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle (first in Baden-Baden in March and April 2015, then in Berlin) ;
- Jonathan Dove, Was lauert da im Labyrinth (The Monster in the Maze), conducted by Sir Simon Rattle (June 2015), world première performance of a new children opera, then to be performed by the London Symphony Orchestra ;
- Richard Strauss : Der Rosenkavalier in Baden-Baden (directed by Brigitte Fassbaender) in March and April 2015.

New Season 2014-2015 at the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera)

In the 2013-2014 season, the Vienna State Opera produced seven new productions, including a world première (Das Städtchen Drumherum, a children opera by Elisabeth Naske, in October 2013), three revivals and 41 repertoire productions.

In the 2014-2015 season, there will be one Austrian première (of a contemporary opera), 6 new productions, and 43 repertoire productions.

- Thomas Adès' The Tempest will be performed in June 2015, in the Robert Lepage production which premiered in Québec in July 2012 and was subsequently presented at the Met in New York the following October.

The new productions are :
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Idomeneo, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, directed by Kasper Holten ;
- Modest Mussorgsky : Khovanshchina, conducted by Semyon Bychkov, directed by Lev Dodin ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Rigoletto, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, directed by Pierre Audi ;
- Richard Strauss : Elektra, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, directed by Uwe Eric Laufenberg ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : Don Pasquale, conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos, directed by Irina Brook ;
- Albert Lortzing : Undine (in a version for children), conducted by Johannes Wildner, directed by Alexander Medem.

Repertoire operas are :
- Aida, Don Carlo, Nabucco, Simon Boccanegra and La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi ;
- Andrea Chénier by Umberto Giordano ;
- Anna Bolena, L'Elisir d'amore and Roberto Devereux by Gaetano Donizetti ;
- Arabella, Ariadne auf Naxos, Der Rosenkavalier and Salome by Richard Strauss ;
- Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola and L'Italiana in Algeri by Gioachino Rossini ;
- Cardillac by Paul Hindemith ;
- La Bohème, La Fanciulla del West, Madama Butterfly and Tosca by Giacomo Puccini ;
- Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflöte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ;
- Eugene Onegin and Pique Dame by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ;
- Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven ;
- Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauß
- Der fliegende Holländer, Parsifal, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Tannhäuser and Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner ;
- La Juive by Jacques Fromental Halévy ;
- Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Dmitri Shostakovich ;
- Manon and Werther by Jules Massenet ;
- I Puritani by Vincenzo Bellini ;
- Rusalka by Antonin Dvorak ;
- The Cunning Little Vixen by Leos Janacek.

With 50 operas in 6 languages (English, Italian, Russian, German, French, Czech) by 21 composers, the Vienne State Opera remains one of the most active opera houses in the world.

Recently, the following opera received its world premiere performance at the Vienna State Opera :
- Aribert Reimann : Medea, in February 2010.

If the Vienna State Opera is not the most active opera house in giving birth to new works, it produces a great variety of performances every year. Among the 50 operas to be performed next season, 4 have been composed in the last 100 years.

Just received this Tuesday

I have just received the following in the mail :
- June 2014 leaflet from the Wiener Staatsoper ;
- Programma preliminare of the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro.

This year, the program of the Rossini Opera Festival is the following :
- Armida, conducted by Carlo Rizzi, directed by Luca Ronconi
with Carmen Romeu, Randall Bills, Dmitry Korchak, Carlo Lepore, Antonino Siragusa
- Il Barbiere di Siviglia, conducted by Giacomo Sagripanti, in a semi-staged version
with Chiara Amaru, Felicia Bongiovanni, Paolo Bordogna, Alex Esposito
- Aureliano in Palmira, conducted by Will Crutchfield, directed by Mario Martone
with Lena Belkina, Raffaella Lupinacci, Jessica Pratt, Dempsey Crivera

It seems Aureliano in Palmira has been staged only twice since 1990 :
- in Savonne in October 1991 ;
- in Martina Franca in July 2011.