Vienna | News Music & Opera

With Ophélie, Stéphane Degout Breaks the Hearts of His French Admirers

admin_mowp — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 08:30:14 +0000

After a rich Fauré Year in 2024, celebrating the centenary of the famous composer’s passing, a major event is on the horizon.

The Requiem, an absolute masterpiece by Fauré and a cornerstone of Western musical literature, will be conducted by Raphaël Pichon at the helm of Ensemble Pygmalion during a European tour from May 11 to 20, 2025.

The conductor, currently one of the most sought-after on the international scene, and his breathtaking ensemble are highly anticipated in this work—especially with the exceptional cast Pichon has assembled. Baritone Stéphane Degout is undoubtedly one of the finest interpreters of Fauré’s Requiem, alongside soprano Sabine Devieilhe, whose crystalline timbre will shine in the Pie Jesu.

As a bonus, the conductor had the brilliant idea of bringing these two great French stars together for excerpts from Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas, following their immense success on the Opéra-Comique stage in 2022.

Unfortunately, French audiences who have not yet secured their tickets for this Requiem for Ophélie may be disappointed. The Auditorium de Bordeaux on May 15, 2025, and the Philharmonie de Paris on May 20 are already sold out! To avoid missing the event, they will have to rush for the last remaining seats in Vienna (Konzerthaus, May 17), Valencia (Palau de la Música), or Madrid (Teatro Real)—fingers crossed!

Book your tickets now, click here!

Stéphane Degout & Sabine Devieilhe – c – Anna Dabrowska et Jean-Baptiste Millot

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A double event awaits Lise Davidsen

admin_mowp — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 08:30:15 +0000

The great soprano Lise Davidsen, who recently triumphed by stepping in for Anna Netrebko in Richard Strauss‘s Ariadne auf Naxos in Vienna, has just announced a double happy event. Indeed, the Wagnerian singer is expecting twins. At this time, we do not know if she will name them Sieglinde and Siegmund.

However, she is putting her career on hold and will be replaced in Vienna by Simone Schneider (Die Walküre) and Krassimira Stoyanova (Der Rosenkavalier), in London by Natalya Romaniw (Die Walküre), and at Barcelona’s Liceu by Asmik Grigorian in a Wagner concert alongside Matthias Goerne.

To see Die Walküre in Vienna, Click here!

c – Lise Davidsen

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Vienna loses its Ariadne thread with Netrebko!

admin_mowp — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 09:12:46 +0000

The major event of the Viennese season at the Staatsoper almost didn’t take place. Anna Netrebko’s debut in the title role of Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, originally scheduled for January 21, 2025, will not occur on that date.

The artist is not ready, but the production has been saved thanks to Lise Davidsen, another superstar soprano, who will replace her. Indeed, Anna Netrebko explained that she is “sad that [she] will not be interpreting this incredible new role but, because of the time unexpectedly lost, [she is] unable to prepare it to the standard [she] demand of [herself]”.

Fans of the diva need not worry: “Bogdan Roščić (editor’s note: the director of the Vienna Opera) and [she] are working to find a new period as soon as possible for [her] to sing it in Vienna.”

One’s misfortune is another’s good fortune, as Lise Davidsen, an artist highly renowned in the Wagnerian and Straussian repertoire, will take on the performances alongside Michael Spyres as Bacchus, Kate Lindsey as the Komponist, and Sara Blanch as Zerbinetta.

To be part of the public of Anna Netrebko’s other performances, go to our website!

Netrebko Anna © Rubio Dalmau Olga

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Raffaele Pe Takes La Lira on Tour!

admin_mowp — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 09:30:56 +0000

Raffaele Pe has more than one string to his bow. The superb Italian countertenor is also the artistic director of a baroque ensemble that brings together experienced musicians and musicologists, La Lira di Orfeo.

After a European tour that took them to London and Bologna in October 2024, they will return to their all-Vivaldi program in Florence in November and then in Vilnius in December. Alongside the “Red Priest’s” cantatas, opera will also be in the spotlight during two exceptional performances of Rodelinda, one of Handel’s masterpieces.

Surrounded by Karina Gauvin and Giuseppina Bridelli, among others, Raffaele Pe (in the role of Bertarido and as conductor) is invited to perform at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien on November 18, 2024, and in Rome at the Parco della Musica on November 22, 2024. Vienna will welcome the countertenor again in May 2025 for a highly anticipated performance of Ambleto, a virtuosic opera by Francesco Gasparini, staged by Ilaria Lanzino.

To book your tickets for Raffaele Pe performances, click there!

Raffaele Pe © Michele Monasta

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The new star of French piano at the Concertgebouw

admin_mowp — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 08:00:48 +0000

While enjoying an exemplary career, the young French pianist Jonathan Fournel (winner of the 2021 Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Music Competition) is continuing his meteoric rise. After a recent recital at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the holy of holies of concert halls, he returns to Beethoven at the Concertgebouw in Bruges this time, with the triple concerto, which he performs alongside Timothy Chooi on violin and Hayoung Choi on cello, other rising stars of the younger generation. Music lovers will then follow him to Vienna where he performs a Schubert, Franck and Szymanowski recital at the Konzerthaus on 29 May 2024.

Discover Jonathan Fournel in Vienna

Jonathan Fournel © Derek Prager / Concours Reine Elisabeth

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Franz Welser-Möst’s new battle

admin_mowp — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 08:00:33 +0000

The great conductor Franz Welser-Möst, former Music Director of the Vienna Opera and current Principal Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, will not be making his comeback as expected. Stricken with cancer, he has just undergone surgery, which now requires rest and treatment. He is therefore forced to cancel his engagements until the end of the year, but as his doctors are convinced that he will make a full recovery, he should return to the stage in January. We wish him a quick recovery.

Find your tickets for all of Vienna’s the classical performances

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The honourable and great Nina Stemme

admin_mowp — Wed, 03 May 2023 08:00:37 +0000

The news would almost have gone unnoticed, but on 23 April 2023, after an acclaimed performance of Lohengrin in which she performed as Ortrud, the great Wagnerian soprano Nina Stemme was made an honorary member of the Vienna State Opera, a title that crowns an exemplary career…

Your tickets for Nina Stemme’s performances

(c) Nina Stemme / Metropolitan Opera

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Vienna and Liège begin Dialogues

admin_mowp — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 08:00:25 +0000

Dialogues des Carmélites becomes a permanent fixture in the repertoire of major opera houses. Two new productions are expected in Vienna and Liège. Francis Poulenc‘s great masterpiece, which was last performed at the Vienna State Opera in 1964, returns from 21 May 2023, this time with a new production by Magdalena Fuchsberger in which Sabine Devieilhe is to be replaced by Nicole Car. At the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège from 21 June 2023, the role of Blanche is performed by the revelation Alexandra Marcellier in Marie Lambert-Le Bihan‘s production and conducted by Speranza Scappucci, whose return to Liège is expected.

Your tickets for Dialogues des Carmélites here

(c) Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège

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A Russian Parsifal in Vienna

admin_mowp — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 08:00:48 +0000

What if the best Parsifal of the season was Viennese? Wagner‘s opera will be performed at the prestigious Vienna State Opera from 6 to 16 April 2023, during Easter week as tradition demands. The sacred stage festival is conduted by Philippe Jordan, who has assembled a prestigious cast with Klaus Florian Vogt succeeding Jonas Kaufmann in the role of Parsifal. The staging by the Russian dissident Kirill Serebrennikov plunges the audience into the prison world of corrupt prisons. The convincing transposition was praised by the press, which noted the echo with our contemporary society. All similarities…

Find your tickets here

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Tugan Sokhiev in Toulouse not in New-York

admin_mowp — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 09:00:50 +0000

Double news for Tugan Sokhiev obliged to renounce to come to New York to conduct a concert on May 10-12, 2023, because of a schedule conflict (James Gaffigan is replacing him at the head of the New York Philharmonic). On the other hand, the Russian conductor who presided over the destiny of the Orchestre national du Capitole from 2008 to 2022 will return to the pink city at the Halle aux Grains on Saturday, March 18, 2023, this time at the head of the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker in a Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky program. In addition, the Orchestre national du Capitole has announced the name of his replacement. The 22 year old Finnish conductor, Tarmo Peltokoski becomes the new Music Director of one of the best French orchestras.

Your tickets here

Tugan Sokhiev (c) Marco Borggreve

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