Ludwig van Beethoven | Fidelio
Musikalische Leitung
Kent Nagano
General Music Director of Hamburg
Kent Nagano is considered one of today’s outstanding conductors for both operatic and orchestral repertoire. Since September 2015, he has been General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg. In addition, he is committed as Artistic Director of the Ring project “The Wagner Cycles” of Dresdner Musikfestspiele with Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln, and as patron of the Herrenchiemsee Festival. 2023 he was appointed Honorary Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra, in 2021 of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, in 2019 of the Concerto Köln, and in 2006 of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
The 2023/2024 season in Hamburg begins with four concerts, performing with the Philharmonische Akademie at the Laeiszhalle, then with the Philharmonic State Orchestra at the Rathausmarkt Open Air and the Elbphilharmonie. This will be followed by a series of opera productions at the State Opera in September and October, with a premiere of Mussorgski’s Boris Godunow in a production by Frank Castorf and a premiere of Strauss’s Salome in a production by Dmitri Tcherniakov, as well as performances of Sciarrino’s Venere e Adone and Britten’s Peter Grimes. Furthermore, as in every season Nagano will conduct symphonic concerts with the Philharmonic State Orchestra at the Elbphilharmonie, including the New Year’s performance.
His past years in Hamburg include opera productions such as Les Troyens, Lulu, Lady Macbeth von Mzensk, the world premiere of Stilles Meer and German premiere of Lessons in Love and Violence, the "Philharmonische Akademie" at St. Michaelis, open-air concerts at the Rathausmarkt and the world premiere of Pascal Dusapin's work Waves for organ and orchestra at the Elbphilharmonie. Orchestral tours with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg have taken Kent Nagano to Japan, Spain and South America.
Kent Nagano has worked with the world's leading international orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique Radio France, the Orchestre de l’Opéra national in Paris, the Chicago and Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Wiener Symphoniker. Special projects were productions of Wagner's Das Rheingold with Concerto Köln and the Bernstein opera A quiet place at the Paris Opera. His operatic work has included Dusapin‘s Il viaggio, Dante at the Festival d‘Aix-en-Provence, Hindemith's Cardillac and Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites at the Opéra National de Paris and Henze’s The Bassarids and the premiere of Saariaho's L’amour de loin at the Salzburg Festival. Other world premieres conducted by Nagano include Bernstein's A White House Cantata and the operas Alice in Wonderland by Unsuk Chin, Three Sisters by Peter Eötvös and The Death of Klinghoffer and El Niño by John Adams.
The 2023/24 season will see Kent Nagano make a wide variety of appearances at the Maison symphonique in Montréal, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Konzerthalle in Bamberg and the Kulturpalast in Dresden. In addition, he will conduct the Orchestre de l'Opera de Lyon and lead a new production of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre by Krzysztof Warlikowski at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.
Under the artistic direction of Kent Nagano and the Intendant of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele Jan Vogler, Wagner's "Ring Tetralogy" will be performed in the artistic context of the period in which it was composed, based on the latest findings of research into Wagner and performance practice, and integrated into an extensive supporting program as part of the multi-year project "The Wagner Cycles" of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele from 2023 to 2026. The prelude was the performance of "Das Rheingold" at the Dresden Music Festival in 2023 and the tour to Cologne, Ravello and Lucerne under the musical direction of Kent Nagano. With "Die Walküre," the second work in the epochal narrative will follow in 2024.
Highlights of Kent Nagano's collaboration with the OSM as Music Director from 2006 to 2020 included the inauguration of the orchestra’s new concert hall La Maison Symphonique in September 2011, performances of the complete cycles of Beethoven and Mahler symphonies, Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, concert versions of Wagner's Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde and Das Rheingold, Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au Bücher, and Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise. Tours have taken Nagano and the orchestra to Canada including the Northern Territories, Japan, South Korea, Europe (latest 2019), Latin America and the USA. In July 2018, Kent Nagano conducted Krzysztof Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion with the OSM at the Salzburg Festival opening concert.
His recordings with the OSM on Sony Classical/Analekta include Mahler’s Orchestral Songs with Christian Gerhaher in 2013 and a complete recording of all of Beethoven’s symphonies in 2015. Decca released a recording of the North American premiere of L'Aiglon, a rarely performed opera by Honegger and Ibert in 2016, conducted by Nagano in 2015. Further releases by Decca are Danse Macabre with works by Dukas, Saint-Saens, Ives and others in 2016 as well as a recording of Bernstein's A quiet place in 2018 on the occasion of the composer's 100th birthday. John Adams' Common tones in simple time & harmony (Decca) was released in 2019, the Lukas Passion by Penderecki (BIS) and works by Ginastera, Bernstein and Moussa (Analekta) in 2020.
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 Die Frau ohne Schatten, 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.
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 work from the composer’s youth, and his Rondo for Piano and Orchestra WoO 6 with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. The complete edition of Beethoven’s piano concerti was released on the Berlin Classics label.
Nagano 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. He has worked with labels such as BIS, Decca, Sony Classical, FARAO Classics and Analekta for many years, and has also recorded CDs with Berlin Classics, Erato, Teldec, Pentatone, Deutsche Grammophon and Harmonia Mundi.
To celebrate Kent Nagano's 70th birthday in 2021, a 3-CD box set of works by Olivier Messiaen was released in October on the BR Klassik label. The release includes live recordings of the works Poèmes pour Mi, Chronochromie and La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ from his concerts with the Symphonieorchester und Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, demonstrating Nagano's close familiarity with Messiaen's musical language in a special way.
In September 2021, Kent Nagano published his second book with Berlin Verlag. In "10 Lessons of my Life", he recalls ten deeply personal encounters from which he learned important lessons, not only for his career but for his life more broadly. Among those experiences are encounters with the Icelandic pop artist Björk, Frank Zappa, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez and the Nobel Prize winner in physics Donald Glaser.
In 2015 Kent Nagano published "Erwarten Sie Wunder!" also in Berlin Verlag, a passionate appeal for the relevance of classical music in today's world. In 2019 the book was released 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 Ozawa 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 became the first Music Director of Los Angeles Opera in 2003 having already held the position of Principal Conductor for two years.
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. Since 2017, Kent Nagano has been a "Compagnon" of the "Ordre des arts et des lettres" of Québec and in the fall of 2023, Kent Nagano was also awarded the title of "Chevalier" in the "Ordre des art et des lettres" of France. In February 2024, Kent Nagano was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the Federal President.
More about Kent Nagano
photo: Claudia Höhne
Chor
Eberhard Friedrich
Choir Director
Birthplace:
Darmstadt, Germany
Studies:
Studies with Helmuth Rilling in Frankfurt am Main
Prizes:
Under his direction, the Bayreuther Festspielchor was awarded the International Opera Award for Best Choir of the Year in 2014. Under his direction, the choir of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden was named Choir of the Year in 2004 and received the European Cultural Award (2009). Eberhard Friedrich also received a Grammy for his recording of "Tannhäuser" at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden with Daniel Barenboim (2003)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Choir director of the Hamburg State Opera since 2013/14
Career stages:
Choir director of the Festspielchor / Bayreuther Festspiele (since 2000), choir director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (1998 to 2013), assistant at the Bayreuther Festspiele (since 1993), choir director at the Theater der Stadt Koblenz (1986 to 1991) as well as at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden (1991 to 1998)
Cooperation with choirs:
MDR-Rundfunkchor, Amsterdam Opera Choir, Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, Philharmonischer Chor Prag, Chor des Niederländischen Rundfunks, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Rias Kammerchor, Bayerischer Rundfunkchor, Chöre des Westminster Choir College, et al.
photo: Enrico Nawrath
Don Fernando
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:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since the 2023/24 season
Was Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera 2021/22 and 2022/23
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: Johannes Xaver Zepplin
Don Pizarro
Leigh Melrose
Baritone
Birthplace:
New York, USA
Important parts:
Richard Nixon (Nixon In China), Title Role (Wozzeck), Ned Keene (Peter Grimes), Golaud
(Pelleas et Melisande), Ruprecht (The Fiery Angel), Alberich (Das Rheingold), Clov (Fin de Partie), Siskov (House of Dead), Smith Smee (Der Schmied von Gent), Nekrotzar (Le Grand Macabre), Whiteley (Whiteley), Golaud (Pelleas et Melisande), Kajin (Die Ersten Menschen), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Escamillo (Carmen), et al.
Stages:
Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro alla Scala, Dutch National Opera, Teatro Real, Komische Oper
Berlin, Opéra national de Paris, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Dutch
National Opera, Opera Vlaanderen, Wiener Staatsoper, English National Opera , Theatre de Champs Elysees, Opéra de Lille, Opéra de Lausanne, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Richard Jones, John Fulljames, Calixto Bieito, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
François-Xavier Roth, Nicholas Collon, Teodor Currentzis, et al.
photo: Chris Gloag
Florestan
Matthew Polenzani
Tenor
Birthplace:
Evanston, USA
Studies:
Music Education, Eastern Illinois University
Vocal Performance, Yale University
Prizes:
Richard Tucker Award (2004), The Metropolitan Opera’s Beverly Sills Artist Award (2008), Opera News Award (2017)
Important parts:
Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Don Carlos (Don Carlos), Nemorino (L’Elisir d’amore), Alfredo (La Traviata), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Idomeneo (Idomeneo), Macduff (Macbeth), Rodolfo (La Bohème), Don José (Carmen), Gérald (Lakmé), et al.
Stages:
Metropolitan Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Canadian Opera Company, Vienna Staatsoper, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Teatro alla Scala, Milano, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
David McVicar, Robert Carsen, Julie Taymor, Laurent Pelly, Klaus Guth, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, James Conlon, Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Frizza, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Louis Langrée, Jesús López-Cobos, Riccardo Muti, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Leonard Slatkin, Sir Jeffrey Tate, Michael Tilson Thomas, Franz Welser-Möst, David Zinman, Riccardo Chailly, Daniel Harding, et al.
More about Matthew Polenzani
photo: Fay Fox
Leonore
Jennifer Holloway
Soprano
Origin:
USA
Studies:
University of Georgia, Manhattan School of Music
Prizes:
Outstanding Alumni Award of University of Georgia (2012)
Important parts:
Salome (Salome), Senta (Der fliegende Holländer), Chrysothemis (Elektra), Sieglinde (Walküre), Grete (Der ferne Klang), Leonore (Fidelio), Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes), Cassandre (Les Troyens), et al.
Stages:
Wiener Staatsoper, Oper Frankfurt, Bayerische Staatsoper, Oper Leipzig, Staatsoper Hamburg, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Teatro Colón, Semperoper Dresden, Teatro Real, Los Angeles Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos Lissabon, ABAO Bilbao, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Bard Music Festival, Atlanta Opera, Canadian Opera Toronto, Santa Fe Opera, New National Theatre Tokyo, The Israeli Opera Tel-Aviv-Yafo, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Willy Decker, Michael Shell, Alberto Fassini, Robert Carsen, Lydia Steier, Damiano Michieletto, Laurent Pelly, Christopher Alden, Graham Vick, Francisco Negrin, Richard Jones, Francesca Zambello, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Stephen Lawless, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Philippe Jordan, Kent Nagano, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Corrado Rovaris, Omer Meir Wellber, Daniel Oren, John Fiore, Sebastian Weigle, Florian Erdl, Lorin Maazel, Lawrence Foster, Frederic Chaslin, Gustavo Dudamel, Leonard Slatkin, Bertrand de Billy, Kazushi Ono, Vladimir Jurowski, Eun Sun Kim, Sir Richard Armstrong, Jaap van Zweden, Emmanuelle Haïm, Jesus Lopez Cobos, Herve Niquet, et al.
More about Jennifer Holloway
photo: Arielle Doneson
Rocco
Franz-Josef Selig
Bass
Birthplace:
Germany
Studies:
Church music at the State University of Music in Cologne, voice by Claudio Nicolai
Stages:
Bayerische Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, Mailänder Scala, Teatro Real Madrid, die Pariser Opernhäuser, Metropolitan Opera New York, Bayreuther Festspiele, Baden Badener Festspiele, Salzburger Festspiele, Festival d‘Aix-en-Provence, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Christoph Loy, David Alden, Jan Philipp Gloger, Martin Kušej, Claus Guth, Katie Mitchell, Marco Arturo Marelli, Eva-Maria Höckmayr, Peter Sellars, Robert Wilson, Calixto Bieto, Krystof Warlikowski, Johan Simons, Robert LePage, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Christian Thielemann, Sir Simon Rattle, Marek Janowski, Zubin Mehta, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Muti, Yannick Nezét-Séguin, Antonio Pappano, Philippe Jordan, Daniel Harding, et al.
photo: Marion Köll
Marzelline
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 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.
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since the 2019/20 season
Was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera 2016/17 and 2017/18
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: Sangdon Lee
Jaquino
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
1. Gefangener
Chorsolist
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
2. Gefangener
Chorsolist
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.
More about Philharmonisches Staatsorchester 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