Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Le Nozze di Figaro
Wed, Nov. 23, 2022, 7.00 pm - 10.30 pm
Musikalische Leitung
Alessandro De Marchi
Conductor
Birthplace:
Rome, Italy
Studies:
Organ and composition at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia, chamber music and baroque performance practice at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis
Prizes:
Echo Award Category Solo Recording of the Year/Vocals (opera arias)
(2015)
Repertoire:
Monteverdi, Cavalli, Vivaldi, Händel, Pergolesi, Keiser, Haydn, Mozart, Bellini, De Marchi, et.al.
Stages:
Mailand La Scala, Venedig La Fenice, Neapel Teatro San Carlo, Paris Champs Elysées, Brüssel la Monnaie, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Opéra de Lyon, et.al.
Cooperation with orchestras:
Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre National de France, Orchestra sinfonica dell’Accademia di S. Cecilia, Orchestra sinfonica dell’Accademia della Scala, Orchestra della Fenice, Orchestra del Maggio musicale fiorentino, et.al.
Find further information about Alessandro De Marchi here.
photo: Sandra Hastenteufel
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.
Il Conte d'Almaviva
Andrei Bondarenko
Baritone
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.
La Contessa d'Almaviva
Maria Bengtsson
Soprano
Birthplace:
Trelleborg, Sweden
Studies:
Freiburg University of Music, 1995 to 2000 with Beata Heuer-Christen in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Important parts:
Contessa (Nozze di Figaro), Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), Rusalka (Rusalka), Countess (Capriccio), Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes), et al.
Stages:
Vienna State Opera, Opéra de Paris, Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, Teatro Real Madrid, Komische Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Theater an der Wien, Teatro San Carlo Naples, Staatsoper Hamburg, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Carinthischer Sommer, Berliner Festspiele, Konzerthaus Wien, Musikverein Wien, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Brucknerhaus Linz, Klangbogen Festival Wien, Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon, Teatro Nacional Sao Carlos Lisbon, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Oper Frankfurt, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Calixto Bieito, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Kirill Petrenko, Riccardo Muti, Simone Young, Bertrand de Billy, Thomas Hengelbrock, et al.
Find further information about Maria Bengtsson here.
photo: Monika Rittershaus
Susanna
Narea Son
Soprano
Birthplace:
Seoul, South Korea
Studies:
Bachelor's degree at Seoul National University, master's degree opera and concert exam opera at Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg
Master class:
with bei Edita Gruberová, Jaume Aragall, Cheryl Studer, Mariella Devia, Thomas Quastoff, Edda Moser, Brigitte Fassbaender und Joyce DiDonato at Carnegie Hall in New York with Live Stream by Arte TV, et al.
Important parts:
Adele (Die Fledermaus), Pamina (Erzittre, feiger Bösewicht!, Neufassung der Zauberflöte von J. Harneit), Marzelline (Fidelio), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Katze Ivanka ( U.A. Katze Ivanka ), Ljusja (Moskau, Tscherjomuschki ), Marthe, Sorge, Seliger Knabe und Sopran Solo ( Szenen aus Goethes Faust), Javotte (Manon), Echo (Ariadne auf Naxos), Oberto (Alcina), et al.
Stages:
Hamburgische Staatsoper, Theater Bremen, Sejong Center (Seoul Metropolitan Opera), Shanghai Grand Theater, Geumho-Konzerthalle, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Achim Freyer, Philipp Stölzl, Georges Delnon, Vera Nemirova, David Bösch, BARBE&DOUCET et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Kent Nagano, Alexander Joel, Johannes Fritzsch, Massimo Zanetti, Christopher Moulds, Renato Palumbo, Axel Kober, Jonathan Darlington, et al.
photo: Martina Cyman
Figaro
Bogdan Talos
Bass
Birthplace:
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Studies:
2005 graduated from the Academy of Music "Gheorghe Dima"
Important parts:
Filippo (Don Carlo), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Bluebeard (Duke Bluebeard's Castle), Banco (Macbeth), Il re (Aida), Giorgio (I Puritani), Giorgio Talbot (Maria Stuarda), Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Alidoro (La Cenerentola), Frere Laurent (Roméo et Juliette), Figaro (Nozze di Figaro), Sarastro (Magic Flute), Truffaldino (Ariadne auf Naxos), Hermann/Schlehmil (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), Herold (L'amour des trois oranges), Fasolt (Rheingold), Monterone (Rigoletto), Mandarino (Turandot), et al.
Stages:
Opéra de Paris, Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg, Opernfestspiele St. Margareten, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Demis Volpi, Robert Wilson, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Alexander Soddy, Gustavo Dudamel, et al.
Find further information about Bogdan Talos here.
photo: Andreas Endermann
Cherubino
Svetlina Stoyanova
Mezzosoprano
Birthplace:
Sofia, Bulgaria
Studies:
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Bachelor of Music, Vocal Performance (2010-2014) under the tutelage of Margaret Isatt and Clare Shearer
Master of Music, Vocal Performance (2014-2016) under Clare Shearer
Master of Opera (2016-2018) under Clare Shearer
Prizes:
3rd prize and highest placement as a singer at Le Grand Prix de l'Opera (2016), 1st prize at the International Vocal Competition "New Voices" (2017)
Important parts:
Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Dryad (Ariadne auf Naxos), Roßweiße (Die Walküre), Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Isabella (L'Italiana in Algeri), Angelina (La Cenerentola), Ruggiero (Alcina), Ganymede (Die Schöne Galathée), Cecilio (Lucio Silla), Nerone (AgrAgrippina), Olga (Eugene Onegin), Wellgunde (Das Rheingold), et al.
Stages:
Bregenz Festival, Vienna State Opera, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Anthéa Theatre, Opéra de Nice, New Generation Festival in Florence, Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Zurich Opera House, La Scala Milan, Glyndebourne Festival, Wigmore Hall London, Musikverein Vienna, Edinburgh Festival, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Sir David McVickar, Grischa Asagarov, Leo Muscato, Johannes Erath, Francesco Micheli, Brigitte Fassbaender, Rolando Villazón, Marina Bianchi, Jean-Romein Vesperini, Daniel Benoinu, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Adam Fischer, Riccardo Chailly, Speranza Scapucci, Graeme Jenkins, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Marco Armiliato, Daniel Harding, Michael Boder, Sascha Goetzel, Evelino Pidò, Ottavio Dantone, Jonathan Cohen, Christophe Rousset, Tugan Sochiev, Ivan Repušić, Andrés Orozco- Estrada, Gianluca Capuano, Giampaolo Bisant, et al.
photo: Monarca Studios
Marcellina
Katja Pieweck
Soprano
Birthplace:
Hannover, Germany
Studies:
Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg with Prof. Ks. Judith Beckmann
Prizes:
Dr. Wilhelm Oberdörffer Preis of the Körber-Stiftung (2007), Cultural Prize of the Berenberg Bank Hamburg (2000), First Prize of the International Robert Stolz Singing Competition in Hamburg (2000), Masefield Fellowship of the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since 1999/2000, member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera (1997/98 to 1998/99)
Important parts:
Adalgisa (Norma), Mercédès (Carmen), Hexe (Königskinder), Smeton (Anna Bolena), Alisa (Lucia di Lammermoor), Marquise de Berkenfield (La fille du régiment), Sélysette (Ariane et Barbe-Bleue), Arsamene (Xerxes), Sancta Susanna (Klementia), Gertrud/Sandmännchen (Hänsel und Gretel), Frau des Dorfrichters (Jenufa), Valencienne (Die lustige Witwe), Witwe Browe (Zar und Zimmermann), Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana), Damigella Pallade (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro), Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Schenkwirtin (Boris Godunov), Mutter (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Mère Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites), Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Frugola (Il Tabarro), Goneril (Lear), Berta/Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Marchese Melibea (Il Viaggio a Reims), Ariadne (Ariadne), Adelaide (Arabella), Annina (Der Rosenkavalier), Aufseherin/1. Magd (Elektra), Curra/Preziosilla (La Forza del Destino), Annina (La Traviata), Meg Page/Alice Ford (Falstaff), Giovanna/Maddalena (Rigoletto), Fenena (Nabucco), Emilia (Otello), Fricka (Das Rheingold), Siegrune/Sieglinde (Die Walküre), Magdalena (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), Ortrud (Lohengrin), Adriano (Rienzi), Eglantine (Euryanthe), Ericlea (Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria), Larina (Eugen Onegin), et al.
Stages:
Hamburgische Staatsoper, Semperoper, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Staatstheater Mainz, Bayerische Staatsoper, Oper Leipzig, Internationale Herrenchiemsee Festspiele, Staatsoper Hannover, et al.
Zusammenarbeit mit Regisseuren:
Peter Konwitschny, Karoline Gruber, Claus Guth, Willy Decker, Achim Freyer, Roger Vontobel, Stefan Herheim, Michael Thalheimer, et al.
Zusammenarbeit mit Dirigenten:
Simone Young, Sir Simon Rattle, Peter Schneider, Ingo Metzmacher, Gerd Albrecht, Sebastian Weigle, Rolf Beck, Krzysztof Penderecki, et al.
photo: Ida Aldrian
Don Basilio
Jürgen Sacher
Tenor
Birthplace:
Augsburg, Germany
Studies:
Church music and music education at the Leopold-Mozart Konservatorium in Augsburg, vocal studies with Leonore Kirschstein
Prizes:
Scholarship of the Richard Wagner Verband, Promotion Prize of the Hamburgische Staatsoper, appointment as Hamburger Kammersänger (2017)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Staatsoper Hamburg since 1991/92
Important parts:
Mime (Siegfried), Mime/Loge (Das Rheingold), Herodes (Salome), Knusperhexe (Hänsel und Gretel), Hauptmann/Andres (Wozzeck), Monostatos/1. Geharnischter (Die Zauberflöte), Maler/Prinz/Marquis/Kammerdiener (Lulu), Dr. Cajus (Falstaff), Tichon (Katja Kabanova), Truffaldino (Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen), Valzacchi (Der Rosenkavalier), David (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Junger Mann (Moses und Aron), Steuermann (Der fliegende Holländer), Peter Iwanow (Zar und Zimmermann), Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Walther von der Vogelweide (Tannhäuser), Goro (Madame Butterfly), Graf Elemer (Arabella), Raoul de St. Brioche (Die lustige Witwe), Novagerio (Palestrina), Orontes (Flavius Bertaridus), Asasello (Der Meister und Margarita), Tanzmeister (Ariadne auf Naxos), Graf von Kent (Lear), Reverend Adams (Peter Grimes), L´Aumonier (Dialogues des Carmélites), Aegisth (Elektra), Fedotik (Tri Sestri), Sylvester von Schaumburg (Mathis der Maler), et al.
Stages:
Hamburgische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, La Monnaie, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Königliche Oper von Kopenhagen, Teatro alla Scala, Salzburger Festspiele, Theater an der Wien, Budapester Staatsoper, Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, Wagner Festival Budapest, Theater Dortmund, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Staatsoper Budapest, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Harry Kupfer, Willy Decker, Claus Guth, Mario Martone, Achim Freyer, Géza M. Tóth, Livia Sabag, Roger Vontobel, Stefan Herheim, Karoline Gruber, Vincent Boussard, Jochen Biganzoli, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Adam Fischer, Bertrand de Billy, Claudio Abbado, Kent Nagano, Semyon Bychkov, Horst Stein, Christian Thielemann, Ingo Metzmacher, Michael Boder, Kirill Petrenko, Simone Young, Daniel Barenboim, et al.
photo: Martina Cyman
Don Curzio
Raphael Wittmer
Tenor
Tenor Raphael Wittmer received early musical training with the Lucerne Boys' Choir and first appeared on stage as a soloist as 1st boy in Die Zauberflöte under the direction of Marcello Viotti. He studied singing at the Musikhochschule Basel and graduated with distinction. In October 2009, he completed postgraduate studies in singing at the Musikhochschule Köln with Josef Protschka.
Raphael Wittmer is a scholarship holder of the Friedl Wald Foundation and a prize winner of the Marianne and Curt Dienemann Foundation. The young tenor gained his first stage experience during his studies at the Theater Basel, where he could be heard, for example, as a sailor in Dido and Aeneas.
From 2008-2010 Raphael Wittmer was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Cologne Opera, where he performed in numerous roles on the main stage in addition to children's opera. From 2011-2014, the young tenor was an ensemble member at the Theater Zwickau, where he debuted as Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville and Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, among other roles.
With the start of the 2014/15 season, Raphael Wittmer joined the ensemble of the National Theater Mannheim, where he can be seen in roles such as Beppo in I Pagliacci, Remendado, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Monostatos, Teiresias in Henze's Die Bassariden, Fatty in Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, as Jaquino in Fidelio and Schmidt in Werther. His other repertoire includes roles such as Augustin Moser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Truaffaldino in Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen, Flavio in Norma, 2nd Jew in Salome, Remendado in Carmen, Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia and most recently Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail.
Guest appearances took him as the Merchant in Jakob Lenz at the Theater Münster, as Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro at the Theater Gießen and at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, as Dr. Siedler in Im weißen Rössl at the Konzert Theater Bern and as Rosillon in Die lustige Witwe at the Theater Koblenz. In 21/22 he appeared as Truffaldino in Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen at the Stuttgart State Opera.
On the concert podium Raphael Wittmer was successful in Handel's Messiah, in Bach's Christmas Oratorio and B minor Mass, in Saint-Saëns Oratorio de Noël, in Haydn's The Creation and in Rossini's Petite messe solenelle.
photo: Markus Räber
Don Bartolo
Hubert Kowalczyk
Basso
Birthplace:
Radom, Poland
Studies:
Young Talents Development Programme - Opera Academy in Warsaw (from 2016 to 2019), Instituto Superiore di Studi Musicali Pietro Mascagani in Livorno with Prof. Graziano Polidori (2017/18), Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin with Prof. Martin Bruns
Master class:
Lioba Braun, Helmut Deutsch, Brigitte Fassbaender, Tomasz Konieczny, Bogdan Makal, Olga Pasiecznik, Eytan Pessen, Rudolf Piernay, Matthias Rexroth, et al.
Important parts:
Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro), Collatinus (The Rape of Lucretia), Haly (L‘italiana in Algeri), Hauptmann, Saretzki (Eugen Onegin), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Pistola (Falstaff), Zuniga (Carmen), et al.
Stages:
Bregenzer Festspiele, Teatr Wielki – Opera Narodowa Warschau, Deutsche Oper Berlin
Cooperation with directors:
Calixto Bieito, David Bösch, Andrzej Chyra, Brigitte Fassbaender, Dmitri Tcherniakov
Cooperation with conductors:
Giampaolo Bisanti, Jonathan Brandani, Daniele Callegari, Paolo Carignani, Michał Klauza, Axel Kober, Volker Krafft, Carlo Montanaro, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Kent Nagano, Sébastien Rouland, Robin Ticciati, Keri-Lynn Wilson
photo: Martina Cyman
Antonio
Han Kim
Bass
Birthplace:
Pohang, South Korea
Studies:
Bachelor, Seoul National University with Kwangchul Youn; Master Vocal performance, Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Christian Elsner; Soloist’s Diploma Vocal performance, Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Christian Elsner
Master class:
with Ann Murray, Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (2019), with David Selig, Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (2019)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera (since 2021/2022)
Important parts:
Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Leporello/Masetto (Don Giovanni), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Sprecher (Die Zauberflöte), Il conte Rodolfo (La sonambula), Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Don Fernando (Fidelio), Colline (La Bohème), Zuniga (Carmen)
Stages:
Theater Heidelberg
Cooperation with directors:
Sonja Trebes
Cooperation with conductors:
Dietger Holm
photo: Jörn Kipping
Barbarina
Marie-Dominique Ryckmanns
Soprano
Birthplace:
Munich, Germany
Studies:
Bachelor & Master of Arts at the University Mozarteum Salzburg - Graduation with distinction & Lilli Lehmann Medal of the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg
Masterclasses:
With Brigitte Eisenfeld, Dorothea Röschmann, Bo Skovhus and Dame Felicity Lott (singing), Pauliina Tukiainen (lied singing), Andreas Scholl (baroque singing), Donatienne Michel-Dansac (new music), Renaud Doucet (scenic basics), Gerd Uecker (performance training and marketing), Prof. Josef Wallnig (Mozart Opera Institute Salzburg), Michael Woodwood, Volker Wahl and Christian Poewe (acting) and Margit Legler (historical dance and gesture)
Prizes:
Grand Prix and Audience Award at the 5th International Singing Competition "Opéra Jeunes Espoirs - Raymond Duffaut" of the Opéra Grand Avignon (2019), Special Prize of the Walter and Charlotte Hamel Foundation at the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang Berlin (2018), Finalist of the Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition (Sweden, 2022), Laureate of the 22nd International Singing Competition. International "Ferruccio Tagliavini" Singing Competition (Graz, 2016), winner of the 11th International "Duschek" Competition (Prague, 2016), 1st prize at "Jugend musiziert" (Hamburg, 2015) and special prize of the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth for the best interpretation of a song cycle by the American composer Amy Beach (Karlsruhe 2015)
"Weisse Rose" Graphic Opera (role: Sophie Scholl): Hamburg Theater Prize "Rolf Mares" 2021 & "Special Mention for Extraordinary Artistic Achievement" - 58th Golden Prague International Television Festival 2021
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera from 2020-2022
Important parts:
Adele (Die Fledermaus), Olympia (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Sophie Scholl (Weiße Rose), Waldvogel (Siegfried), Tytania (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Giannetta (Elisir d'Amore), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Una Sacerdotessa (Aida), Taumännchen (Hänsel und Gretel), Barbarina (Nozze di Figaro), et al.
Stages:
Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Hamburg State Opera, Herkulessaal Munich, Großer Saal Salzburg, Max-Schlereth-Saal Salzburg, Allerheiligen-Hofkirche Munich, Künstlerhaus Munich, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Mart Van Berckel, David Bösch, Alexander Riemenschneider, Karoline Gruber, Alexander v. Pfeil, Nicole Claudia Weber
Cooperation with conductors:
Kent Nagano, Mark Wigglesworth, Gianluca Capuano, Péter Hálasz, Daniele Callegari, Nicholas André, Johannes Harneit, Volker Krafft, Bruno Weil, Hansjörg Albrecht, Ingmar Beck, Josef Wallnig, Kai Röhrig, Gernot Sahler, Julio Miròn, et al.
Find further information about Marie-Dominique Ryckmanns here.
photo: Mark Noormann Fotografie
Orchester
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
Orchestra
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, 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.
photo: Niklas Marc Heinecke
