Giacomo Puccini | Tosca
Fri, Nov. 03, 2023, 7.00 pm - 9.30 pm
Musikalische Leitung
Paolo Carignani
Musical Direction
Birthplace:
Milan, Italy
Studies:
Composition, organ and piano at the Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi“ di Milano as well as conducting with Alceo Galliera
Prizes:
Prize of the German Music Publishers Association in the category "Best Concert Programme" (2004/2005) as well as Critics' Prize "Prince of Wales" at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto (1991)
Career stages:
General Music Director at the Oper Frankfurt as well as Director of the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester (1999 to 2008), Chief Guest Conductor at the Royal Danish Opera House in Copenhagen since 2020.
Stages:
Wiener Staatsoper, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Concertgebouw, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra Bastille, Teatro Lírico di Cagliari, Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro alla Scala, et al.
Collaboration with orchestras/ensembles:
Münchner Philharmoniker, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra, KIOTI Sinfonietta, Klangkörper des NDR, WDR und ORF, RAI Nationalorchester in Turin, Radiosymphonieorchester der Niederlande, Göteborger Symphoniker, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Nederlands Radio Orkest, et al.
Chorleitung
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.
Floria Tosca
Ewa Vesin
Soprano
Birthplace:
Lublin, Poland
Studies:
PhD in Arts, Music Academies in Krakow and Wroclaw, vocal studies at the Yale University (USA) under the tutelage of Professor Doris Yarick-Cross and Timothy Shaindli, postgraduate studies in management at the University of Warsaw
Prizes:
Wroclaw Art Prize (2022)
Gloria Artis (2010)
Important parts:
Tosca (Tosca), Madame Lidoine/Mother Marie of St. Augustine (Les Dialogues des Carmélites), Turandot (Turandot), Renata (The Fiery Angel), Maddalena (Andrea Chénier), Marietta (Die tote Stadt), Halka (Halka), et al.
Stages:
Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Den Norske Opera, Hannover Staatsoper, Opera de Toulon, Opera Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie, Prague National Theater, Teatr Wielki Polish National Opera, Theater an der Wien, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Ivo van Hove, Emma Dante, Calixto Bieito, Mariusz Treliński, Rafael R. Villalobos, Ai Weiwei, Vasily Barkhatov, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Kazushi Ono, Xian Zhang, Oksana Lyniv, Michele Mariotti, Paolo Arrivabeni, Valerio Galli, Alejo Perez, et al.
photo: Zuzanna Szamocka
Mario Cavaradossi
Young Woo Kim
This season, Young Woo Kim makes his debut as Erik Der fliegende Holländer at Die Felsenbühne Festspiele 2022, a role he later repeats at Oper Köln where he is in the permanent ensemble. Other upcoming roles at Oper Köln include Hylas Les Troyens; later in the season he sings Bacchus Ariadne aux Naxos at Garsington Opera and Radames Aida at Theater Bielefeld.
Mr Kim began his professional career as a member of the Studio at Oper Koeln in Season 2017/18 during which time he sang First Prisoner Fidelio, Pong Turandot, Mr Crook Candide, Gastone La Traviata, and Ein Jüngerin Die Gezeichneten. Becoming principal tenor in the ensemble in Season 2018/19, further roles include Fenton Falstaff, Toniolo Uccellatori, Second Officer Die Soldaten, Mambre Mosé in Egitto, Daniel Buchanan Street Scene, Steersman Tristan und Isolde, Pong Turandot, Prince Das Land des Lächelns (also in Essen) and more recently Don Jose Carmen, Siegmund Die Walkure fur jung und alt, title role Faust and Hoffegut Die Vögel.
Coming to music later in life, Woo was already involved in another career when a chance meeting with a music teacher motivated him to apply to Chugye University for the Arts; after two weeks of musical training, he was accepted for the Vocal Studies course, and by his second semester he was the recipient of a full scholarship. He graduated from Chugye as valedictorian with his Batchelors degree in Classical Voice and continued his education there to receive his Masters in Classical Voice.
During the time he lived in Korea, Woo appeared in various theaters in roles such as Turiddu Cavalleria Rusticana, Don Jose Carmen, Flavio/Pollione (c) Norma and Tamino Die Zauberflöte in concert. He placed first in Korea’s JoongAng Music Concours and was selected by the newspaper Korea Joongang Daily as one of Korea’s top 100 people to showcase the nation. Entering Italy’s UNESCO Opera Competition, he placed first, an opportunity that allowed him to make his European debut as Rodolfo La boheme at Verona’s Teatro Filarmonico.
Woo continued his education in Ireland at the Royal Irish Academy of Music under the late Dr Veronica Dunne, where he received a scholarship and graduated with an Advanced Certificate in Performance. Future engagements include Cavaradossi Tosca.
Baron Scarpia
Andrzej Dobber
Baritone
Origin:
Poland
Studies:
Piano, organ and singing at Staatliche Hochschule in Krakau, scholarship holder at Nürnberger Konservatorium
Prizes:
Appointed Hamburger Kammersänger by the Senate of the Hanseatic City of Hamburg (2015), awarded the Gloria Artis Medal 2013 by the Polish Ministry of Culture, awarded the Fryderyk Statuette by the Polish Record Industry (2013)
Important parts:
Amonasro (Aida), Giorgio Germont (La traviata), Francesco (I due Foscari), Ezio (Attila), Scarpia (Tosca), Jack Rance (La fanciulla del West), Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Nabucco, Simone Boccanegra, Rigoletto, Macbeth, Falstaff, Prince Igor, the Dutchman (Der fliegende Holländer), Tomski (Pique Dame), Jochanaan (Salome), Barak (Die Frau ohne Schatten), Don Pizarro (Fidelio), Amfortas (Parsifal), et al.
Stages:
Royal Opera House London, Royal Albert Hall London, Opéra national de Paris, Opéra national du Capitole in Toulous, Opéra National de Lyon, La Monnaie in Brussels, De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Teatro alla Scala Milan, Teatro Comunale di Firenze, Opernhaus Zürich, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper München, Staatsoper Hamburg, Semperoper Dresden, Oper Leipzig, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Deutsch Oper am Rhein, TWON Warsaw, Mariinsky-Theater St. Petersburg, Metropolitan Opera in New York, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Vancouver Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile, NNT Tokyo, Aichi Prefectural Art Theatre Nagoya, Hong Kong Opera, Glyndebourne, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Orange Opera Festival, Arena di Verona, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Lev Dodin, Vincent Boussard, Charles Roubaud, David Bösch, Georges Delnon, Katharina Thalbach, Harry Kupfer, Eimuntas Nekrošius, Andreas Homoki, Franco Zeffirelli, Willy Decker, Robert Wilson, Richard Jones, Achim Freyer, Nicolas Lenhof, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Christian Thielemann, Semyon Bychkov, Carlo Montanaro, Lawrence Foster, John Fiore, Omer Meir Wellber, Simone Young, Leonardo Sini, Jordi Bernàcer, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Riccardo Chailly, Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Vladimir Jurowski, Mikhail Jurowski, Kirill Petrenko, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Roger Norrington, Gary Bertini, Pinchas Steinberg, Renato Palumbo, Kazushi Ono, Daniel Barenboim, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniele Rustioni, Stefano Ranzani, Carlo Rizzi, Fabio Luisi, Antoni Wit, Kent Nagano, Dan Ettinger, et al.
photo: Andrzej Swietlik
Cesare Angelotti
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), Mr. Fluth (The Merry Wives of Windsor), 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, Bavarian 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: Jie Chen
Sagrestano
David Minseok Kang
Bass
Origin:
Korea
Studies:
Kyunghee University in Seoul with Alfred Kim, Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart Master class Oper with Ulrike Sonntag (2018-2022)
Master classes:
With Jenny Anvelt, Bo Skovhus, Kwangchul Youn, Margreet Honig, Gundula Schneider
Important parts:
Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Colline (La Bohème), Dr. Grenvil (La Traviata), Gremin (Eugen Onegin), Reinmar von Zweter (Tannhäuser), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Sparafucile (Rigoletto), Colline (La Bohème), et al.
Stages:
Staatsoper Stuttgart, Ettlinger Schlossfestspiele, Theater Kiel, Oper Zürich
Relation to the State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio from 2019/2020 to 2021/2022
Ensemble member since 2022/2023
Cooperations with directors:
Blanka Radoczy, Solvejg Bauer, Bernd Schmitt
Cooperations with conductors:
Kent Nagano, Nicolas Andre, Matteo Beltrami, Paolo Arrivabeni, Giampaolo Bisanti, Francesco Ivan Ciampa
photo: Brinkhoff/Mögenburg
Spoletta
Peter Galliard
Tenor
Birthplace:
Chur, Switzerland
Studies:
With Rico Peterelli, Conservatory in Feldkirch with Maria Eibenschütz, at the Mozarteum Salzburg with Rudolf Knoll
Prizes:
First Prize at the International Mozart Competition (1985), Förderpreis of the Kanton Graubünden (1987), Dr. Wilhelm-Oberdörffer-Preis of the Stiftung zur Förderung der Hamburgischen Staatsoper (1989), honored by the Hamburg Senate with the title of “Kammersänger” (2017)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since 1986/87
Important parts:
Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Jaquino (Fidelio), Cassio (Otello), Froh and Loge (Das Rheingold), Alfred and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus), Peter Iwanow (Zar und Zimmermann), Bardolfo (Falstaff), Hauptmann (Wozzeck), Knusperhexe (Hänsel und Gretel), Lenski (Eugen Onegin), Narraboth (Salome), Don Basilio (Le Nozze di Figaro), Prinz and Hauptmann (Lulu), L’Aumonier (Dialogues des Carmélites), Melot (Tristan und Isolde), Walther von der Vogelweide (Tannhäuser), Wolfgang Capito (Mathis der Maler), Goro (Madama Butterfly), Red Whiskers (Billy Budd), Dämon (L’Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe), Bischof von Budoja (Palestrina), Mime (Siegfried), et al.
Stages:
Hamburgische Staatsoper, Lucerne Festival, Salzburger Osterfestspiele, Opéra National de Paris, Enescu Festival in Bukarest, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Semperoper Dresden, Oper Leipzig, Staatstheater Nürnberg, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Claus Guth, August Everding, Johannes Schaaf, Harry Kupfer, Peter Konwitschny, Johannes Erath, Renaud Doucet, Georg Schmiedleitner, Stefan Herheim, Herbert Wernicke, Calixto Bieito, Willy Decker, Paul-Georg Dittrich, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Christian Thielemann, Ingo Metzmacher, Simone Young, Kirill Petrenko, Kent Nagano, Lawrence Foster, Gerrit Prießnitz, Marcus Bosch, Philippe Jordan, Paolo Carignani, Vaclav Luks, et al.
photo: Martina Cyman
Sciarrone
Liam James Karai
Bass-Baritone
Birthplace:
Hongkong, China
Studies:
MMUS & PGDip - Royal Northern College of Music, taught by Quentin Hayes
BSC – University of Leicester
Master class:
Olga Peretyatko (2022 Hamburg)
Piotr Beczała (2022 Salzburg Festspiele)
John Tomlinson (2022 RNCM)
Ann Murray (2022 RNCM)
Graham Vick (2021 RNCM)
Christopher Purves (2021 RNCM)
Prizes:
Sir John Tomlinson Scholarship (RNCM)
Andrew Lloyd Webber Scholarship (RNCM)
Frederic Cox Award (RNCM)
RNCM Silver Medal
Joaninha Trust Award Competition
Pomerance Prize (University of Leicester)
St Cecilia Opera Prize (Leicester festival of music & dramatic art)
Winner of the Opera solo Award (Leicester festival of music & dramatic art)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera since the 2022/2023 season
Important parts:
Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Leporello/Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Alidoro (Cenerentola), Escamillo (Carmen), Colline (La bohème)
Stages:
Salzburg Festspiele, Staatsoper Hamburg, English National Opera, Opera Holland Park, RNCM
Cooperation with directors:
Christof Loy, Angelina Nikonova, Victoria Newlyn, Sam Brown, Stuart Barker, Jonathan Cocker
Cooperation with conductors:
Kent Negano, Franz Welser-Möst, Peter Whelan, Adrian Kelly, Peter Robinson, Nicholas Kok, Paul Jenkins
Find further information about Liam James Karai here.
photo: Jörn Kipping
Un Carceriere
Leo Yeun-Ku Chu
Bass
Leo Yeun-Ku Chu is 2nd bass in the choir of the Hamburg State Opera.
photo: Niklas Marc Heinecke
Un Pastore
Yeonjoo Katharina Jang
Soprano
Birthplace:
Pohang, South Korea
Studies:
Bachelor’s degree in singing at the Seoul National University with Heion Seo, Master’s degree in singing at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar with Marietta Zumbült owning a DAAD scholarship
Prizes:
First prize at the Piero Boni international singing contest (2020), second prize at the Anton Rubinstein internhational music competition (2019), first prize at the Vienna Grand Prize Virtuoso international music competition (2019), special award at the international music competition Paris (2019), second prize at the korean singing competition (2016), first prize at the international singing competition of the korean singing club (2015), third prize at the Dong-A music competition (2015), u. a.
Refernce to the Staatsoper:
Member of the international opera studio at the Staatsoper Hamburg since the 2022/23 season
Master classes:
with Samuel Yoon (2021), Edda Moser (2019)
Important parts:
Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Königin der Nacht / Erste Dame / Papagena (Die Zauberflöte),
Gilda (Rigoletto), Olympia (Les Contes d‘Hoffmann), Ida (Die Fledermaus)
Stages:
Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, Daegu Opernhaus, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Christian Weise, Roman Hovenbitzer, Stephanie Koch, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Stefan Lano, Joongbae Jee,et al.
photo: Jörn Kipping
Kinderchor
Alsterspatzen – Kinder- und Jugendchor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper
Die Alsterspatzen bezaubern seit vielen Jahrzehnten als Lebkuchen- oder Straßenkinder, als Ministranten und Elfenchor. In der Spielzeit 2019/20 übernahm Luiz de Godoy die Leitung des Kinder- und Jugendchores der Hamburgischen Staatsoper. Die jungen Sängerinnen und Sänger stehen in Produktionen wie „Hänsel und Gretel“, „Carmen“ oder „La Bohème“ neben Ensemblemitgliedern und internationalen Gästen auf der großen Bühne der Staatsoper. Darüber hinaus sind sie mit dem Philharmonischen Staatsorchester unter anderem in der Elbphilharmonie und im Rahmen eigener Projekte in der opera stabile zu erleben.
Wir danken der Alster-Hof Melzner-Stiftung für die Unterstützung.
Find further information about Alsterspatzen – Kinder- und Jugendchor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper here.
photo: Niklas Marc Heinecke
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
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, Adam Fischer 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 and since June 2023 also its honorary conductor. 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 toured South America, followed by concert tours to Spain and Japan in 2019, and in the spring of 2023, the Philharmonic State Orchestra made its debut at New York's Carnegie Hall under his direction, which was acclaimed by audiences and the press. 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 by ECM, for which Widmann received the OPUS KLASSIK as Composer of the Year 2019, and ARCHE was performed again in 2023 to great acclaim.
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
