Salvatore Sciarrino | Venere e Adone
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
Venere
Layla Claire
Soprano
Birthplace:
Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Studies:
The Curtis Institute of Music
Member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Program
Prizes:
Hildegard Behrens Award, Metropolitan Opera
Mozart Prize, Aix-en-Provence Festival Academy
Laureate Queen Elisabeth Competition
Important parts:
Alcina (Alcina), Nitocris (Belshazzar), Rodelinda (Rodelinda), The Governess (The Turn of the Screw), Catherine Earnshaw (Wuthering Heights), Donna Elvira/Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Sandrina (La Finta Giardiniera), Tebaldo (Don Carlo), Anne Trulove (The Rake's Progress), Marenka (The Bartered Bride) et al.
Stages:
Metropolitan Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Zurich Opera House, Opéra National de Lorraine, Karlsruhe Handel Festival, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Glyndebourne Festival, Salzburg Festival, Hamburg State Opera, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Robert Carsen, Nicholas Hytner, Willy Decker, Stephen Wadsworth, Sebastian Baumgarten, James Darrah, Stephen Lawless, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Andreas Spering, Riccardo Minasi, Laurence Cummings, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, James Gaffigan, James Levine, Jakub Hrusa, William Christie, Bernard Haitink, Michael Tilson-Thomas et al.
More about Layla Claire
photo: Simon Pauly
Adone
Meili Li
Countertenor
Birthplace:
Urumqi, China
Studies:
Artist Diploma in opera course, Guildhall School of Music and Drama
MA, DipRAM in vocal studies, Royal Academy of Music
BA in film, Peking University
Prizes:
2016, 2022 Farinelli Prize and 2nd Prize, London Handel Festival Singing Competition
Important parts:
Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice), Tolomeo and Alessandro (Tolomeo), Dardano (Amadigi), Giustino (Giustino), Oberon (Ein Sommernachtstraum), Artemis (Phaedra), Shanbo Liang (The Butterfly Lover), Alcasto (Argenore), Peleo (Arianna), Tamerlano (Tamerlano), Ruggiero (Alcina), Speranza (L‘Orfeo), Linceo (Hipermestra), Cherub (Figaro Gets a Divorce), Guildenstern (Hamlet)
Stages:
Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper, Theater an der Wien, Victorian Opera Melbourne, Meininger Staatstheater, Irish National Opera, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Theater Münster, Theater Lübeck, Theater Gießen, Birmingham Opera Company, Händel-Festspiele Karlsruhe, London Handel Festival, Styriarte Festival, Händel-Festspiele Halle, Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, Beijing Music Festival
Cooperations with directors:
Graham Vick, Benjamin Lazar, Kirill Serebrennikov, Michael Boyd, Ulrich Peters, Hinrich Horstkotte, James Darrah, Anthony Pilavachi, Magdalena Fuchsberger, Ivan Heng, Shuang Zou, David Bolger, Adrian Schvarzstein
Cooperations with conductors:
Vladimir Jurowski, Attilio Cremonesi, Maxim Emelyanychev, Peter Whelan, Alfredo Bernardini, Federico Sardelli, Christopher Moulds, Richard Mills, Yu Long, Markellos Chryssicos, Laurence Cummings
photo: Claire Yu
Marte
Matthias Klink
Tenor
Birthplace:
Fellbach-Schmieden near Stuttgart, Germany
Studies:
Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts and at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington/USA
Prizes:
DER FAUST theater prize (2018) and "Singer of the Year" (2017, Opernwelt) for his portrayal of Gustav von Aschenbach (Death in Venice), honorary title of Kammersänger of the Stuttgart State Opera (2017)
Important parts:
Alfredo (La traviata), Hoffmann (Les contes d'Hoffmann ), Don José (Carmen), Faust (Damnation de Faust), Matteo (Arabella), Erik (Der fliegende Holländer), Tom Rakewell (Rakes Progress), Jim Mahoney (Mahagonny), Alwa (Lulu), Herod (Salome), Gustav von Aschenbach (Death in Venice), Mime (Siegfried), Mao Tse-tung (Nixon), Loge (Rheingold), Schuiski (Boris Godunov), Eisenstein (Fledermaus), Tikhon (Katja Kabanova) et al.
Stages:
Hamburg State Opera, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Bavarian State Opera, Stuttgart State Opera, Opéra National de Lyon, Teatro alla Scala, Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Lyric opera of Chicago, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Ruhrtriennale Bochum, Salzburg Festival, Zurich Opera et al.
More about Matthias Klink
photo: Matthias Bausch
Vulcano
Cody Quattlebaum
Bass-baritone
Birthplace:
Maryland, USA
Studies:
The Juilliard School, the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Opernhaus Zürich International Opera Studio, Dutch National Opera studio
Prizes:
Sara Tucker grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation
Important parts:
Masetto (Don Giovanni), Schaunard (La Boheme), Bhishma (Until The Lions), Ratefreund (Die Vögel), Il Conte (Le Nozze di Figaro), Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Don Fernando (Fidelio), Larkens (La Fanciulla del West)
Stages:
Teatro Real, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra National du Rhin, Israeli Opera Tel-Aviv, Dutch National Opera, Opernhaus Zürich
Cooperations with conductors:
Raphaël Pichon, Klaus Mäkelä, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Andris Nelsons, Ivor Bolton, Richard Egarr, Marc Minkowski, Laurence Cummings
More about Cody Quattlebaum
photo: Altin Kaftira
Amore
Kady Evanyshyn
Mezzo-Soprano
Birthplace:
Winnipeg, Canada
Studies:
Bachelor and Master of Music, The Juilliard School
Awards/Competitions:
First Prize of the New Orleans District and Second Prize of the Gulf Coast Region at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (2023), Award from the Gerda Lissner Lieder/Song Competition (2017/18), Winner of the John Erskine Prize at The Juilliard School (2017) and the Tudor Bowl at the Winnipeg Music Festival (2015)
Masterclasses:
Lioba Braun, Brigitte Fassbänder, Elena Garanča, Thomas Hampson, Malcom Martineau, Anne Sofie von Otter, Bo Skovhus, Emmanuel Villaume, and others
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since the 2022/2023 season
Was member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera from 2019/20 to 2022/23
Important parts:
Annio (La clemenza di Tito), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Charlotte (Werther), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Siébel (Faust), Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Mercédès (Carmen), Meg Page (Falstaff), Tisbé (La Cenerentola), Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas), Fjodor (Boris Godunov), Frau Reich (Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor), Phèdre (Hippolyte et Aricie), and others
Stages:
Opernhaus Zürich, Bregenzer Festspiele, Carnegie Hall, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Opera Holland Park, Verbier Festival, Aspen Music Festival
Song:
World Premiere of “Drei Grabschriften” (Stefano Gervasoni), Performances of “Animus II” (Druckman), “Folk Songs” (Berio) and “Liebeslieder Walzer” (Brahms), Competitor of the 2019 Wigmore Hall/Independent Opera Song Competition
Cooperation with Directors:
Edward Berkeley, Frank Castorf, Georges Delnon, James Darrah, Axel Ransich, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Jana Vetten, Stephen Wadsworth
Cooperation with Conductors:
Nicolas André, Paolo Arrivabeni, Giampaolo Bisanti, Daniele Callegari, William Christie, Jane Glover, Alexander Joel, Francesco Lanzillotta, Claire Levacher, Jeffrey Milarsky, Evelino Pidò, Teddy Poll, Avi Stein, Stephen Stubbs
More about Kady Evanyshyn
photo: Brinkhoff/Mögenburg
Il Mostro
Mark Stone
Baritone
Studies:
Singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Prizes:
Decca Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards (1998)
Important parts:
Wotan (Die Walküre), Gunther (Götterdämmerung), Alberich (Das Rheingold), White Knight (Alice’s Adventures Underground), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Balstrode (Peter Grimes), Protector (Written on Skin), Ford (Falstaff), Germont Pere (La Traviata), Gianni Schicchi (Gianni Schicchi), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), et al.
Stages:
Grand Théâtre de Genève, Longborough Festival, Royal Opera House, Welsh National Opera, Valencia Palau de les Arts, Copenhagen Opera Festival, Queensland Opera, Mariisnky Theatre St Petersburg, Philadelphia Opera, Santa Fe Opera, et al.
photo: Simon Fowler
La Fama (Sopran)
Kady Evanyshyn
Mezzo-Soprano
Birthplace:
Winnipeg, Canada
Studies:
Bachelor and Master of Music, The Juilliard School
Awards/Competitions:
First Prize of the New Orleans District and Second Prize of the Gulf Coast Region at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (2023), Award from the Gerda Lissner Lieder/Song Competition (2017/18), Winner of the John Erskine Prize at The Juilliard School (2017) and the Tudor Bowl at the Winnipeg Music Festival (2015)
Masterclasses:
Lioba Braun, Brigitte Fassbänder, Elena Garanča, Thomas Hampson, Malcom Martineau, Anne Sofie von Otter, Bo Skovhus, Emmanuel Villaume, and others
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since the 2022/2023 season
Was member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera from 2019/20 to 2022/23
Important parts:
Annio (La clemenza di Tito), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Charlotte (Werther), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Siébel (Faust), Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Mercédès (Carmen), Meg Page (Falstaff), Tisbé (La Cenerentola), Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas), Fjodor (Boris Godunov), Frau Reich (Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor), Phèdre (Hippolyte et Aricie), and others
Stages:
Opernhaus Zürich, Bregenzer Festspiele, Carnegie Hall, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Opera Holland Park, Verbier Festival, Aspen Music Festival
Song:
World Premiere of “Drei Grabschriften” (Stefano Gervasoni), Performances of “Animus II” (Druckman), “Folk Songs” (Berio) and “Liebeslieder Walzer” (Brahms), Competitor of the 2019 Wigmore Hall/Independent Opera Song Competition
Cooperation with Directors:
Edward Berkeley, Frank Castorf, Georges Delnon, James Darrah, Axel Ransich, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Jana Vetten, Stephen Wadsworth
Cooperation with Conductors:
Nicolas André, Paolo Arrivabeni, Giampaolo Bisanti, Daniele Callegari, William Christie, Jane Glover, Alexander Joel, Francesco Lanzillotta, Claire Levacher, Jeffrey Milarsky, Evelino Pidò, Teddy Poll, Avi Stein, Stephen Stubbs
More about Kady Evanyshyn
photo: Brinkhoff/Mögenburg
La Fama (Bariton)
Nicholas Mogg
Baritone
Birthplace:
Manchester, United Kingdom
Studies:
International Opera Studio, Hamburg State Opera; National Opera Studio, London; Royal Academy of Music, London; Clare College, University Cambridge
Masterclass:
with Sir Simon Keenlyside, Christian Gerhaher, Malcolm Martineau, Brigitte Fassbaender, Gerald Finley, Sir Thomas Allen
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since the 2022/23 season
Was Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera from 2019/20 to 2022/23
Prizes:
Royal Over-Seas League Singers’ Section; Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Award
Roles:
Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Ned Keene (Peter Grimes), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Steward (Flight), Herr Peachum (Die Dreigroschenoper), Melisso (Alcina), Jupiter (Orphée aux Enfers), et al.
Stages:
Hamburg State Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Wigmore Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Het Concertgebouw, Festival Aix, Elbphilharmonie, Theater Lübeck
Cooperation with directors:
Keith Warner, Herbert Fritsch, Tim Albery, Orpha Phelan, Richard Jones
Cooperation with conductors:
Robin Ticciati, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Ton Koopman, Sir Roger Norrington, Yoel Gamzou, Francesco Ivan Ciampa, Alan Gilbert, Kent Nagano
More about Nicholas Mogg
photo: linden.shots
Vokalensemble (Sopran I)
Olivia Boen
Soprano
Birthplace:
Chicago, USA
Studies:
Opera Course at Guildhall School of Music and Drama (2021), Master of Music with Distinction at Guildhall School of Music and Drama (2019), Bachelor of Music in Voice from Oberlin Conservatory of Music (2017)
Prizes:
Finalist Guildhall Gold Medal Prize (2021), Awarded English Song Prize from London Song Festival (2019), Third Place Hurn Court Singing Competition (2019), First Place Musicians Club of Women Lynne Cooper Harvey Foundation Award (2018), Awarded Frank Huntington Beebe Fund for Musicians Grant (2018), First Place Tuesday Musical Competition (2017)
Master classes:
Renée Fleming, Roderick Williams, Thomas Hampson, Eric Owens, Helmut Deutsch, Marilyn Horne, Thomas Quasthoff, Dame Felicity Lott, Kamal Khan, Kate Royal
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera since the 2022/2023 season
Important parts:
Alice Ford (Falstaff), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Sifare (Mitridate), Servilia (La Clemenza di Tito), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Musetta (La Bohéme), Susanna (Il Segreto di Susanna), Queen Mother (The Little Green Swallow), Alcina (Alcina), Romilda (Serse), et al.
Stages:
Opéra national de Paris, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Wigmore Hall, Grant Park Music Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival, Verbier Festival, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Barbican Centre, Ravinia Festival, International Meistersinger Academy, Samling Institute, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Frank Castorf, Immo Karaman, Lee Blakeley, Stephen Medcalf, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Sir Andrew Davis, Valery Gergiev, Dominic Wheeler, Stanislav Kochanovsky, et al.
More about Olivia Boen
photo: Simon Pauly
Vokalensemble (Sopran II)
Lini Gong
Soprano
Geburtsort
Zhuzhou, China
Studium:
Gesang am Shanghai Conservatory of Music und an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg
Meisterklassen:
Bei Irwin Gage und Dalton Baldwin
Auszeichnungen:
Sonderpreis für Operette im Wettbewerb „Neue Stimmen“ in Gütersloh (2001), erster Preis und Publikumspreis beim Robert Stolz Gesangswettbewerb (2005), zweiter Preis im „Concours international de Musique de Chambre“ in Lyon (2006), Berenberg Kulturpreis (2007)
Wichtige Partien:
Sophie (Werther), Esmeralda (Die Verkaufte Braut), Solveig (Peer Gynt), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Sifare (Mitridate), Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Celia (Lucio Silla), Venus und Gepopo (Le Grand Macabre), Oscar (Un Ballo in Maschera), Woglinde (Götterdämmerung), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Jouvenot (Adriana Lecouvreur), Eurydike (Orpheus in der Unterwelt), Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte), Feuer, Prinzessin und Nachtigall (Das Kind und die Zauberdinge), Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Cupido (King Arthur), Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore), Despina (Così fan tutte), Olympia (Hoffmanns Erzählungen), Gilda (Rigoletto), Nachtigall (Die Nachtigall), Blondchen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), u. a.
Bühnen:
Lucerne Festival, Stuttgarter Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Theater Kiel, Theater Basel, Schwetzinger Festspiele, Nationaltheater Weimar, u. a.
Zusammenarbeit mit Regisseuren:
Yona Kim, Paul-Georg Dittrich, Vera Nemirova, Elmar Goerden, Maximilian von Mayenburg, Calixto Bieito, u. a.
Zusammenarbeit mit Dirigenten:
Peter Ruzicka, Enrico Delamboye, Najden Todorov, Gerd Albrecht, Dominik Beykirch, Jonathan Stockhammer, Barbara Kler, Peter Rundel, Peter Tilling, Gerhard Markson, Fabrice Bollon, u. a.
More about Lini Gong
Vokalensemble (Mezzo I)
Rebecca Hardwick
Rebecca Hardwick steht als Teil des Vokalensembles in Venere e Adone auf der Bühne.
Vokalensemble (Mezzo II)
Rosamond Thomas
Rosamond Thomas is on stage as part of the vocal ensemble in Venere e Adone.
photo: Benny Vernon
Vokalensemble (Tenor I)
Fabian Düberg
Fabian Düberg steht als Teil des Vokalensembles in Venere e Adone auf der Bühne.
Vokalensemble (Tenor II)
Samuel Levine
Tenor
Important parts:
Walther (TANNHÄUSER), Narraboth (SALOME), The Stranger (THE WONDER OF HELIANE), Don José (CARMEN), Skuratov (FROM A DEAD HOUSE), Laca Klemen (JENUF), Gerontius (THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS), Tenor Soloist (THE SONG OF THE EARTH).
Stages:
Frankfurt Opera, Cologne Opera, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Opera Philadelphia, Irish National Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Houston Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic.
Collaboration with directors:
James Darrah, David Hermann, Johannes Erath, Tatjana Gürbaca, Tobias Kratzer, RB Schlather, Yuval Sharon
More about Samuel Levine
Vokalensemble (Bass I)
Karl Huml
Bass
Birthplace:
Melbourne, Australia
Studies:
Vocal training in opera at the Victorian College of the Arts with Rosamund Illing and Ruth Falcon
Prizes:
Herold Sun Aria, 1995
Important parts:
Philip II (Don Carlo), Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Don Quichotte, Daland (Der fliegende Holländer), Basilio (The Barber of Seville), Frère Laurent (Gounod's Romeo et Juliette), Ramphis (Aida), Collin (La Bohème), Sarastro (The Magic Flute), Ferrando (Troubadour), Timur (Turandot), Padre Guardiano (La Forza del Destino), Eremit (Der Freischütz), Tod (Uhlmann's Kaiser von Atlantis)
Stages:
Salzburger Festspiele, Teatro Massimo Palermo, Maggio Musicale Firenze, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Oper Köln, Teatro Bellini Catania, Opera Australia, Wiener Festwochen, Volksoper Wien, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Theater Hagen, Bremer Theater, et al.
Cooperations with directors:
Barrie Kosky, Elijah Moshinsky, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Stefan Herheim, Marco Gandini, Alessandro Talevi, Günther Krämer, et al.
Cooperations with conductors:
Kent Nagano, Daniele Gatti, Simone Young, Gabrielle Ferro, Omer Meir Welber, Richard Hickocks, Juras Valcuha, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Stefan Soltesz, et al.
photo: Garrie Davislim
Vokalensemble (Bass II)
James Geidt
Baritone
Birthplace:
Northampton, United Kingdom
Studies:
Opera Course, Royal Academy of Music
MA Vocal Studies, Royal Academy of Music
Prizes:
Joan Chissell Schumann Lieder Prize, Royal Academy of Music, 2016
Important parts:
Papageno (Die Zauberflӧte), Forester (The Cunning Little Vixen), Lovec (Rusalka), L’horloge Comtoise/Le Chat (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges), Sorceress (Dido & Aeneas), Le Comte (Chérubin), Gaspar (Rita)
Stages:
Royal Academy of Music/Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Edinburgh International Festival, Garsington Opera, Vache Baroque Festival, Opera South
Cooperations with directors:
Bruno Ravella, Tom Guthrie, Jack Furness, Andrew Sinclair, James Hurley, Ashley Dean
photo: Ben Mckee
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