Giacomo Puccini | Turandot
Sun, Mar. 31, 2024, 6.00 pm - 8.30 pm
Musikalische Leitung
Daniele Callegari
Musical Direction
Birthplace:
Milan, Italy
Studies:
Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan (first in double bass and percussion, then in composition and conducting)
Repertoire:
Italian Repertoire of 19th century (Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini); Italian repertoire of late 19th / early 20th century (Puccini, Ponchielli, Giordano, Mascagni, Leoncavallo); Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots; Offenbach’s Le contes d’Hoffmann; Bizet’s Carmen, Tchaikovsky’s Orleanskaya Deva and Pikovaja Dama; contemporary (Alice by Giampaolo Testoni, Oedipe sur la route by Pierre Bartholomée), et al.
Career stages:
Principal Conductor of Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice at Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur (since 2021) ,Chief Conductor of De Filharmonie (Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra) in Antwerp (2002 to 2008), Principal Conductor at Wexford Opera Festival (1998 to 2001)
Stages:
Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, La Monnaie, San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, Festival Verdi in Parma, Opéra de Montecarlo, New Israeli Opera Tel Aviv, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, et al.
Cooperation with orchestras:
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia di Roma, Orchestre Metropolitain de Montréal, Orchestre Nationale de l'Île de France, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestra de La Monnaie de Bruxelles, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini di Parma, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Nacional de Madrid, Orchestra Sinfonica “Giuseppe Verdi” di Milano, et al.
Find further information about Daniele Callegari here.
photo: Roberto Ricci
Turandot
Ewa Płonka
Soprano
Birthplace:
Zgorzelec, Poland
Studies:
Poznań Academy of Music BM & MM (Bachelor and Master’s Degree) in Piano Performance
Oklahoma City University MM (Master’s of Music) in Piano Performance
University of Utah DMA (Doctor in Musical Arts) in Piano Performance
The Juilliard School ADOS (Artist Diploma in Opera Studies)
Important parts:
Abigaille (Nabucco) Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), Turandot (Turandot), Aida (Aida), Tosca (Puccini), Venus (Tannhäuser), Foreign Princess (Rusalka)
Stages:
Deutsche Oper Berlin (2024 as Turandot)
Teatr Wielki, Warsaw (2023, 2024 as Aida)
Dallas Opera (2023 as Tosca)
The Royal Opera House (2023 as Venus in Tannhäuser)
Bayerische Staatsoper (2023 as The Foreign Princess in Rusalka),
Semperoper Dresden (2023 Abigaille in Nabucco)
Arena di Verona Festival (2022 as Abigaille in Nabucco)
Teatro Massimo, Palermo (2022 as Abigaille in Nabucco)
Teatro Real Madrid (2022 Abigaille in Nabucco, 2023 as Turandot)
Deutsche Oper am Rhein (2022 as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth)
State Opera Prague (2022 & 2023 as Aida)
Wroclaw Opera (2022 as Tosca)
Oper im Steinbruch (2021 as Turandot)
Virginia Opera (2019 Tosca)
Future Engagements:
La Scala/Milano, Staatsoper Berlin, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus, The Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro Massimo/Palermo, Washington National Opera, The Dallas Opera, Wielki National Opera/Warsaw, Deutsche Oper Berlin, etc.
Find further information about Ewa Płonka here.
photo: Kyrre Kristoffersen
Calaf
Gregory Kunde
Tenor
Birthplace:
Illinois, USA
Studies:
Choral conducting and Vocal performance at Illinois State University
Prizes:
‘Male Singer of the Year’ at the 2016 International Opera Awards
Important parts:
Otello (Otello), Radamès (Aida), Calaf (Turandot), Jean de Leyden (Le prophète), Don Carlo (Don Carlos), Samson (Samson et Delila), Don José (Carmen), Andrea Chénier (Andrea Chénier), Renato des Grieux (Manon Lescaut), Don Alvaro (La forza del destino), Peter Grimes (Peter Grimes), Pollione (Norma), Aschenbach (Death in Venice), Cellini (Benvenuto Cellini), Faust (La damnation de Faust), Enée (Les Troyens), Captain Vere (Billy Budd), Poliuto (Poliuto), Roberto Devereux (Roberto Devereux), Alceste (Admète), Faust (Faust), La Juíve (Eléazar), Des Grieux (Manon), Werther (Werther), Raoul (Les Huguenots), Robert (Robert le diable), Tito Vespasiano (La clemenza di Tito), Idomeneo (Idomeneo), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Dick Johnson (La fanciulla del West), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Rodrigo (La donna del lago), Leicester (Elizabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra), Pirro (Ermione), Arnold (Guillaume Tell), Argirio (Tancredi), Antenore (Zelmira), Riccardo/Gustav V (Un ballo in Maschera), Rodolfo (Luisa Miller), Manrico (Il Trovatore), Arrigo (I vespiri Siciliani), Henrí (Les vêpres Siciliennes), Florestan (Fidelio), Canio (Pagliacci), Luigi (Il Tabarro), Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos)
Stages:
Grand Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Staatsoper Hamburg, LA Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, Metropolitan Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Real, Dallas Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia, Teatro La Fenice, BBC Proms, Cincinnati May Festival, Concertgebouw Amsterdam
Cooperations with directors:
Mario Pontiggia, William Friedkin, Davide Garattini Raimondi, Olivier Py, Willy Decker, Uwe Eric Laufenberg, Hugo De Ana, Keith Warner, Emilio López, Davide Livermore, Franco Zeffirelli, Bepi Morassi, Chiara Muti, Darko Tresnjak, Robert Wilson, Otto Schenk, Alfonso Romero Mora, Edward Berkeley, Andrei Serban, Allex Aguilera, Fabio Cherstich, Nicolas Joël, Amélie Niermeyer, Julia Burbach, Franc Aleu, Susana Gómez, Paco Azorín, Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera
Cooperations with conductors:
Zubin Mehta, Sir Antonio Pappano, Charles Dutoit, Ramón Tebar, Gianandrea Noseda, Massimo Zanetti, Enrique Mazzola, Daniele Callegari, Christopher Franklin, Daniela Musca, Nicola Luisotti, Mark Wigglesworth, Pietro Rizzo, Emmanuel Villaume, Jordi Bernàcer, Daniel Oren, Andrea Battistoni, Francesco Ivan Ciampa, Sesto Quatrini, Donato Renzetti, Mark Elder, Frédéric Chaslin, Marco Armiliato, Miquel Ortega, Bertrand de Billy, Valerio Galli, Sergio Alapont, Adam Fischer, Josep Pons, Jacques Lacombe, Paolo Arrivabeni
Find further information about Gregory Kunde here.
Timur
Liang Li
Bass
Origin:
China
Studies:
Singing at the conservatory in Tianjin and in Beijing
Prizes:
Winner of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, first prize of the Bertelsmann Foundation "Neue Stimmen" Singing Competition, winner of the International Opera Competition in Shizuoka in Japan, appointed Kammersänger of the Stuttgart State Opera (2017)
Important parts:
Daland (Der Fliegende Holländer), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Rodolfo (La Sonnambula), Hunding (Die Walküre), Fasolt and Fafner (Rheingold), Komtur (Don Giovanni), Zaccharia (Nabucco), Jacopo Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra), Filippo II (Don Carlos), Sparafucile (Rigoletto), Ferrando (Il Trovatore), Geronte de Ravior (Manon Lescaut), Timur (Turandot), King Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Gurnemanz (Parsifal), Banco (Macbeth), Cardinal de Brogni (La Juive), Oroveso (Norma), Gremin (Eugene Onegin), et al.
Stages:
Semperoper Dresden, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro di San Carlo, Staatstheater Stuttgart, De Vlaamse Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Opéra National de Paris, Bolshoi Theater Moscow, NCPA Beijing, Palau des Arts Valencia, Teatro Real Madrid, Liceu Barcelona, Grand Théâtre de Génève, Opéra de Lyon, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Richard Eyre, Alex Ollé, David Hermann, Sergio Morabito, Alexander Schulin, Guy Joosten, Jossi Wieler, Achim Freyer, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Mariss Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Myung-Whun Chung, Donald Runnicles, Daniele Rustioni, Tomás Netopil, Sylvain Cambreling, Jonathan Nott, Alain Altinoglu, Francois-Xavier Roth, Manfred Honeck, Carlo Rizzi, Tomás Netopil, Shao-chia Lü, Kent Nagano, Antonio Fogliani, et al.
Find further information about Liang Li here.
photo: Martin Sigmund
Liù
Adriana González
Soprano
Birthplace:
Guatemala
Studies:
Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, graduating with a Music Teaching Degree & a Bachelor of Arts in 2012
Prizes:
Third Prize at the «Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition» in Ireland, First Prize at the «Otto Edelmann Singing Competition» in Vienna, Second Prize, Public Choice Prize at the «Francisco Viñas International Singing Contest» at the Liceu Barcelona, Prize of the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Associació d’Amics de l’Ópera Prize in Sabadell, the Internationale OpernWerkstatt Prize
Important parts:
Mimì (La Bohème), Micaela (Carmen), Liù (Turandot), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Corinna (Il viaggio a Reims), Lia (Debussy‘s L’Enfant Prodigue), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Despina (Così fan tutte), et al.
Stages:
Opéra de Toulon, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Opéra National de Paris, Dutch National Opera, Grand Théâtre du Genève, Soirées Lyriques du Sanxay, Oper Frankfurt, Opéra de Toulon, Houston Grand Opera, Opéra National de Lorraine, Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Oper Burg Gars, Gran Teatro Liceu in Barcelona, Nancy Opera House, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Christian Schirm, Brenda Hurley, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Iñaki Encina Oyón, et al.
photo: Marine Cessat-Bégler
Ping
Frederic Mörth
Baritone
Frederic Mörth began his musical career in the boys' choir of Mainz Cathedral. After studying violin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, he completed a master's degree in violin at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden. He then studied singing and orchestral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main.
In the 2022/23 season, the baritone will make his debut at the Hamburg State Opera, among other roles as Ping in Puccini's "Turandot". Last season Frederic Mörth was an ensemble member at the Regensburg Theatre, where his roles included Figaro ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Albert ("Werther"), Dr Falke ("Die Fledermaus") and Papageno ("Die Zauberflöte").
He made his debut at Oper Frankfurt in 2019 in Verdi's "Don Carlo". At the Hessisches Staats- theatre Wiesbaden, he sang in the world premiere of Søren Nils Eichberg's "Schönerland" in the 2017/2018 season, as well as in the role of Count Ceprano ("Rigoletto") and in Mark-Anthony Turnage's "Anna Nicole". In addition to other placements in international competitions, he won second place in the opera category at the 33rd Concours International de Chant de Marmande.
Pang
Daniel Kluge
Tenor
Birthplace:
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Studies:
Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Klaus Dieter Kern
Master classes:
with Roman Trekel, Julia Varady and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as well as master classes for „Liedgesang“ with Markus Hadulla, Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmut Höll
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since the 2019/20 season
Important parts:
Normanno (Lucia di Lammermoor), Abdallo (Nabucco), Remendado (Carmen), Flavio (Norma), Knappe und 1. Gralsritter (Parsifal), Kilian (Freischütz), Dr. Blind (Die Fledermaus), Spoletta (Tosca), Schreiber (Chowanschtschina), Jacquino (Fidelio), Ein Soldat (Reigen), Chick (Der Schaum der Tage), Borsa (Rigoletto), Knusperhexe (Hänsel und Gretel), Orpheus (Orpheus in der Unterwelt), Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Truffaldino (Die Liebe zu drei Orangen), Balakin (Charodeyka), Max (Der Freischütz), Tanzmeister (Ariadne auf Naxos), Steuermann (Der fliegende Holländer), Vierter Jude (Salome), et al.
Stages:
Staatsoper Stuttgart, Staatsoper Wien, Volksoper Wien, Stadttheater Bern, Aalto-Theater Essen, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Opéra National de Lyon, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Jossi Wieler, Sergio Morabito, Kirill Serebrennikov, Nicola Hümpel , Tobias Hoheisel, Imogen Kogge, Armin Petras, Demis Volpi, Axel Ranisch, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Sylvain Cambreling, Georg Fritzsch, Roland Kluttig, Giacomo Sagripanti, Johannes Witt, Hans Christoph Bünger, Kirill Karabits, Willem Wentzel, Alejo Pérez, Christopher Schmitz, et al.
photo: Martina Cyman
Pong
Florian Panzieri
Tenor
Birthplace:
Paris, France
Studies:
History and Politics, University of Warwick
Singing, Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera since the 2022/2023 season
Important parts:
Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw), Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), Primo Pastore (Orfeo), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Berthold (Scoring a Century), Erasmus (Silvesternacht), 1. und 3. Vorarbeiter (Lady Macbeth von Mzensk), Un Venditore di Canzonette (Il trittico), et al.
Stages:
Garsington Opera, Reggio Emilia Teatro Valli, The Merry Opera, British Youth Opera, Royal Opera House London, Staatsoper Hamburg, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Paul Curran, John Caird, Keith Warner, Fabio Condemi, Axel Ranisch, Mart Van Berckel, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Kent Negano, Giampaolo Bisanti, Francesco Bossaglia, Ivan Repusic, et al.
Find further information about Florian Panzieri here.
photo: Benjamin Reason
Altoum
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
Un Mandarino
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
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
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
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
