Hamburg has been in the news of classical music for three years thanks to the grand opening of the impressive Elbphilharmonie. The concert hall is so successful that it is always fully booked. However, the novelty should not conceal yet another prestigious concert hall just as active and essential. The Hamburgische Staatsoper (Hamburg State Opera) with a three-hundred-year history. It has always been home to some of the biggest names in the opera scene, such as Gustav Mahler, Otto Klemperer, Eugen Jochum, Karl Böhm and more, conductors Simone Young and Kent Nagano, current music director of the institution. He is also the conductor of the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, the house orchestra that performs symphonic concerts at the Elbphilharmonie, but here again, to reserve your tickets, it is advisable to book early in the season. On the dance side, the opera is the hall of the Hamburg Ballet directed by the exceptional American choreographer John Neumeier.
It always is a good time to buy tickets for the Hamburg Opera as there are plenty of opportunities to visit the second largest city in Germany, be it for opera or ballet. Among the highlights of the season, the arrival of tenor superstar Jonas Kaufmann for a unique date in Bizet’s Carmen with the superb Clémentine Margaine.
Other very big stars are on display as Joseph Calleja and Nino Machaidze in Luisa Miller of Verdi. For Alcina, Haendel’s masterpiece, the Hamburgische Staatsoper brought together Franco Fagioli, Julia Lezhneva, Agneta Eichenholz and Sonia Prina under the direction of Riccardo Minasi. Also noteworthy is the Manon Lescaut by Puccini, defended by Kristine Opolais, alternating with María José Siri or Eugene Onegin with Bo Skovhus, to complete a truly prestigious poster.
Schumann’s magnificent Szenen aus Goethes Faust is staged by Achim Freyer with Christian Gerhaher, ideal baritone for this score directed by Kent Nagano, also featuring the Wagnerian tetralogy. The Ring des Nibelungen of Wagner is sufficiently rare this season but for that of the Hamburgische Staatsoper staged by Claus Guth with a Siegfried of reputation because it is Andreas Schager, one of the best current Wagner interpreters. One of the interests of the Hamburg Opera House is the diversity of its repertoire. Well-known titles such as Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro or Die Zauberflöte, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Puccini’s Tosca, Nabucco, Rigoletto and Verdi’s La Traviata rub shoulders with scarcer works or contemporary creation (like the highly anticipated Lessons in Love and Violence by Georges Benjamin).
Klaus Florian Vogt is starring Korngold’s Tote Stadt, Emily Magee features in Strauss’s Frau ohne Schatten. Another rarity of the German composer, Daphné, is embodied by Christiane Karg. Also worth mentioning is Verdi’s Don Carlos in the original French version. But there is so much to discover during the 2018-2019 season of the Hamburgische Staatsoper that all you just have to book your opera tickets. For Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West for example with Anja Kampeor for this beautiful Helen with Kate Aldrich and Max Emanuel Cencic.
And on the dance side, connoisseurs are perfectly spoiled here again with the great titles of the white ballet as Nutcracker, Don Quichotte but also Anna Karenina, The Lady with Camellias, Nijinsky as with the creations of the great choreographer John Neumeier for the Hamburg Ballett as Die Glasmenagerie inspired by Tennessee Williams or Gluck’s opera Orpheus and Eurydice. Hamburg is a must-see destination in Germany for music lovers!
