Discover the 2016-2017 season!
To discover the new program for the Zurich Opernhaus each season, is like tasting a good wine. The Swiss hall is a theater that welcomes the greatest artists without falling into the routine of endless Traviata and Carmen performances. The important repertoire is obviously on display at the prestigious hall, however there is also room for less known works, contemporary creations (including an Orest Trojahn of particular interest with Georg Nigl) or baroque opera.
The perfect acoustics allow the greatest voices to flourish as well as the smaller formats, giving free rein to all the nuances of classical singing. This season includes a beautiful series of recitals, with some legendary voices to applaud; Matti Salminen, Leo Nucci and Karita Mattila as the greatest current recitalists, Simon Keenlyside, Anne Sofie von Otter or divine Anja Harteros who will also be on stage in Verdi’s Don Carlo which promises to be magnificent. Ramón Vargas, Marina Prudenskaya, René Pape and Peter Mattei gem complete the cast. Verdi is particularly well served this 2016-2017 season, including Un Ballo in Maschera that also offers a near to perfect distribution (Marcelo Álvarez, Sondra Radvanovsky, George Petean, Marie-Nicole Lemieux).
The strength of the Zurich Opera House is to always offer its audience featured performers in an expected directory (Nadine Sierra in I Puritani, Gun-Brit Barkmin and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) or surprising with the famous Viennese operette Lehár , Das Land des Lächelns (the famous Land of smiles) defended by Piotr Beczala and Julia Kleiter, a real luxury. It was in Zurich that Juan Diego Flórez played his first Werther on stage. And not to mention Cecilia Bartoli who is a frequent guest of the theater. This season the brilliant superstar embodies the sorceress Alcina in Handel’s masterpiece where her lover will be no one else but the impressive Philippe Jaroussky.
Baroque music is beautifully defended by another familiar of the place, William Christie, who leads one of his favorite operas, Charpentier’s Medea. Stéphanie d’Oustrac is the perfect actress to incarnate the terrible character. Alongside the big names of the conductors, Fabio Luisi, Gianandrea Noseda, Vasily Petrenko … as usual, the younger generation of conductors equally has been invited to the Zurich Opernhaus, as Riccardo Minasi, Enrique Mazzola, Raphael Pichon (with Julie Fuchs in concert Gluck, Rameau highly anticipated) or Gianluca Capuano whom we discover in Orlando Paladino by Haydn (with the exceptional Michael Spyres and an impressive cast of talented artists). And Teodor Currentzis, the unclassifiable, directs Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Mozart with Olga Peretyatko and Pavol Breslik.
Space fails to mentions another very important part of the season´s program, dance. With a renowned artistic director (choreographer Christian Spuck who is succeeding Heinz Spoerli), the company has built a reputation that transcends borders. You can attend a dance performance with the guarantee of an absolutely wonderful evening. You just have to book seats at the Zurich Opera.
