Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Don Giovanni
Sat, Feb. 26, 2022, 7.00 pm - 10.20 pm
Musikalische Leitung
Adam Fischer
Musical Direction
Birthplace:
Budapest, Hungary
Studies:
Composition and conducting in Budapest as well as in Vienna with the legendary Hans Swarowsky
Prizes:
Wolf Prize in Music for his outstanding artistic achievements and his humanitarian commitment (2018), International Classical Music Award for the complete recording of all Mozart symphonies (2015), two Echo Klassik-Awards for the recordings of all Joseph Haydn symphonies (2006 and 2008), "Conductor of the Year" for his production "Der Ring des Nibelungen" (Opernwelt-Magazin, 2002), two Grand Prix du Disque awards (1980 and 1987), et al.
Adam Fischer is an honorary member of the Wiener Staatsoper and the Musikverein für Steiermark in Graz. He is the bearer of the Order of Dannebrog awarded by the Danish Queen and was awarded the title of Honorary Professor by order of the Austrian Federal President.
Repertoire:
Extensive German and Italian opera repertoire
Career stages:
Founder and Artistic Director of the Budapest Wagner Days (since 2008), Principal Conductor of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker (since 2015) and Artistic Advisor of the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Chief Conductor of the Danish Chamber Orchestra (since 1998), Founder of the Haydn Days in Eisenstadt (founded in 1987) and founder as well as honorary conductor of the Haydn Philharmonie, Artistic director of the Budapest Opera (2007 to 2010), general music director in Mannheim (2000-2005), Kassel (1987 to 1992), Freiburg (1981 to 1983), as well as after his studies répétiteur and conductor in Graz, Helsinki, Karlsruhe and Munich
Stages:
Wiener Staatsoper, Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Bayerische Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, Oper Zürich, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra Bastille, Salzburger Festspiele, Bayreuther Festspiele, Musikverein Wien, New York Carnegie Hall, Barbican Centre and Royal Festival Hall London, Elbphilharmonie, Philharmonie Berlin, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, et al.
Cooperation with orchestras:
Wiener Philharmoniker and Wiener Symphoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Bamberger Symphoniker, Münchner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Orchestre de Paris, Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, et al.
Find further information about Adam Fischer here.
photo: Nikolaj Lund
Chor
Christian Günther
Associate Chorus Master
Birthplace:
Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Studies:
Conducting at University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, conducting lessons with Neeme Järvi, Jorma Panula and Gianluigi Gelmetti
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Assistant Chorus Master at Hamburg State Opera since the 2019/20 season
Career stages:
Assistant of the Chorus Master at Hamburg State Opera (2008-2019), regular guest appearances at NDR-Chorus (since 2018), Guest Chorus Master at Zürich Opera House (2018), Assistant of Eberhard Friedrich with the Chorus of the Bayreuth Festival (2017), Guest engagements at Music Festival Bremen, at Festival der Projektgruppe Neue Musik Bremen as well as at Oh Ton-Ensemble Oldenburg, Leader of the Ensemble “Atelier Neue Musik”, Lectureship at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen (since 2007), Associate Chorus Master and Leader of the children's chorus at Theater Bremen (2002-2007), 2nd Capellmeister at Theater Bremen (2005-2007), Conductor of the Ensemble “piano possible” Munich (1996-2007), Guest répétiteur at Stuttgart State Theater, Theater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich and at the Biennale in Munich
Cooperation with choruses:
Chorus of Hamburg State Opera, NDR Chorus, Children's chorus of Theater Bremen, et al.
Don Giovanni
Andrei Bondarenko
Birthplace:
Ukraine
Studies:
National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music (Kiev)
Prizes:
BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Comtetition Song Prize (2011),7th International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition (2010), all-Russian Nadezhda Obukhova Young Vocalists’ Festival (2008), first prize International Rimsky-Korsakov vocal competition St. Petersburg (2006), first prize international vocal competition “ Art in the 21st Century”, diploma at the Ukrainian competition “New Ukrainian Voices”
Stages:
Opernhaus Zürich, Palm Beach Opera, Münchner Opernfestspiele, Bayerische Staatsoper, München, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Scottish Opera, Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, Oper Köln, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dallas Opera, Oper im Steinbruch St Margarethen, Vilnius City Opera, Israeli Opera, Tel Aviv, Perm Opera, Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, Perm Opera, Teatro Real de Madrid, Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Opera, Oper Stuttgart, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Valery Gergiev, Ivor Bolton, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Vasily Petrenko, Enrique Mazzola, Kirill Karabits, Teodor Currentzis, Emmanuel Villaume, Omer Meir Wellber, Alain Altinoglou, Daniele Callegari, Lorenzo Viotti, Stefano Ranzani, Giacomo Sagripanti, Giampaolo Bisanti, Ivan Repušic, Dmitry Kitajenko, Cornelius Meister, et al.
Leporello
Luca Pisaroni
Bass-baritone
Birthplace:
Busseto (Parma), Italy
Studies:
Conservatorio G. Verdi, Milano
Prizes:
Opera News Award in New York City (2019)
Important parts:
Don Giovanni/Leporello (Don Giovanni), Four Villains (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Enrico VIII (Anna Bolena), Giorgio (I Puritani), Maometto (Maometto II), Méphistophélès (Faust), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Mustafà (L’Italiana in Algeri), Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Pizarro (Fidelio), Lorenzo da Ponte (The Phoenix), Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande), Conte Rodolfo (La Sonnambula), Caliban (The Enchanted Island), Conte Dorval (Martin y Soler’s: Il Burbero di Buon Cuore),), Tiridate (Radamisto), Argante (Rinaldo)
Stages:
Salzburg Festival, Opernhaus Zürich, Wiener Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper, Glyndebourne Festival, Metropolitan Opera, Teatro Real, Teatro alla Scala, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, De Nederlandse Opera, Wiener Festwochen, San Francisco Opera, Zaryadye Hall in Moscow, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Houston Grand Opera, Royal Opera House London
Cooperations with directors:
Robert Carsen, Deborah Warner, Claus Guth, David Alden, Martin Kusej, La fura dels Baus, Robert Wilson, Phelim McDermott, Sven-Eric Bechtolf, Michael Haneke, David McVicar et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, James Levine, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Andris Nelsons, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Sir Simon Rattle, Mariss Jansons, Jeffrey Tate, Jaap van Zweden, Edo de Waart, Pablo Heras-Casado, Riccardo Muti, Daniele Gatti, Manfred Honeck, Daniel Harding et al.
Find further information about Luca Pisaroni here.
photo: Chris Singer
Donna Anna
Nadezhda Pavlova
Nadezhda Pavlova startete ihre Karriere in der russischen Republik Karelien, zuerst als Studentin an der Musikhochschule der Hauptstadt Petrosawodsk, dann als Solistin am dortigen Opernhaus. Kurz nachdem Teodor Currentzis zum Künstlerischen Leiter der Staatsoper Perm ernannt wurde, wechselte die Sopranistin ebenfalls nach Perm, wo sie seit 2012/13 Solistin ist.
Für ihre Interpretation der Titelrolle von „La traviata“ erhielt Nadezhda Pavlova 2017 die „Goldene Maske“, den bedeutendsten russischen Theaterpreis. Unter Currentzis sang sie diese Partie im Oktober 2018 in einer konzertanten Aufführung auch in der Elbphilharmonie, wofür sie vom Publikum mit Standing Ovations bedacht wurde. Sie ist regelmäßig als Gastsolistin am Musiktheater zu erleben, u.a. auch an der Lettischen National¬oper. Auf der Opernbühne feierte sie Erfolge in Partien wie der Titelrolle in Donizettis „Lucia di Lammermoor“, in Poulencs „Les dialogues des Carmélites“ und Honeggers „Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher“. Ihr Konzertrepertoire umfasst Werke von Bach bis Strauss sowie Liederzyklen russischer Komponisten. Nadezhda Pavlova ist Preisträgerin mehrerer internationaler Wettbewerbe sowie Honored Artist der russischen Föderation.
Don Ottavio
Dovlet Nurgeldiyev
Tenor
Birthplace:
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Studies:
Vocal studies at the Music College in Ashgabat, at the Turkmen National Conservatory, at the Conservatory Tilburg and at Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio (2008/9-2009/10)
Ensemble member since 2010/11
Important parts:
Fenton (Falstaff), Nemorino (L’Elisir d’Amore), Alfredo (La Traviata), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Lensky (Eugene Onegin), Vladimir (Prince Igor), Telemaco (Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria), Alfred (Die Fledermaus), Chevalier (Dialogues des Carmelites), Hylas (Les Troyens), Macduff (Macbeth), Ismaele (Nabucco), Cassio (Otello), Naraboth (Salome), Medoro (Orlando Paladino), Belfiore (La finta giardiniera), et al.
Stages:
Hamburgische Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Münchner Opernfestspiele, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Ungarische Staatsoper, Polnische Staatsoper, Opéra National de Montpellier, Opéra de Rouen Normandie, Auditorium de Bordeaux, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Laeizhalle Hamburg, Prinzregententheater München, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Hans Neuenfels, Marie-Eve Signeyrole, Renaud Doucet, Vincent Boussard, Jette Steckel, Willy Decker, Axel Ranisch, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Ivor Bolton, Kent Nagano, Bertrand de Billy, Keri Lynn Wilson, Philippe Auguin, Lothar Zagrosek, Michael Schonwandt, Stefan Soltesz, Henrik Nánási, Stefano Ranzani, Andrea Battistoni, Simone Young, et al.
photo: Henriette Mielke
Il Commendatore
Alexander Vinogradov
Bass
Birthplace:
Russia
Studies:
Moscow Conservatory
Important parts:
Escamillo (Carmen), Filippo II (Don Carlo), Conte di Walter (Luisa Miller), Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra), Zaccaria (Nabucco), Ruy Gomez da Silva (Ernani), Procida (Les Vêpres siciliennes), Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Colline (La bohéme), Timur (Turandot), Méphistophélès (Faust), Méphistophélès (La damnation de Faust), Frère Laurent (Roméo et Juliette), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Rossini’s “Petite Messe Solennelle”, Dvoraks’s “Stabat Mater”, Verdi’s “Messa da Requiem”
Stages:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, Washington Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Paris, Théâtre du Châtelet de Paris, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Opernhaus Zürich, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Palau de les Arts de Valencia, Teatro Real de Madrid, San Diego Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Ravinia Festival, New National Theatre in Tokyo, Teatro Colòn de Buenos Aires, Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Arena di Verona
Cooperation with conductors:
Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Myung-Whun Chung, Gustavo Dudamel, Lawrence Foster, Valerij Gergeev, Mariss Jansons, Philippe Jordan, Vladimir Jurowski, Lorin Maazel, Kent Nagano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Antonio Pappano, Vasilj Petrenko, Helmuth Rilling, Yuri Temirkanov
photo: Polina Plotnikova
Donna Elvira
Jana Kurucová
Mezzosoprano
Birthplace:
Kežmarok, Slovakia
Education / Studies:
Classical singing at the Konzervatórium J. L. Bellu in Banska Bystrica, in Bratislava as well as at the Musikhochschule in Graz, opera studio of the Bayerische Staatsoper (season 2005/2006), ensemble member of the Theater Heidelberg (2006 to 2009), ensemble member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin ( 2009 to 2018)
Important parts:
Niklausse/Muse (Les contes d‘Hoffmann), Prinz Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus), Isolier (Le comte Ory), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Marta (Faust), Carmen (Carmen), Elisabetta (Maria Stuarda), Romeo (I capuleti e i Montecchi), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Meg Page (Falstaff), Fuchs (Das schlaue Füchslein), Maffio Orsini (Lucrezia Borgia), Melisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Mercedes (Carmen), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Fenena (Nabucco), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Idamante (Idomeneo), Sesto (La clemenza di tito), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Ramiro (La finta giardiniera), Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), et al.
Stages:
Teatro de la Maestranza in Sevilla, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Nationaltheater Prag, Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Oper Peking, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Oslo, Semperoper Dresden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, New National Theater Tokyo, Musikfestival Klangvokal in Dortmund, Banská Bystrica, Festival Svátky hudby v Praze, Filharmonie Reduta in Bratislava, Bratislava Nationaltheater, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Laurent Pelly, David Alden, Robert Borgmann, Philipp Himmelmann, Katharina Thalbach, David Herrmann, Roland Schwab, Philipp Stölzl, Christof Loy, Kirsten Harms, Andreas Homoki, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Pedro Halffter, Enrique Mazzola, Michele Mariotti, Ido Arad, Donald Runnicles, Daniel Cohen, Stefan Soltesz, Fabio Luisi, Zubin, Mehta, Alessandro de Marchi, Jacques Lacombe, Omer Meir Wellber, Carlo Rizzi, Ivan Repusic, Moritz Gnann, Jonathan Darlington, Marco Letonja, Francesco Ivan Ciampa, Giacomo Sagripanti, Constantin Trinks, Yves Abel, Ottavio Dantone, Matteo Beltrami, Jonathan Nott, et al.
Find further information about Jana Kurucová here.
photo: Bettina Volke
Zerlina
Julia Lezhneva
Soprano
Birthplace:
Sakhalin, Russia
Studies:
Moscow Conservatory Academic Music College, London’s Guildhall School
Master class:
with Elena Obraztsova, Alberto Zedda, Richard Bonynge and Thomas Quasthoff
Prizes:
Singer of the year at OPUS Klassik 2018, ECHO classical prize, first prize at the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition in Helsinki (2009), first prize at the Paris International Opera Competition (2010)
Important roles:
Morgana (Alcina), (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Angelica (Orlando Furioso), Galatea (Polifemo), Susanna/Barberina (Le nozze di Figaro), Asteria (Tamerlano)
Stages:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centrein London, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Lincoln Center in New York, NHK Hall in Tokyo, Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Madrid Auditorium, Salle Pleyel, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Wiener Konzerthaus, Theater an der Wien, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Philharmonie Essen, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Palais de Beaux Arts in Brussels, The Bolshoi Theatre, Melbourne Recital Centre, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Salzburger Festspiele, Salzburg Mozartwoche, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Chorégies d’Orange, Verbier Festival, Händel-Festspiele Halle, Quincena Musical, Wratislawia Cantans, Misteria Paschalia, Rossini Opera Festival, S. Richter “December Nights” Festival in Moscow, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Lucerne Festival, Dubrovnik Festival, Kissinger Sommer, Nordland Musikfestukke Bodö, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Kasper Holten, Uwe Eric Laufenberg, Christof Loy, Gilbert Deflo, Max Emanuel Cencic, Rolando Villazón et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Marc Minkowski, Giovanni Antonini, Adam Fischer, Sir Antonio Pappano, Herbert Blomstedt, Alberto Zedda, Paavo Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Philippe Herreweghe, Franz Welser-Möst, Sir Roger Norrington, René Jacobs, Andrea Marcon, Fabio Biondi, Jean-Christoph Spinosi, Diego Fasolis, Ottavio Dantone, Konrad Junghänel, et al.
Find further information about Julia Lezhneva here.
photo: Ksenia Zasetskaya
Masetto
Alexander Roslavets
Bass
Birthplace:
Brest, Belarus
Studies:
Rimsky-Korsakov Staatskonservatorium in St. Petersburg bei Professor Nikolai Okhotnikov (2009-2014), Young Artist Programme Bolschoi-Theater in Moskau (2014-2016)
Master classes:
With Elena Obraztsova, Edda Moser, Dmitry Vdovin, Evgeny Nesterenko, Irina Bogacheva, Lubov Orfenova, Neil Shicoff, Bernd Weikl, Carol Vaness, John Fisher
Prizes:
Third prize in the first International Music Competition in Harbin (2018), third and special prize in the Queen Sonja International Music Competition (2017), second prize in the second International Opera Singing Competition of Portofino (2017), special prize in the 36th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition (2017), grand prix and audience prize in the second International Eva Marton singing competition in Budapest (2016), second prize in the sixth Galina Vishnevskaya International Opera Singers Competition (2016), grand prix in the Special Foundation Of The President Of Belarus Supporting Talented Youth (2016), first prize in the seventh International Competition of Opera Singers in Saint-Petersburg (2015), diploma in the 10th Elena Obraztsova International Competition Of Young Opera Singers (2015), special prize in the first International Christmas Vocal Competition in Minsk (2014), grand prix in the 42nd Russian National Vocal Graduates Competition in St. Petersburg (2014)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since 2016/17
Important parts:
Malyuta Skuratov (Die Zarenbraut), Mephistopheles (Faust), König Dodon (Der goldene Hahn), Colline (La Bohème), Bartolo (Le Nozze de Figaro), Commenadatore, Masetto (Don Giovanni), Brander (La Damnation de Faust), Il Conte di Monterone (Rigoletto), 5.Jude (Salome), Lodovico (Otello), Il Sagrestano und Cesare Angelotti (Tosca), Raimondo Bidebent (Lucia di Lammermoor), Peter Quince (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Lo zio Bonzo (Madama Butterfly), Don Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Fafner (Das Rheingold), Fafner (Siegfried), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), King René (Iolanta), Banco (Macbeth), Prince Gremin (Eugen Onegin), Daland (Der Fliegende Holländer), Vodnik (Rusalka), Dulcamara (L’Elisir d’Amore), Ali Baba (Ali Baba), et al.
Stages:
Mikhailovsky Theater, Bolschoi Theater, Tschaikowsky-Konzertsaal in Moskau, Bolschoi Theater in Weißrussland, St. Petersburger Philharmonie benannt nach Schostakowitsch, Ungarische Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Berliner Philharmoniker, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Rimas Tuminas, Calixto Bieito, Tito Capobianco, Paul Curran, Stanislav Gaudasinsky, Peter Stein, Alexey Stepaniuk, Achim Freyer, Liliana Cavani, Mariusz Trelinski, Melly Still, Jan Bosse, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Adam Fischer, Robin Ticciati, Henrik Nanasi, Vladimir Jurowski, Ainars Rubikis, Daniele Rustioni, Tugan Sokhiev, Fabio Mastrangelo, Anton Grishanin, Michal Klauza, Gregor Bühl, Kent Nagano, Paolo Carignani, Renato Palumbo, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Yves Abel, Stefano Ranzani, Carlo Rizzari, Christof Prick, Nathan Brock, Sergei Stadler, Yuri Simonov, Michail Jurowski, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Alexander Anisimov, et al.
photo: Jörn Kipping
Amor/Tod
Anne Müller
Actress
Anne Müller
Actress
Birthplace:
Oslo, Norway
Studies:
Acting at Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover
Prizes:
Young actress of the year (critics survey by von „Theater heute“)
Important parts:
Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), Jungfrau von Orléans (Die Jungfrau von Orléans), Käthchen (Das Käthchen von Heilbronn), Gertrud (Gertrud), Abigail (Hexenjagd), Emilia Galotti (Emilia Galotti), Iphigenie (Die Rasenden), Senta (Der Fliegende Holländer), Elfriede Jelinek (Am Königsweg), Mann (Die Nacht kurz vor den Wäldern), et al.
In addition to her theatre work, she works regularly for film and television productions. Currently in “Dogs of Berlin”, “Babylon Berlin”, “Between us the Wall”.
Stages:
Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg, Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt am Main, Schauspiel Hannover, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Karin Beier, Antú Romero Nunes, Frank Castorf, Christoph Marthaler, Falk Richter, Armin Petras, Anna Bergmann, Sebastian Baumgarten, Jan Bosse, Robert Borgmann, et al.
photo: Matthias Scheuer
Orchester
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
The Philharmonic State Orchestra is Hamburg’s largest and oldest orchestra, looking back on many years of musical history. When the “Philharmonic Orchestra” and the “Orchestra of the Hamburg Municipal Theatre” merged in 1934, two tradition-steeped orchestras combined. Philharmonic concerts have been performed in Hamburg since 1828, artists such as Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms being regular guests of the Philharmonic Society. The history of the opera company goes back even further: Hamburg has been home to musical theatre since 1678, even if a regular opera or theatre orchestra was only formed later. To this day, the Philharmonic State Orchestra has embodied the sound of the Hansa City, a concert and opera orchestra in one.
During its long history, the orchestra encountered great artist personalities. Apart from composers of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, such as Telemann, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mahler, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, since the 20th century chief conductors such as Karl Muck, Joseph Keilberth, Eugen Jochum, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Aldo Ceccato, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gerd Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher and Simone Young have shaped the orchestra’s sound. Renowned conductors of the pre-war era such as Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Karl Böhm and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt gave brilliant performances, as did outstanding conductors of our times: suffice it to mention Christian Thielemann, Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Petrenko, Sir Neville Marriner, Valery Gergiev and Sir Roger Norrington.
Starting with the 2015/2016 season, Kent Nagano has taken on the position of Hamburg’s General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the Hamburg State Opera. In his first season Kent Nagano initiated a new project, the Philharmonic Academy, focusing on experimentation and chamber music. In 2016 Nagano and the Philharmonic undertook a successful three-week concert tour in South America, a tour of Spain followed in 2019. Since 2017 Kent Nagano and the Philharmonic State Orchestra have continued the traditional Philharmonic Concerts at the new Elbphilharmonie, for which they commissioned Jörg Widmann to compose the oratorio ARCHE, which was given its world premiere during the hall’s opening festivities. The concert recording has been released at ECM.
The Philharmonic State Orchestra offers approximately 35 concerts per season and performs more than 240 performances per year at the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier, making it Hamburg’s busiest orchestra. The stylistic bandwidth covered by the 140 musicians, ranging from historically informed performance practice to contemporary works and including concert, opera and ballet repertoire, is unique throughout Germany. Chamber Music has a long tradition at the Philharmonic State Orchestra: what began in 1929 with a concert series for chamber orchestra has been continued since 1968 by a series of chamber music only.
In 2008 Simone Young and the Philharmonic State Orchestra won the Brahms Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society. The orchestra has recorded the complete Ring by Wagner as well as the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner – the latter in the rarely-performed original versions – as well as works by Mahler, Hindemith and Berg, and has released DVDs of opera and ballet productions by Hosokawa, Offenbach, Reimann, Auerbach, J.S. Bach, Puccini, Poulenc and Weber.
The members of the Philharmonic State Orchestra feel equally beholden to Hamburg’s musical tradition and responsible for the city’s artistic future. Since 1978 the musicians have been participating in education programmes in Hamburg’s schools. Today, the orchestra maintains a broad education programme, including school and kindergarten visits, patronage for music projects, introductory events for children and family concerts. The orchestra’s own academy prepares young musicians for their professional careers. The Philharmonic’s musicians thereby make an equally enjoyable and valuable contribution to tomorrow’s music education in the music metropolis of Hamburg.
photo: Foto: Felix Broede
Chor
Chor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper
The chorus members appear on stage at the Hamburg State Opera in a different role almost every night. From one day to the next, they might be sailors, gypsies, pilgrims or conspirators, then courtiers, hunters, the deranged or the imprisoned. In the role of crusaders in I Lombardi alla prima Crociata they travel to Jerusalem, other nights they are invited to Madama Butterfly's marriage or acclaim Prince Igor. The ladies and gentlemen of the opera chorus demonstrate their artistic prowess, their flexibility, and their love of the stage in every performance.
With a membership around 70, the chorus of the Hamburg State Opera has been one of the world’s best opera choruses for many years. The varied repertoire – almost always in the original language – is multifaceted and includes baroque operas and dramatic operas, major works by Verdi and Wagner as well as contemporary pieces. At the start of the 2013/14 season, Eberhard Friedrich took over the post of Chorus Master.
