Beethoven | News Music & Opera

Voltaire and Rameau Lose Their Hair at the Comique!

admin_mowp — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 09:52:25 +0000

Since this summer, music lovers have known that Voltaire aspired to provide Rameau with an opera libretto about Samson, the well-known biblical figure famous for his complicated history with the temptress Delilah, who cut his hair. Unfortunately, royal censorship refused to allow this sacred story to be staged in an opera (something Saint-Saëns would achieve years later with the success we all recognize). Rameau, who had already begun composing the music, was forced to abandon his opera and later repurposed his score in other works.

Voltaire is said to have told the composer: “I propose that we start a revolution together, for opera today has lost itself in the corridors of entertainment. It must allow us to read the world, to ask great questions.”

For Raphaël Pichon, the reason for the censorship is encapsulated in the final verses of Act III: “People, rise up. People, awaken. People, break your chains. Fight for your freedom.” On July 4, 2024, at the Théâtre de l’Archevêché in Aix-en-Provence (and not on July 14, the day of the storming of the Bastille), the brilliant conductor Raphaël Pichon unearthed a score that he had completely reworked for the world premiere of this Samson by Jean-Philippe Rameau, set to a libretto by Voltaire.

After its great critical and public success, Claus Guth’s production is now scheduled in Paris at the Opéra-Comique from March 17 to 23, 2025. While Jarrett Ott reprises his role as Samson from Aix, the Opéra-Comique presents a refreshed cast, with Ana Maria Labin as the new Delilah. She joins Julie Roset as Timna and Mirco Palazzi as Achisch, alongside the young and immensely talented singers Camille Chopin and Laurence Kilsby.

The Opéra-Comique has no intention of touching one hair on Raphaël Pichon, whose dynamism as a conductor has worked wonders more than once in this ideal acoustic setting. Let us recall the successes of Orphée et Eurydice by Gluck, Ercole Amante by Cavalli, Hippolyte et Aricie by Rameau, Fidelio by Beethoven, and Lakmé by Delibes, as well as Miranda, a pasticcio based on a work by Purcell, and Un Autre Voyage, inspired by Schubert’s operas— all conducted masterfully by Raphaël Pichon, a regular at the house!

To go seeing Raphaël Pichon conducting, click here !

Opera Comique & Raphaël Pichon – c – Stefan Brion & Piergab

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The Most Famous Viennese Director Passed Away

admin_mowp — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 09:30:29 +0000

On January 9, 2025, Viennese director Otto Schenk passed away at the age of 94.

He left an indelible mark on the world of opera with his remarkable productions, which have been performed across the global opera stage. The Met Opera in New York fondly remembers his grand Wagner productions, just as the Wiener Staatsoper continues to preserve his legacy.

This season, in addition to the recordings made freely available on the Austrian opera’s website, audiences can experience his stagings of Fidelio by Beethoven in February 2025 (featuring Michael Spyres and Bryn Terfel), L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti in March (with Nadine Sierra and Xabier Anduaga), Andrea Chénier by Giordano in April (starring Michael Fabiano, Sonya Yoncheva, and Luca Salsi), and finally, arguably his greatest masterpiece, Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss in June (with Lise Davidsen, Emily D’Angelo, and Sabine Devieilhe). Another iconic production, J. Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, has returned annually every December since 1979.

To see Otto Schenk’s productions at the Wierner Staatsoper, click here!

Der Rosenkavalier – c – Wiener Staatsoper / Michael Poehn

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Jérémie Rhorer Announces the Festivities Program

admin_mowp — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 11:49:15 +0000

On January 10, 2025, celebrations will take place at the Grand Théâtre de Provence with a New Year’s concert, whose program has just been unveiled.

Jérémie Rhorer, leading the Cercle de l’Harmonie—an ensemble in residence in Aix-en-Provence for eight years—will perform works by the two composers being honored in 2025. Johann Strauss II, the king of the waltz, will be celebrated on the 200th anniversary of his birth, while the 150th anniversary of Bizet’s death will be commemorated. Other composers like Offenbach, Gounod, and Delibes, who need no glitter to delight audiences, will also feature on the program.

Another highlight for the French conductor is the release of a recording on Alpha Classics dedicated to Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, presented during the 2024 Easter Festival with a vocal quartet featuring Chen Reiss, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Daniel Behle, and Tareq Nazmi.

To book your tickets for Jeremie Rhorer, go to our website !

Jérémie Rhorer – c – Caroline Doutre

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Daniil Trifonov, the American !

admin_mowp — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 08:00:45 +0000

Born in Russia, the talented pianist Daniil Trifonov has spent more than half of his life in the United States, where he moved to study at the age of 18. On the occasion of the release of his new CD My American Story: North, the pianist explores a wide repertoire, ranging from jazz to swing, minimalism, and film music.

Gershwin‘s and Mason Bates‘ concertos (the latter specially composed for him) are the main works recorded on this album. Meanwhile, in concert, his season is more Europe-focused, featuring mostly concertos by Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, and Dvořák.

Book your tickets for a concert of Daniil Trifonov

Couverture de l’album de Daniil Trifonov © Dario Acosta

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Lisbon’s low-key venue

admin_mowp — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 09:00:49 +0000

While it can boast a glorious past, Lisbon’s Teatro Nacional de São Carlos remains a low-key venue with a programme that European music lovers have been watching out for. The eighteenth-century theatre, located in the heart of the historic Chiado district, hosts only a handful of productions each season, as the institution has other, more modern venues at its disposal. With a concert version of Die Fledermaus and a semi-staged version of Trilogia das Barcas (a Portuguese opera by Joly Braga Santos), only three titles are staged: Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, which opened the season in October, Beethoven’s Fidelio, due to open in January 2024, and Verdi‘s truculent Falstaff, which will open in May 2024.

Discover Verdi’s Falstaff at Lisbon’s Teatro Nacional de São Carlos

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Sacred Easter Festival in Aix

admin_mowp — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 08:00:27 +0000

The line-up for the 11th Festival de Pâques d’Aix-en-Provence has been unveiled by Dominique Bluzet, the Festival’s Executive Director, and Renaud Capuçon, its Artistic Director, with, as usual, events featuring major international stars such as conductors Tugan Sokhiev, Daniele Gatti, François-Xavier Roth, Christoph Eschenbach and Jean-Claude Casadesus, pianists Alexandre Kantorow and Elisabeth Leonskaja and, violinists Gil Shaham, Pinchas Zukerman and of course, Renaud Capuçon himself. But this new season is marked by a profusion of great sacred works, with particularly dazzling casts. In addition to the traditional Bach Passion on Good Friday (conducted by Andrea Marcon), Jérémie Rhorer conducts Beethoven‘s powerful Missa solemnis (with Chen Reiss), Laurence Equilbey brings us the famous Messiah sung by Sandrine Piau and Jakub Józef Orlinski among others, while Marc Minkowski returns with La Resurrezione, another Handel masterpiece that he conducts like no other. Finally, Bach’s testamentary work, the famous Mass in B BWV 232, will be conducted by Raphaël Pichon with his Ensemble Pygmalion and familiar artists such as the incredible Lucile Richardot – great musical moments in store!

Discover the 11th Festival de Pâques d’Aix-en-Provence

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The Osterfestspiele 2020 in Baden-Baden pays tribute to Beethoven

admin_mowp — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 07:00:25 +0000

From 4 to 13 April 2020, the Osterfestspiele, the prestigious Baden-Baden Easter Festival pays tribute to Beethoven with a remarkable Fidelio, directed by Mateja Koleznik. With subtlety and greta talent, Kirill Petrenko will direct the Berliner Philharmoniker and a distribution of great artists such as Marlis Petersen (Leonore) or Matthew Polenzani (Florestan).

Also on the program at the Festspielhaus, the Missa Solemnis, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 conducted by Petrenko and the visit of great guest conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Seguin, Tugan Sokhiev and Herbert Blomstedt.

More info & booking for the festival here.

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