Olivier Messiaen | Saint François d'Assise
Szenische Einrichtung
Georges Delnon
Director
Georges Delnon was born in 1958 in Zurich. He studied history and art history at the Universities of Bern and Friborg as well as composition and music theory at the Bern Conservatory. Positions as assistant director, including works with Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Götz Friedrich and Giorgio Strehler, completed his training.
This was followed by the first opera and theater productions such as "Carmen" and "Fledermaus" at the Frankfurt Opera, "Dido" in Toulouse, "Rape of Lucretia" in Dusseldorf and Basel, "Fräulein Julie" in Essen, "La Griselda" (Vivaldi) in Geneva, "Junge Lord" (Henze), "Maria Stuart" and "Ezio" for the Händel Festival in Karlsruhe, "Schwarze Spinne" (Sutermeister), "Das Lachen der Schafe " (Demierre) and "König für einen Tag" (Grünauer) for the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland. In 1996, he took over his first artistic directon at the Theater of the City of Koblenz and became co-founder of the Koblenz fortress games. From 1999-2006, he became Artistic Director of the Staatstheater Mainz, where numerous works were created. Among other things, the reopening of the Great House was broadcasted live on 3Sat in 2001 with the staging of the opera "Saul" by G. F. Händel.
Other works as director during this period include "Il figlio delle selve" by Ignaz Holzbauer for the Schwetzinger Festspiele and the Féstival Radio France Montpellier. In addition, Georges Delnon appeared as an actor in the movie “HEIMAT 3” by Edgar Reitz.
In 2004, he directed the world premiere of Mark André, "22.13", for the Munich Biennale, the Festival d'Automne à Paris and the Opéra National de Paris. In 2005 and 2006, he staged the world premiere "Zaubern" by Frederik Zeller and the baroque opera "Proserpina" by Joseph Martin Kraus for the Schwetzinger Festspiele.
From 2006 to 2015, Georges Delnon has been director of the Theatre Basel, Switzerland's largest three-party house. Under his leadership, the theatre became Opera House of the Year in the Opernwelt Critics Survey twice, in 2009 and 2010. In 2010, he directed Giuseppe Verdi's TV production "Aida am Rhein", which was broadcasted live on Swiss television and on 3Sat.
In 2012, he directed the world premiere of Alfred Zimmerlin's music theatre "Das Licht" for the Lucerne Festival and in 2013 "Anschlag", also for the Lucerne Festival and märz musik Berlin.
From 2009 to 2016, Georges Delnon was Artistic Director of the Music Theatre of the Schwetzinger SWR Festival. The two world premieres "Proserpina" in 2009 and "Koma" in 2016 were honored in the critics' poll of the opera world as "premiere of the year".
Since 2015, he is the Artistic Director of the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra. Under his leadership, Alban Berg's "Lulu" is voted "Performance of the Year" in the critics' survey of the opera world in 2017, and director Christoph Marthaler receives the Faust Prize for this production. In the summer of 2018, Georges Delnon's Hamburg staging of the Zauberflöte for young people "Erzittre, feiger Bösewicht", was screened in Shanghai. In 2019 he staged the chamber opera "THERÈSE", which was premiered at the Salzburg Easter Festival and celebrated its German premiere in the Recital Hall of the Elbphilharmonie at the Hamburg International Music Festival.
photo: Peter Schnetz
Szenografie
Thomas Jürgens
Geburtsort:
Hamburg, Deutschland
Studium:
1988 – 1992 Studium Bühnenbild bei Prof. Jürgen Rose an der HfbK Stuttgart
Stationen:
Ab 1984 bis 1996 eigene Arbeiten in Hamburg, Tübingen, Stuttgart und Leipzig.
Ab 1992 bis 2017 künstlerischer Mitarbeiter im atelier rosalie, Stuttgart mit zahlreichen nationalen wie internationalen Inszenierungen u.a. für die Bayreuther Festpiele, die Opera du Rhin, Strassburg, das Teatro Sao Carlos, Lissabon, das NNTT New National Theatre Tokyo, Japan, die Bayerische Staatsoper, die Hamburgische Staatsoper, die Oper Berlin, die Oper Stuttgart, die Oper Leipzig u.v.a. Lehraufträge an der HfbK Offenbach am Main und im Rahmen der Internationalen Sommerakademie für bildende Kunst Salzburg, Österreich.
Zusammenarbeit:
rosalie, Peter Weibel, Georges Delnon, Dieter Dorn, Hans Hollmann, Alfred Kirchner, Martin Schläpfer, Uwe Scholz u.v.a.
photo: Privat
Kostüme
Julia Mottl
Geburtsort:
Wien, Österreich
Studium:
Modedesign, Wien Schloss Hetzendorf
Wichtige Inszenierungen:
„MASSE“ Staatsballett Berlin im Club Berghain Berlin, 2012
Stationen:
Produktionsbetreuerin in den Kostümwerkstätten von Art for Art in Wien, 1999-2006
Kostümbildnerin seit 2004
Produktionsleitung Kostüm in der Deutschen Oper Berlin, 2007-2008
sowie in der Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, 2008-2011
stellvertretende Kostümleitung in der Volksoper Wien, 2015-2018
seit 2018 künstlerische Mitarbeiterin im Atelier rosalie in Stuttgart
Zusammenarbeit:
Thomas Jürgens, Marco Goecke, Xenia Wiest, Tim Plegge, Norbert Bisky
photo: Privat
Licht
Stefan Bolliger
Light
Birthplace:
Zurich, Switzerland
Stages:
Bayerische Staatsoper, Theater an der Wien, Salzburger Festspiele, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Theater Basel, Vlaamse Opera Antwerpen, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, et al.
Career stages:
Head of Lighting and Lighting Design Schauspielhaus Stuttgart (2006 - 2010), Deputy Head of Lighting Hamburg Thalia Theatre (1997 - 2006), et al.
Cooperations:
Andreas Kriegburg
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
Dramaturgie
Janina Zell
Geburtsort:
Ehringshausen, Deutschland
Studium:
Gesang und Musikwissenschaften mit der Studienrichtung Konzert- und Musiktheaterdramaturgie an der Folkwang Universität der Künste Essen
Auszeichnungen:
Folkwang Preis für ihre Masterarbeit über die Inszenierung von Richard Wagners „Der Ring des Nibelungen“ am Aalto-Theater Essen (2014), Stipendiatin der „Akademie Musiktheater heute“ der Deutsche Bank Stiftung (2014-2016)
Bezug zur Staatsoper:
Dramaturgin der Staatsoper Hamburg und des Philharmonischen Staatsorchesters Hamburg seit 2015
Stationen:
Hospitanzen beim Klavier-Festival Ruhr, dem Konzerthaus Dortmund und der Oper Frankfurt, Dramaturgin für Oper, Ballett und Konzert am Aalto-Theater Essen (2013-2015)
Zusammenarbeit:
Calixto Bieito, Philipp Stölzl, Mariame Clément, Vera Nemirova, Andreas Kriegenburg, Toshio Hosokawa, Jan Bosse, u. a.
Dramaturgie
Ralf Waldschmidt
Dramaturgy
Birthplace:
Hanau on the Main, Germany
Studies:
Studied German, English and Theatre Studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt on the Main; received his doctorate (Dr. phil.) with a thesis on Richard Wagner's “Parsifal” (1987)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera
leading Dramaturge at the Hamburg State Opera since the 2021/22 season
Career stages:
Intendant of the Osnabrück Theatre (2011–2021), opera director at the Augsburg Theatre (2007–2011), chief dramaturge and deputy to the general director at the Bremen Theatre, dramaturge at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden (1999–2003), Engagements as head dramaturge and member of the artistic management at the Staatstheater Darmstadt and the Freiburg Theatre, dramaturge at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus and the Nationaltheater Mannheim (1987–1992), assistant director and dramaturge at the Saarländisches Staatstheater Saarbrücken and the Frankfurt Opera
Cooperations:
Ruth Berghaus, Jürgen Flimm, Nicolas Brieger, Bruno Klimek, Harry Kupfer, Urs Troller, Rosamund Gilmore, Urs Schaub, Peter Mussbach, Percy Adlon, Alexander May, Barrie Kosky, Yona Kim, Reinhild Hoffmann und Dirigenten wie Friedemann Layer, Marc Albrecht, Michael Gielen, Daniel Barenboim, Philippe Jordan, Lawrence Renes, Stefan Klingele, Sebastian Weigle, Dirk Kaftan, Andreas Hotz, Daniel Inbal, et al.
Film
Marcus Richardt
Video
Marcus Richardt studied visual communication and film at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. His work has been shown at festivals, in cinemas and on TV all over the world and has won awards such as the Echo Klassik, the Nordic Film Days Film Prize and was rated particularly valuable.
In 2019, his feature film debut GOLIATH96 with Katja Riemann was released in cinemas. This was followed at the end of 2020 by the feature documentary DAS HAUS DER GUTEN GEISTER (co-directed with Lillian Rosa).
In addition to his work as a screenwriter, director and producer, he is involved in music recordings and video art at venues such as the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg State Opera, Stuttgart Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin and has worked with artists such as Sasha Waltz, Wynton Marsalis, Iggy Pop and Nico and the Navigators.
photo: Yannik Willing
Chor
Martin Steidler
Chorus Master
Birthplace:
Olching, Germany
Studies:
Piano and choral conducting at Hochschulen Wien and Regensburg
Teaching position:
Professor of choral conducting at Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (since 2008), Lecturer for choral conducting at Hochschule für Katholische Kirchenmusik und Musikpädagogik Regensburg (2006–2008)
Prizes:
With the Madrigalchor of Musikhochschule München: first prize in category “adult choirs” at “Let the Peoples Sing”, winner German choir competition (2014)
With the Heinrich-Schütz-Ensemble Vornbach: third prize at 9. Deutscher Chorwettbewerb in Weimar (2014), first prize at the internationaler Chorwettbewerben von Spittal an der Drau/Österreich 2007 and at the Cork International Choral Festival in Irland 2010, Bayerischer Chorwettbewerb category “Gemischte Kammerchöre” (2013), E.ON-Bayern-Kulturpreis (2008), prize of the Stiftung Europäisches Konzerthaus (2005)
Career stages:
Artistic director Audi Jugendchorakademie in Ingolstadt (since 2008), direction Madrigalchor (since 2008), artistic director Vokalensemble LauschWerk (since2018), choirmaster Tiroler Festspiele Erl (2007–2008), direction Chor der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Passau as well as artistic director “Passauer Konzertwinter“ (2002–2008), music teacher at the Auersperg-Gymnasium Passau Freudenhain in Passau (1997–2007), foundation Dreiländerchor (Ge/Au/CZ) (1995), foundation (1993) and artisticdirection of the Heinrich-Schütz-Ensemble Vornbach
Cooperation with choruses:
Audi Jugendchorakademie, LauschWerk, Madrigalchor der Musikhochschule München, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Chorwerk Ruhr, Heinrich-Schütz-Ensemble Vornbach, University of Akron Chamber Choir, Jugendchor Balsis Lettland, Coro Vocacional Argentinien, et al.
St. François
Jacques Imbrailo
Baritone
Birthplace:
South Africa
Studies:
Royal College of Music, Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at The Royal Opera House
Prizes:
Winner of the Audience Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World
Important parts:
Tarquinius (The Rape of Lucretia), Ned Keene (Peter Grimes), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), Il Conte Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Dr Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Simon (Miss Fortune), Albert (Werther), Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), et al.
Stages:
Teatro Real, Ópera de Oviedo, Opéra national de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper, Metropolitan Opera, Washington Concert Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Theater an der Wien, Glyndebourne Festival, Bolshoi Theatre, Opéra de Lille, Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Royal Opera, Dutch National Opera, Norwegian National Opera, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Dmitri Tcherniakov, Sir David MicVicar, Robert Carsen, Deborah Warner, Michael Grandage, Barrie Kosky, Francesca Zambello, Richard Jones, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Sir Antonio Pappano, Marin Alsop, Robin Ticciati, Sir Mark Elder, Edward Gardner, Alexander Soddy, Ivor Bolton, Sir Andrew Davies, Vladimir Jurowski, Alejo Perez, Nicholas Carter et al.
L'Ange
Anna Prohaska
Soprano
Birthplace:
Neu-Ulm, Germany
Studies:
Singing at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin
Master classes:
Académie du Festival d'Aix en Provence (2003) and Internationale Händel-Akademie Karlsruhe (2006)
Prizes:
International Classical Music Award (Best Video Performance) as Susanna in "Le nozze di Figaro" (2018), International Classical Music Award (Baroque Vocal) for her solo album "Serpent & Fire" (2017), "Kunstpreis Berlin - Jubiläumsstiftung 1848/1948" of the Akademie der Künste in the category Performing Arts (2016), Austrian Music Theatre Prize for Marzelline in "Fidelio" (2014), Echo-Klassik Music Prize (Newcomer Award) for her solo album "Sirène" (2012), Schneider-Schott Music Prize (2010), Daphne Prize of the Theatergemeinde Berlin (2008), "Hanns-Eisler-Preis
für Komposition und Interpretation zeitgenössischer Musik" (2005), et al.
Important parts:
Title role (Pelléas et Mélisande), Constance (Les Dialogues des Carmélites), Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serai), Blonde and Adele (Die Fledermaus), Phani (Les Indes Galantes), Dido (Dido und Aeneas), all soprano parts (King Arthur and Fairy Queen), Poppea (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Poppea (Agrippina), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Angelica (Orlando), Morgana (Alcina), Iphis (Jephtha), Merab (Saul), Aricie (Hippolyte et Aricie), Phanie/Fatime (Les Indes Galantes), Euridice (Orféo ed Euridice), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Ilia (Idomeneo), Marzelline (Fidelio), Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Nannetta (Falstaff), Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Polly Peachum (Die Dreigroschenoper), Iseut la Blonde (Le Vin Herbé), Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress), Lulu (Lulu), Cordelia (Lear), Inanna (Babylon), Silvia (Violetter Schnee), et al.
Stages:
Hamburgische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Theater an der Wien, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra national de Paris, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Salzburger Festspiele, De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Walt Disney Hall Los Angeles, Bunka Kaikan Tokyo, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Harry Kupfer, Willy Decker, Claus Guth, Katie Mitchell, Robert Carsen, Christoph Schlingensief, Michael Thalheimer, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Jürgen Flimm, Christopher Alden, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Simon Stone, Jossi Wieler/Sergio Morabito, Yuval Sharon, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Daniel Barenboim, Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel Harding, Gustavo Dudamel, Giovanni Antonini, René Jacobs, Ivor Bolton, Ingo Metzmacher, Matthias Pintscher, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Franz Welser-Möst, Theodor Currentzis, Sir Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, et al.
More about Anna Prohaska
photo: Marco Borggreve
Le Lépreux
Anthony Gregory
Tenor
Birthplace:
Hereford, United Kingdom
Studies:
Royal College of Music
Harewood Artist, English National Opera
Jerwood Young Artist, Glyndebourne Festival Opera
National Opera Studio
Verbier Festival Academy
Prizes:
Breakthrough Artist, WhatsOnStage 2015
Important parts:
Title role (Candide), Conte Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Title role (Acis & Galatea), Pane (La Calisto), Flute (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Oronte (Alcina), Grimoaldo (Rodelinda), Odoardo (Ariodante), title role (Dardanus), Peter Quint/Prologue (The Turn of the Screw), Shepherd (L’Orfeo), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), et al.
Stages:
Den Norske Opera, Oslo, Theater an der Wien, Glyndebourne Festival, Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Festival de Aix-en-Provence, Teatro Real, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Bergen National Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, Scottish Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
David Alden, Christian Spuck, Jo Davie, Netia Jones, Christopher Alden, Graham Vick, Jonathan Miller, Robert Carsen, Oliver Mears, Richard Jones et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Enrique Mazzola, Edward Gardner, Karen Kamensek, Sir Andrew Davis, Valery Gergiev, Charels Dutoit, Ivor Bolton, Laurence Cummings, Dalia Stasevska, Daniel Raiskin, Trevor Pinnock, Sir Mark Elder, Harry Bicket, William Christie, et al.
photo: Natalie J Watts
Frère Léon
Kartal Karagedik
Baritone
Birthplace:
Izmir, Turkey
Studies:
Singing in Izmir at the University of Istanbul, among others with Alper Kazancioglu and Prof. Güzin Gürel
Master classes:
With Giorgio Zancanaro, Paolo Ballarin, Barbara Frittoli, Luciana Serra and Alfonso Antoniozzi.
Prizes:
First Prize at the Debut Competition (2012), Third Prize and Critics' Award at the Ottavio Ziino Concorso Lirico Internazionale in Rome (2011), Second Prize at the Leyla Gencer Competition in Istanbul (2010), Second Prize at the Beniamino Gigli Competition in Rome (2009), "Best Male Singer" at the International Duchi d'Acquaviva Competition in Atri (2008), "Special Mention Prize" at the International Opera Competition in Como (2008), third prize at the Ferruccio Tagliavini Competition in Graz (2007), first prize at the Güzin Gürel Foundation Lieder Competition in Istanbul (2007)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since 2015/16
Important parts:
Renato (Un ballo in maschera), Rodrigo (Don Carlo), Germont (La Traviata), Simon Boccanegra (Simon Boccanegra), Onegin (Eugeny Onegin), Lescaut (Manon Lescaut), Marcello (La Bohème), Sharpless (Madama butterfly), Sonora (La Fanciulla del West), (Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Duca D'alba (Duca D'alba), Belcore (L'Elisir d'Amore), Riccardo (I Puritani), Il Conte d'Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Carlo Gérard (Andrea Chénier), Mischonnet (Adriana Lecouvreur), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Poeta ( Il Turco in Italia), Chorébe (Les Troyens), Escamillo (Carmen), Valentin (Faust), Ford (Falstaff), Malatesta (Don Pasquale), et al.
Stages:
Hamburg State Opera, Opera Vlaanderen, Theater St. Gallen, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Puccini Festival at Torre del Lago, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Komische Oper Berlin, Theater Magdeburg, Theater Erfurt, Oper Leipzig, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Izmir State Opera, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Georges Delnon, Stefan Herheim, Kirsten Harms, Herbert Fritsch, Michael Thalheimer, Guy Montavon, Carlos Wagner, Stefano Poda, Robert Carsen, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Kent Nagano, Stefano Ranzani, Ottavio Dantone, Eliahu Inbal, Roberto Rizzi-Brignoli, Christoph Prick, Valerio Galli, Andriy Yurkevych, Yves Abel, John Storgårds, Anthony Bramal, Ulf Schirmer, Manlio Benzi, Joana Mallwitz, Peter Feranec, Modesta Pitrenas, Francesco Ivan Ciampa, et al.
More about Kartal Karagedik
photo: Kartal Karagedik
Frère Massée
Dovlet Nurgeldiyev
Tenor
Birthplace:
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Studies:
Vocal studies at the Music College in Ashgabat, at the Turkmen National Conservatory, at the Conservatory Tilburg and at Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio (2008/9-2009/10)
Ensemble member since 2010/11
Important parts:
Dmitriy (Boris Godunov), Stewa (Jenufa), Tito (La Clemenza di Tito), Erik (Der fliegende Holländer), Fenton (Falstaff), Nemorino (L’Elisir d’Amore), Alfredo (La Traviata), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Lensky (Eugene Onegin), Vladimir (Prince Igor), Telemaco (Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria), Alfred (Die Fledermaus), Chevalier (Dialogues des Carmelites), Hylas (Les Troyens), Macduff (Macbeth), Ismaele (Nabucco), Cassio (Otello), Naraboth (Salome), Medoro (Orlando Paladino), Belfiore (La finta giardiniera), et al.
Stages:
Hamburgische Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Münchner Opernfestspiele, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Ungarische Staatsoper, Polnische Staatsoper, Opéra National de Montpellier, Opéra de Rouen Normandie, Auditorium de Bordeaux, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Laeizhalle Hamburg, Prinzregententheater München, Santa Fe Opera(US), Gran Teatre del Liceu, Concertgebow Amsterdam, Palau del la Musica, Auditoriu Barcelona, Auditoriu Madrid,et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Hans Neuenfels, Marie-Eve Signeyrole, Renaud Doucet, Vincent Boussard, Jette Steckel, Willy Decker, Axel Ranisch, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Ivor Bolton, Kent Nagano, Bertrand de Billy, Keri Lynn Wilson, Philippe Auguin, Lothar Zagrosek, Michael Schonwandt, Stefan Soltesz, Henrik Nánási, Stefano Ranzani, Andrea Battistoni, Simone Young, et al.
photo: Jörn Kipping
Frère Elie
Andrew Dickinson
Tenor
Birthplace:
Liverpool, Great Britain
Studies:
studies at the Royal Academy Opera School (degree 2011)
Prizes:
Maureen Lehane Singing Competition at the Wigmore Hall (2014), British Wagner Association Competition (2015)
Important Parts:
Truffaldino (L'amour des trois oranges), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Max (Der Freischütz), Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Andrès/Cochenille/Frantz/Pitichinaccio (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), Novice (Billy Budd), Hexe (Hänsel und Gretel), Beppe (I Pagliacci), Tom Rakewell (The Rakes Progress), Jonas (Le Prophete), White Minister (Le Grand Macabre), Quint (Turn of the Screw), Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia), Flute (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Kaufmann (Jakob Lenz), et al.
Stages:
Ensemble member at the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 2016 to 2022, collaboration with Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Ensemble Resonanz, Danish National Opera, Brooklyn Academy of Arts New York, Hyogo Performing Arts Center Japan, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Mozarteum Salzburg, Podium Festspiele, Bregenzer Festspiele, Glyndebourne Festival, Royal Festival Hall London, Stephansdom Wien, Liszt Academy Budapest, Berliner Dom, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Ivo Van Hove, David McVicar, Olivier Py, David Poutney, Graham Vick, Deborah Warner, Doug Fitch, Fiona Shaw, Frederic Wake-Walker, David Alden, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Donald Runnicles, Robin Ticciati, James Conlon, Alan Gilbert, Enrique Mazzola, Vladimir Jurowski, et al.
More about Andrew Dickinson
Frère Bernard
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
Frère Sylvestre
Florian Eggers
Bass
Place of birth:
Munich, Germany
Vocal training:
Since 2010 privately with Prof. Michael Schopper and as part of his membership of the Audi Youth Choir Academy
Solo roles in:
The Creation, St. John Passion (Bach), St. Matthew Passion (Schütz)
photo: Fotografie Monika Wrba
Frère Ruffin
Niklas Mallmann
Bass-Baritone
Birthplace:
Munich, Germany
Studies:
Master's degree in concert singing at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, completed in 2022
Master classes:
KS Bernd Weikl 2019
Stations:
Boy soloist with the Tölzer Knabenchor, including as 3rd boy (Magic Flute) and 2nd squire (Parsifal) in opera houses in Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Schwerin, Rome, Madrid, Valencia, Santander, Salamanca, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Budapest
2010-2014 Studied mechanical engineering at the TU Munich
2014-2022 Vocal studies at the HMT Munich
From 2022 Freelancer with a focus on concert singing
Stages:
Bavarian State Opera, Staastheater am Gärtnerplatz, Pasinger Fabrik, Reaktorhalle Munich, Géneration Baroque Strasbourgh, Rota das Artes Lisbon
Solo parts in:
Die Zauberflöte (Papageno), Arabella (Zimmerkellner), Dr Faust Junior (Franz), "Z" (Schneider), Soldaten (3.Hauptmann), Orpheus (Orpheus), Giulio Cesare (Giulio Cesare), Pimpinone (Pimpinone), Un Ballo in Maschera (Silvano), Don Pasquale (Malatesta)
More about Niklas Mallmann
photo: Alan Ovaska
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
Audi Jugendchorakademie
choir
The Audi Youth Choir Academy is a select ensemble of 70 enthusiastic young singers under the artistic direction of Prof Martin Steidler. During joint rehearsals and intensive individual lessons, the teenagers and young adults learn to make music together and receive individualised vocal training. In rehearsal phases lasting several days, the 16 to 27-year-olds are prepared for the respective concerts under professional guidance. Once a year, auditions are held at various locations in Germany, where those interested can qualify to join the choir. The members of the choir currently come from all over Germany and Austria.
The ensemble was founded in 2007 by AUDI AG. Since the beginning of 2017, the non-profit organisation Jugendchorakademie e.V. has been the sponsor of the Audi Youth Choir Academy.
Co-operations
The vocal ensemble collaborates with top artists and orchestras such as Kent Nagano, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. The choir is also a regular guest at renowned music festivals and in major concert halls worldwide. In January 2017, the Audi Youth Choir Academy performed at the newly opened Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. International concert tours have already taken the young musicians to Taiwan, Singapore and the Vatican.
photo: Michael Zapf
