Dresden | News Music & Opera

Everyone to the Dresden Musikfestspiele because the world needs love!

admin_mowp — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 16:53:27 +0000

The magnificent city of Dresden will host the 48th edition of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele from May 17 to June 14, 2025, with love as the central theme of the season!

As always, Jan Vogler, the renowned cellist and artistic director of the festival, has invited leading orchestras and top-tier artists to celebrate their love for music in a program that blends classical music with world music, jazz, and even pop!

Classical music lovers can look forward to many highlights, including Siegfried, the next installment of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, performed by the Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln, under the baton of Kent Nagano, in a historically informed version.

Another landmark event is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jaap van Zweden, making a stop in Dresden during its European tour to perform Mahler’s Seventh Symphony.

Other prestigious ensembles include the London Symphony Orchestra, featuring the exquisite violinist Lisa Batiashvili under Antonio Pappano’s direction. Lahav Shani will lead the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Münchner Philharmoniker will present a program featuring Mahler’s tragic Sixth Symphony and Prayer by Tzvi Avni.

The NHK Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Fabio Luisi, will welcome the renowned Japanese violinist Akiko Suwanai, while the Camerata Salzburg will perform alongside the stunning Janine Jansen, and the Wiener Symphoniker will take the stage with French violinist Renaud Capuçon.

With Jan Vogler himself performing as a soloist, the 2025 edition of the festival will feature exceptional artists such as Sol Gabetta (with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden under Tugan Sokhiev), pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Mao Fujita in recital, and the brilliant Seong-Jin Cho alongside the Göteborgs Symfoniker under the inspired baton of Santtu-Matias Rouvali.

With a performance of Siegfried and an outstanding cast—including Derek Welton as the new Wotan/Wanderer—vocal artistry will also shine. Fatma Said, Lea Desandre, and Benjamin Appl will each offer a recital, which will surely be among the festival’s highlights.

Love is always in the air in Dresden, and especially during this edition of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele!

To book your tickets for the Dresdner Musikfestspiele’s festival, click here!

Affiche Dresdner Musikfestspiele 2025

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Siegfried from Dresden arrives at the Philharmonie de Paris, albeit with a slight delay

admin_mowp — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 09:33:41 +0000

For the past two seasons, this Wagnerian event has been taking place in Dresden with an incredible project led in collaboration by Jan Vogler and Kent Nagano. The two artists, supported by the Dresdner Festspielorchester in collaboration with Concerto Köln, have decided to revive the famous cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen in a historically informed interpretation.

The in-depth musicological research, notably conducted by PD Dr. Kai Hinrich Müller, has allowed for the rediscovery of period instruments, such as those specially commissioned by Wagner himself. The result is simply breathtaking! After Das Rheingold in 2022 and Die Walküre in 2023, Siegfried is now scheduled as part of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele this summer (specifically on June 14, 2025).

The fortunate audiences in Prague, Paris, and Cologne, ahead of those in Lucerne, will have the privilege of attending the performances first. Kent Nagano will return to the magnificent Státní opera in Prague for the first performance of Siegfried on April 1, 2025.

Then, it’s Paris’ turn, on April 4, 2025, to host the project for the first time, hoping that Götterdämmerung will be featured in 2026. Wagner’s masterpiece will then be performed on April 10, 2025, at the Köln Philharmonie before Dresden and finally Lucerne, which will host the event on September 12, 2025, as part of its prestigious Festival.

As an interesting note, Parisians will have the chance to see Derek Welton in the role of the Der Wanderer, having discovered him by chance in Das Rheingold when he stepped in at the last minute to replace the artist originally cast as Wotan. This promises to be a remarkable evening, an unprecedented Wagner performance rejuvenated!

To see Siegfried at the Philharmonie of Paris, click there!

Kent Nagano – c – Daniel Reinhardt

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In Dresden, Reconciliation After Destruction

admin_mowp — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 08:30:14 +0000

The city of Dresden, once considered the cultural jewel of Germany, suffered immense losses during the devastating bombings of February 13–15, 1945.

Eighty years later, with Dresden fully restored to its former glory, this somber anniversary will be marked by one of the most anticipated concerts of the season at the Dresden Philharmonie. On February 13, 2025, an emblematic work will be performed under the baton of Sir Donald Runnicles: Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. This masterpiece has been premiered in 1962 for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral (also severely damaged during World War II). Deeply anti-militarist, Britten envisioned uniting three singers from different nations—Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, English tenor Peter Pears, and German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau—to symbolize reconciliation. Following in their footsteps, Sara Jakubiak, Thomas Atkins, and Russell Braun will take the stage on February 13 to embody renewal, hope, and peace.

To see this concert event, click here!

Dresde après le bombardement de 1945 – c – Richard Peters

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Wagner in Dresden while waiting for Strauss

admin_mowp — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 09:00:19 +0000

Since 21 January 2024, the Semperoper in Dresden has been staging a revival of Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde under the musical direction of Christian Thielemann, marking an eagerly awaited debut for Klaus Florian Vogt in the role of Tristan. After an absence of more than ten years, Marco Arturo Marelli‘s production, first performed in 1995, will run until 3 February 2024. But another event will soon be taking place at the Semperoper in Dresden. Richard Strauss, another of Dresden’s great composers, will be in the spotlight from 27 March to 7 April 2024, as part of the Richard Strauss-Tagen in der Semperoper. During these Richard Strauss Days, a number of major titles are scheduled, including the impressive Elektra (intelligently directed by Barbara Frey) and Die Frau ohne Schatten, another great masterpiece where Christian Thielemann‘s direction is eagerly awaited with a luxury cast.

Discover these performances on the occasion of a musical stay in Dresden

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