Francis Poulenc | Dialogues des Carmélites
Sat, May 14, 2022, 7.30 pm - 10.45 pm
Musikalische Leitung
Kent Nagano
General Music Director of Hamburg
Kent Nagano is considered one of the outstanding conductors for both operatic and orchestral repertoire. He has been General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Chief Conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra since 2015. From 2006 to 2020 he was Music Director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM); in 2006 he was appointed Honorary Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and in 2019 of Concerto Köln, the Baroque orchestra which he is working together with in the project “Wagner Readings”.
Kent Nagano's past years in Hamburg include the premieres of Berlioz‘ Les Troyens, Hosokawa’s Stilles Meer, Messiaen’s Turangalîla with the Hamburg Ballett and John Neumeier, the premieres of Wagner’s Parsifal and Beethoven’s Fidelio, Berg’s Lulu and Strauss’ Frau ohne Schatten and the „Philharmonische Akademie“ – a project in the tradition of musical academies of the 18th and 19th centuries, which launches each new opera and concert season and features not only special performance venues, but also a major open-air concert on Hamburg’s Rathausmarkt. Nagano and the Philharmonic undertook successful concert tours in South America, Spain and Japan. 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 on the occasion of the inauguration of the Elbphilharmonie in January 2017. The live recording of this concert was released on CD by ECM in autumn 2018. In January 2020 Nagano and the orchestra presented the world premiere of Pascal Dusapin's Waves for organ and orchestra at the Elbphilharmonie.
A highlight of Kent Nagano's collaboration with the OSM was the inauguration of the orchestra’s new concert hall La Maison Symphonique in September 2011. In October 2016, he conducted the world premiere of José Evangelista’s Accelerando – a commission by the OSM on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Montréal’s metro. In November 2006 he conducted a semi-staged production of the Matthäus-Passion. In previous years, Nagano and the orchestra have performed the complete cycles of Beethoven and Mahler symphonies, Schönberg's Gurrelieder, concert versions of Wagner's Tannhäuser, Tristan and Isolde and Das Rheingold, Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher and Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise. In July 2018, Kent Nagano conducted Krzysztof Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion with the OSM on the occasion of the Salzburg Festival opening concert. Tours have taken Nagano and the orchestra to Canada, Japan, South Korea, Europe, South America and the USA, with stops in Washington, Boston and New York. He and the orchestra toured Europe in March 2019, including Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Paris and Vienna.
His recordings with the OSM on Sony Classical/Analekta include Mahler’s Orchestral Songs with Christian Gerhaher, Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 5 and a complete recording of all of Beethoven’s symphonies, for which the album Ideals of the French Revolution with Symphony No. 5 won a Juno award. In March 2016, Decca released a recording of the North American premiere of L'Aiglon, a rarely performed opera by Honegger and Ibert, conducted by Nagano in March 2015, on CD. Further releases by Decca are Danse Macabre with works by Dukas, Saint-Saens, Ives and others in autumn 2016 and a recording of Bernstein's A quiet place in June 2018 on the occasion of the composer's 100th birthday. John Adams’ Common tones in simple time & harmony (Decca) was released in 2019 and the Lukas Passion by Penderecki (BIS) in June 2020.
As a much sought-after guest conductor, Kent Nagano has worked with the world's leading international orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Orchestra, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2014-2016, he led his own festival, called Vorsprung-Festival, as part of the AUDI Sommerkonzerte. Other special projects included productions of Mozart's Idomeneo with Concerto Köln and the Bernstein opera A quiet place with the Ensemble Modern in a new version premiered in Berlin in November 2013.
At the Bayerische Staatsoper, where he was General Music Director from 2006 to 2013, Kent Nagano commissioned new operas such as Babylon by Jörg Widmann, Das Gehege by Wolfgang Rihm and Alice in Wonderland by Unsuk Chin. New productions included Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina, Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos and The Silent Woman, Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites, Messiaen’s Saint François d'Assise, Berg’s Wozzeck, George Benjamin's Written on skin and Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Tours took Nagano and the Bavarian State Orchestra through Europe and Japan. In addition to Bruckner's Symphonies Nos. 4 and 7 (Sony), Kent Nagano has released several opera performances with the Bavarian State Orchestra on DVD: Unsuk Chin's opera Alice in Wonderland (2008) and Mussorgsky's Chowanschtschina (2009) with unitel classica/medici arts, Dialogue des Carmélites with Bel Air Classiques (2011) and Lohengrin (2010) with Decca.
Another very important period in Nagano’s career was his time as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin from 2000-2006. He performed Schönberg’s Moses und Aron with the orchestra (in collaboration with Los Angeles Opera), and took them to the Salzburg Festival to perform both Zemlinsky’s Der König Kandaules and Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten, as well as to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with Parsifal and Lohengrin in productions by Nikolaus Lehnhoff. Recordings with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin for Harmonia Mundi include repertoire as diverse as Bernstein’s Mass, Bruckner’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6, Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge, Wolf’s Mörike-Lieder, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Schönberg’s Die Jakobsleiter and Friede auf Erden, as well as Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 and Schönberg’s Variationen für Orchester Op. 31. In June 2006, at the end of his tenure with the orchestra, Kent Nagano was given the title Honorary Conductor by members of the orchestra, only the second recipient of this honour in their 60-year history. To this day he maintains a close friendship with the orchestra.
Kent Nagano became the first Music Director of Los Angeles Opera in 2003 having already held the position of Principal Conductor for two years. His work in other opera houses has included Shostakovich's The Nose at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Rimsky-Korsakoff's The Golden Cockerel at the Châtelet in Paris, Hindemith's Cardillac and Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites at the Opéra National de Paris, and Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann and the premiere of Saariaho's L’amour de loin at the Salzburg Festival. Other world premieres he has conducted include Bernstein's A White House Cantata and the operas Three Sisters by Peter Eötvös and The Death of Klinghoffer and El Niño by John Adams.
Nagano has worked with labels such as Decca, Sony Classical, FARAO Classics and Analekta for many years, but he has also recorded CDs with BIS, Berlin Classics, Erato, Teldec, Pentatone, Deutsche Grammophon and Harmonia Mundi. He was awarded Grammys for his recordings of Busoni’s Doktor Faust with Opéra National de Lyon, Prokofjew’s Peter and the Wolf with the Russian National Orchestra and Saariaho’s L’amour de Loin with the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin.
In October 2019, Kent Nagano and Mari Kodama expanded their joint recordings of Beethoven's works for piano and orchestra with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 0 E-flat Major WoO 4, a nearly unknown youthful work by the composer, and his Rondo for Piano and Orchestra WoO 6 with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. The 4-CD edition was released on the Berlin Classics label.
In 2015 Kent Nagano published "Erwarten Sie Wunder!" in Berlin Verlag, a passionate appeal for the relevance of classical music in today's world. In 2019 the book was published in English by the Canadian McGill-Queen's University Press under the title ″Classical Music - Expect the Unexpected" and in 2015 under "Sonnez, merveilles!" in French by Éditions du Boréal.
Born in California, Nagano maintains close connections with his home state and was Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra from 1978-2009. His first major successes came with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1984, when Messiaen appointed him assistant to conductor Seiji Ozawas for the premiere of his opera Saint François d'Assise. Nagano’s success in America led to European appointments: Music Director of Opéra National de Lyon (1988-1998) and Music Director of the Hallé Orchestra (1991-2000).
Kent Nagano was awarded an honorary doctorate from McGill University in Montréal in 2005, an honorary doctorate from the Université de Montréal in 2006, and an honorary doctorate from San Francisco State University in 2018.
Find further information about Kent Nagano here.
photo: Claudia Höhne
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.
Marquis de la Force
Marc Barrard
Baritone
Studies:
Conservatoire de Nîmes, France
Prizes:
Specialprize Chambre Syndicale des directeurs de Théâtres France
Important parts:
Figaro (Der barbier von Sevilla), Geronio (Il Turco in Italia), Raimbaud (Le compte Ory), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Don Pasquale (Don Pasquale), Belcore (Der Liebestrank), Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Riccardo (I Puritani), Valdeburgo (La Straniera), Ford (Falstaff), Marcello (La Bohème), Graf Almaviva (Die Hochzeit des Figaro), Calandro (L’Incontro improvviso), Oreste (Iphigénie en Tauride), Agamemnon (Iphigenie en Aulide), Demetrius (A Midsummernight’s Dream), Ourrias (Mirelle), Valentin (Faust), Chorèbe (Les Troyens), Nevers (Die Hugenotten), le Chat und l’Horloge (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges), Zurga (Les Pêcheurs de Perles), Lescaut (Manon), Titus (Bérénice), Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande), Duc de Fritelli (Le Roi Malgré lui), Don Belfor (Le Toréador), Ragueneau (Cyrano de Bergerac), Metternich (L’Aiglon), Capulet (Roméo et Juliette), Poète Chéri (La Colombe), Vice-Roi (La Périchole), Oberpriester (Samson et Dalila), et al.
Stages:
Chorégies d’Orange, Opéra de Strasbourg, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, Opéra de Masseile,Opéra Comique Paris, Théâtre du Châtelet, Teatro la Fenice, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro alla Scala, Amigos Canarios de la Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Colón, Opéra de Lausanne, Israeli Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Finnische Nationaloper, Washington Nationalopera, LA Opera, Nationale Opera en Ballet Amsterdam, Deutsche Oper Berlin, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Michel Plasson, John Nelson, Christoph Eschenbach, et al.
Cooperations with Orchestras:
Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orchestre National de`lle de France, Orchestre de Paris, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, et al.
photo: Karima M.
Blanche
Mojca Erdmann
Soprano
Birthplace:
Hamburg, Germany
Studies:
Violin and singing at Musikhochschule Köln
Prizes:
NDR-Musikpreis of the Schleswig-Holstein-Musikfestival (2005), Luitpold-Preis of the Kissinger Sommer (2005), 1st prize and special prize for Zeitgenössische Musik at the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang (2002)
Important parts:
Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Lulu (Lulu), Marzelline (Fidelio), Sophie (Rosenkavalier), Waldvogel (Siegfried), Seele (Babylon), Despina (Cosí fan tutte)
Stages:
Metropolitan Opera, Gran Teatro del Liceu, Teatro alla Scala, Bayerische Staatsoper, Nederlandse Opera, Staatsoper Berlin, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Salzburger Festspiele, Mozartwoche Salzburg, Ultraschall Festival Berlin, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie Köln, Philharmonie Berlin, Musikverein Wien, Konzerthaus Wien, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Konzerthaus Berlin, Konzerthaus Freiburg, Tonhalle Zürich, Herkulessaal München, KKL Luzern, Ankara
Cooperations with directors:
William Kentridge, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Mariss Jansons, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, Zubin Mehta, Ivor Bolton, Paavo Järvi, Manfred Honeck, Kent Nagano, Fabio Luisi, Daniel Harding, et al.
Find further information about Mojca Erdmann here.
photo: Felix Broede
Le Chevalier
Piotr Buszewski
Tenor
Birthplace:
Bełchatów, Poland
Studies:
Academy of Vocal Arts (Philadephia), The Chopin University of Music (Warsaw), Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Opera Studio (Rome), The Juilliard School (New York City)
Master classes:
Bill Shuman, Renata Scotto, Deborah Voigt, Robert C. White Jr., Jerzy Knetig, Leszek Świdziński, Dariusz Grabowski
Prizes:
Operalia finalist (2019), Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition finalist (2019), 6. Prize and 8 special prizes / Moniuszko Vocal Competition (2019), 1. Prize / Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition (2019), 3. Prize/ Leyla Gencer Vocal Competition (2018), 1. Prize / Mario Lanza Competition (2017), 2. Prize / Giargiari Belcanto Competition (2017), 3. Prize / Zinka Milanov International Voice Competition (2016), Special Prize Otto Edelmann Voice Competition (2016), 2. Prize / Marcella Sembrich International Voice Competition (2015), 2. Prize / Hal Leonard Voice Competition (2015)
Important parts:
Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Alfredo (La Traviata), Duke (Rigoletto), Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Nemorio (L´elisir D´amore), Donizetti’s (Il Pigmalione), Prince (Rusalka), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Loge (Da Rheingold), Léandre (Le Médecin malgré lui), Faust (La damnation de Faust), Lehár’s (Paganini), Camille de Rosillon (Die lustige Witwe, et al.
Stages:
Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Leipzig Opera, New York City Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Wrocław Opera, Alice Tully Hall, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Tito Capobianco, Rolando Villazón, David Gately, Dean Anthony, Matthew Ozawa, Dorothy Danner, Karolina Sofulak, Daniel Pelzig
Cooperations with conductors:
Carlo Rizzi, Bassem Akiki Christopher Macatsoris, Ari Pelto, Gabriel Chmura, Gil Rose, Ramón Tebar, Robert Moody
Cooperations with ocherstern:
National Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchester
Find further information about Piotr Buszewski here.
photo: Kristin Hoebermann
Madame de Croissy
Sophie Pondjiclis
Sophie Pondjiclis studied music at the Paris Conservatorium and at the “Ecole d’Art Lyrique Opera de Paris”.
She won the “Toti dal Monte” International Singing Competition in Italy.
She has more than seventy roles in her repertoire, performed on the biggest international lyrical stages such as La Haine in Gluck's Armide and Javotte in Manon (Scala in Milan), Le Tricorne, Voix de la mère in Hoffmann’s Tales (Paris Opera), Olga in Eugène Onéguine (Genève), Amadigi by Haendel (San Carlo de Naples), Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien (Hamburg Opera), Noces de Stravinsky (Théâtre du Châtelet, Maggio Musicale de Florence ), all mezzo’s roles in L’enfant et les Sortilèges (Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Stockholm), La forza del destino, Otello (Chorégies d'Orange), Adalgisa in Norma (Beijing), Marcelina in Nozze di Figaro (Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Milan, Palau de Musica de Valencia, London Barbican Center, Lausanne, Champs-Elysées Theater, Marseille), title role of Carmen, (France, Japan, Skopje, Bastia, Biel, Berne, Treviso, etc.)
Her recent and future engagements are Madame de Croissy in Dialogues des carmélites (Bruxelles), Princesse de Bouillon in Adrienne Lecouvreur (Saint-Etienne), Amadigi (title role) in Paris, La Reine Gertrude in Hamlet (Hong-Kong), Filipievna in Eugene Oneguine (Toulouse), Ragonde in Comte Ory (Zurich) On Purge Bébé (Bruxelles, Lyon, Châtelet Paris), Opinion Publique in Orphée aux Enfers (Lausanne)
For the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Ravensbrück’s concentration camp, the Châtelet theater entrusted her with the role of Havas in: "Le Verfügbar aux Enfers" by Germaine Tillon.
Sophie Pondjiclis is Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.
Madame Lidoine
Emma Bell
Soprano
Birthplace:
Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom
Studies:
Royal Academy of Music with Joy Mammen
Prizes:
Kathleen Ferrier Award (1998)
Important parts:
Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress), Elettra (Idomeneo), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes), Madame Lidoine (Les dialogues des Carmélites), Elisabeth/Venus (Tannhäuser), Leonore (Fidelio), Elsa (Lohengrin), et al.
Stages:
Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opernhaus Zürich, Staatsoper Hamburg, Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, The Dallas Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Oper Köln, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Richard Jones, Robert Carsen, Tim Albery, Paul Curran, Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Keith Warner, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Kirill Petrenko, Markus Poschner, Simone Young, Kent Nagano, Jakub Hrůša, Antonio Pappano, Hartmut Haenchen, et al.
photo: Paul Foster-Williams
Mère Marie
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: Martina Cyman
Soeur Constance
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
Mère Jeanne
Kristina Stanek
Mezzo-soprano
Birthplace:
Krefeld, Germany
Studies:
Master studies with distinction at the Royal Academy of Music, London
Master classes:
With KS Brigitte Fassbaender, Charlotte Lehmann, Rudolf Piernay, Grace Bumbry
Prizes:
Best young singer at the European Music Festival Rome, Italy; 1st prize at the Mozart Competition Prague, Czech Republic; 1st prize at the Rotary Music Competition, Germany
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since season 2020/21
Important parts:
Princess Eboli (Don Carlos), Carmen (Carmen), Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Sesto & Annio (La Clemenza di Tito), Cecilio (Lucio Silla), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Concepcion (L‘heure espagnole), Olga (Eugen Onegin), Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Wellgunde (Das Rheingold), Veronica Quaife (The Fly), Mary Shelley (Uraufführung Diodati. Unendlich), Soprano 4 (Al gran sole carico d‘amore), Prinz Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), et al.
Stages:
Staatsoper Hamburg, Theater Basel, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Saarländisches Staatstheater, Oper Wuppertal, Stadttheater Trier, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Hans Neuenfels, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Yuval Sharon, David Bösch, Barbora Horáková Joly, Stephan Kimmig, Barbara Frey, Lydia Steier, Sebastian Baumgarten, Sam Brown, Vasily Barkhatov, Daniel Kramer, Katharina Thoma, David Hermann, Christian von Treskow, BARBE & DOUCET, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Kent Nagano, Marco Armiliato, Ivor Bolton, Giampaolo Bisanti, Axel Kober, Ainars Rubikis, Jonathan Darlington, Erik Nielsen, Kristiina Poska, Joana Mallwitz, Titus Engel, Christopher Moulds, Gianluca Capuano, Jonathan Stockhammer, David Parry, Christian Curnyn, Antonello Allemandi, Justin Brown, Michele Spotti, et al.
Find further information about Kristina Stanek here.
photo: Martina Cyman
Soeur Mathilde
Lisa Jackson
Die amerikanische Sopranistin Lisa Jackson schloss an der Longwood University mit dem Bachelor of Music Education ab und machte daraufhin ihren Master of Music an der University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Dort war sie als Miss Wordsworth in „Albert Herring“ und Adina in „L’Elisir d’amore“ zu sehen.
2009-2013 war sie Solistin am „Opernloft Junges Musiktheater Hamburg“. Rollen, die sie dort u.a. gesungen hat sind: Pamina – „Die Zauberflöte“, Elisa – „Tolomeo“, Gretel –„Hänsel und Gretel“, und Leila – „Die Perlenfischer“. Sie ist die 2012 Rolf-Mares Preisträgerin als "herausragende Darstellerin/Sängerin auf Hamburger Bühnen" für die Rolle der Gilda in „Rigoletto“.
Als Gast, war sie in der Spielzeit 2011-2012 am Mecklenburgischen Staatstheater Schwerin als Schlafittchen in „Das Traumfresserchen“ und in der Spielzeit 2012-2013 am Theater Osnabrück als Maria Bellacanta in „Hexe Hillary geht in die Oper“ zu sehen. Bei den Eutiner Festspielen war sie 2012 als Raka in dem Musical „Die Blume von Hawaii“ sowie im 2014 als Chava in dem Musical „Anatevka“ zu erleben. Seit 2013 ist sie Mitglied des Chores der Staatsoper Hamburg.
L'Aumônier
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
L'Officier
Nicholas Mogg
Baritone
Birthplace:
Manchester, United Kingdom
Studies:
National Opera Studio, London – Young Artist (2018–19), Royal Academy of Music, London – Opera Course (2016–18), Royal Academy of Music, London – MA Vocal Studies (2014–16), Clare College, University Cambridge (BA Hons Music; 2008–11)
Master class:
with Christian Gerhaher, Malcolm Martineau, Brigitte Fassbaender, Gerald Finley, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Sir Thomas Allen
Prizes:
Royal Over-Seas League Singers’ Section (2017), Richard Lewis / Jean Shanks Award (2017)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera since season 2019/20
Important parts:
Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Steward (Flight), Herr Peachum (Die Dreigroschenoper), Melisso (Alcina), Jupiter (Orphée aux Enfers), Hausknecht (Der Rosenkavalier)
Stages:
Royal Academy Opera, English Touring Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, West Green House Opera
Cooperation with directors:
Keith Warner, Tim Albery, Orpha Phelan, Richard Jones
Cooperation with conductors:
Robin Ticciati, Laurent Pillot, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Ton Koopman, Sir Roger Norrington
photo: Tamara Sophie Grieß
Premier Commissaire
Collin André Schöning
Tenor
Birthplace:
Lübeck, Germany
Studies:
Singing at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin with Stephan Rügamer
Master class:
with Prof. Anna Korondi for “Hungarian Songs”, with Prof. Thomas Quasthoff for oratorio singing, with Peter Sefcik and with the songwriters Karola Theill, Konrad Richter and Wolfram Rieger
Prizes:
German scholarship holder (2019), scholarship holder of the preparatory education (SVA) of the Landesverband der Musikschulen in Schleswig-Holstein (2011), 2nd prize in solo singing at “Jugend musiziert” (2014)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera since 2020/21 season
Important parts:
Jaquino (Fidelio), Max (Der Freischütz), Tenor (Riemannoper), Alfred (Die Fledermaus), et al.
Stages:
Budapest, Berlin, Lübeck, et al.; performances at the lunch concerts of the Berlin Philharmonie, with the LandesJugendChor Schleswig-Holstein, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Michael Thalheimers (Workshop at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler)
photo: Jörn Kipping
Deuxième Commissaire
Chao Deng
Bass-baritone
Birthplace:
Tianjin, China
Studies:
Vocal studies in Tianjin, China; diploma in voice at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg with Cheryl Studer; master studies with Christian Elsner and in the Lied class of Gerold Huber and opera studio at the Hochschule für Musik Weimar with Prof. Dr. Michail Lanskoi; master class exam at the Hochschule für Musik Dresden with KS Prof. Matthias Henneberg.
Master classes:
With Liang Li, Michaelis Doukakis, John Norris, KS Camilla Nylund, KS Helen Donath, KS Brigitte Fassbaender, Sonja Prina, Alberto Triola, Catherine Foster, Georg Zeppenfeld, Juliane Banse, Roberto Scandiuzzi, KS Deborah Polaski.
Awards:
Prize for Opera Singing of the Concerto Foundation Würzburg (2015), Prize Winner of the International Singing Competition of the Chamber Opera Schloss Rheinsberg (2014), Scholarship Holder of the Richard Wagner Association Bayreuth Festival (2014), et al.
Relation to the State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since the 2020/21 season.
Important roles:
Peter (Hänsel und Gretel), Häuptling Abendwind (Chief Evening Wind), Ramfis (Aida), Gianni Schicchi/Betto di Signa (Gianni Schicchi), Papageno/Sprecher /2. Geharnischte (Die Zauberflöte), Frank (Die Fledermaus), Don Fernando (Fidelio), Schaunard (La Bohème), Kilian/Ottokar (Der Freischütz), Buonafede (Il mondo della luna), Förster (Das schlaue Füchslein), Le Duc (Romeo et Juliette), Angelotti (Tosca), Colas (Bastien et Bastienne), Priamus (Les Troyens), Antonio (Le nozze di Figaro), Marullo/Ceprano (Rigoletto), Zuniga (Carmen), De Retz (Les Huguenots), Lord Syndham (Zar und Zimmermann), Spielmann (Königskinder), Journalist (Lulu), Osias, High Priest (Judith), et al.
Stages:
Hamburg State Opera, Dresden Semper Opera, German Opera on the Rhine, Dresden Philharmonic, Braunschweig State Theater, German National Theater Weimar, Dresden State Operetta, Erfurt Theater, Weimarhalle, Saar Music Festival, Shanghai Opera House, et al.
Collaboration with directors:
Peter Konwitschny, Lydia Steier, Barrie Kosky, Mariame Clément,Yona Kim, Manfred Weiß, Sabine Hartmannshenn, Hasko Weber, Anette Leistenschneider, Guy Montavon, Andrea Moses, et al.
Collaboration with conductors:
Kent Nagano, Sebastian Weigle, Stefano Ranzani, John Fiore, Stefan Soltész, Xu Zhong, Daniele Callegari, Speranza Scappucci, Giampaolo Bisanti, Ivan Repušić, Riccardo Minasi, Giacomo Sagripanti, Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, Thomas Leo Cadenbach, Moritz Gnann, Felix Krieger, Christoph Gedschold, Kristiina Poska, Tomáš Netopil, Antonino Fogliani, Omer Meir Wellber, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Stefan Lano, Martin Hoff, Georg Fritzsch, et al.
Find further information about Chao Deng here.
photo: Martina Cyman
Thierry
Leo Yeun-Ku Chu
M. Javelinot
Mark Bruce
Bass
Mark Bruce was born in Rochester, N.Y., USA. He studied Philosophy and Music at Yale University and at the Musikhochschulen in Detmold and Hamburg with, among others, Jacob Druckman and Giselher Klebe (composition), as well as Blake Stern and Claus Ocker (Voice). He has been a member of the Chorus of the Hamburg State Opera since 1985. His repertoire includes Bass and Bass-Baritone roles ranging from Monteverdi to Mark Anthony Turnage´s “Greek”. Recent appearances include the role of Sarastro in Canberra, Australia, Osmin in the Music Festival “Klassik am Meer” and operas by Britten, Strauss and Henze on his home stage. In addition, his main artistic focus belongs to modern music. Critics and audience greeted Mark Bruce’s production of John Cage’s “Song Books” together with Joan La Barbara at the Hamburger Musikfest 2002 with enthusiasm. As a concert singer, he has performed in numerous world and regional premieres, including works by John Cage, Tania Léon and Aaron Jay Kernis. He founded the Cage Ensemble Hamburg as its artistic director in 1992. His CD with works by John Cage, “ear for EAR” appeared by telos music in 2016.
Le Geôlier
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.
Une voix de femme
Ines Krebs
Soprano
Die Sopranistin Ines Krebs wurde 1976 in Lübeck geboren. Nach dem Abitur studierte sie Gesang an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg bei Frau Professor Eva Acker und Chorpartien bei Herrn Professor Jürgen Schulz. Seit der Spielzeit 2001/ 2002 ist sie ein festes Mitglied im Chor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper, wo sie schon zahlreiche kleinere Soli gesungen hat.
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, 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.
