Unsuk Chin | Die dunkle Seite des Mondes
Inszenierung
Dead Centre
Direction
Dead Centre was founded by Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd in Dublin in 2012. Their work has toured extensively around the world, including to the Young Vic in London, Schaubühne, Berlin, Dramaten, Stockholm, BAM, New York, Brisbane Festival, Hong Kong Festival and Teatro Piccollo, Milan.
Their projects include "LIPPY", "Chekhov’s First Play", "Hamnet", "Beckett’s Room", "To Be a Machine (Version 1.0)" and "Good Sex". They have also created new work at Schaubühne, Berlin (Shakespeare’s Last Play) Göteborgs Stadsteater (The Silence) and four projects at Burgtheater, Vienna, including "Traumdeutung" von Sigmund Freud, which continues to play in the repertory.
Their work in opera includes "Bählamms Fest" at Ruhrtriennale (2021) and "Teorema" at Deutsche Oper, Berlin, in 2023.
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photo: Ste Murray
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
Bühne
Jeremy Herbert
Jeremy Herbert ist als Bühnenbildner und Multimedia-Künstler tätig. Er entwarf zahlreiche Bühnenbilder für das Royal Court Theatre, unter anderem für Sarah Kanes »Cleansed«, Tom Murphys »Alice Trilogy«, Marius von Mayenburgs »The Ugly One« und Olivier Choinières »Bliss«. Für sein Bühnenbild zur Uraufführung von »4.48 Psychosis« wurde er mit dem Barclay Award ausgezeichnet. Jeremy Herbert war außerdem für Michael Nymans Oper »Man and Boy DADA« als Bühnenbildner und Videoregisseur am Almeida Theater London engagiert und entwarf das Bühnenbild für die Premiere von John Taverners Oper »Mary of Egypt« beim Aldeburgh Festival. Außerdem arbeitete er für die Royal Shakespeare Company (»The Tempest«, »Roberto Zucco«, »Beauty and the Beast«), das Piccolo Teatro in Mailand (»Attempts on her Life«) und das Almeida Theatre in London (»The Triumph of Love«, »Parlour Song«). Auch im Londoner Theaterviertel West End war er tätig und zeichnete unter anderem als Bühnenbildner für »This is our Youth« und »Treats« am Garrick Theatre, »Sexual Perversity in Chicago« am Royal Haymarket Theatre und »Up for Grabs« am Wyndham‘s Theatre verantwortlich. Zu seinen jüngsten Projekten zählen »Rodelinda« an der English National Opera, »La Traviata« bei den Wiener Festwochen sowie »Hamlet«, »The Glass Menagerie« und »Blackta« am Young Vic Theatre.
In der Saison 2008/09 arbeitete er erstmals mit dem Regisseur Ramin Gray zusammen und schuf das Bühnenbild für dessen Inszenierung von Simon Stephens »Harper Regan« am Deutschen Schauspielhaus in Hamburg und bei den Salzburger Festspielen. Es folgte eine weitere gemeinsame Arbeit im Rahmen der Neuproduktion von Benjamin Brittens »Death in Venice« an der Staatsoper Hamburg. In der Spielzeit 2014/15 verantwortet Jeremy Herbert das Bühnenbild für die Uraufführung von Beat Furrers »la bianca notte / die helle nacht«.
Kostüme
Janina Brinkmann
Janina Brinkmann wurde in Hamburg geboren. Sie absolvierte ihr Studium als Diplom-Modedesignerin an der Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften in Hamburg. Es folgten mehrere Kostümassistenzen am Deutschen Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. Janina Brinkmann entwarf Kostümbilder für Inszenierungen der Regisseure Leander Haußmann, Christoph Mehler, Kevin Rittberger und Samuel Weiss unter anderem am Berliner Ensemble, am Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, am Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, am Schauspielhaus Hamburg, am Schauspielhaus Wien, am Schauspiel Frankfurt, am Schauspiel Köln, am Schauspiel Leipzig und an den Staatstheatern Mainz, Nürnberg und Stuttgart sowie am Burgtheater Wien. Die Inszenierungen »Onkel Wanja« am Staatstheater Stuttgart und »Die Unverheiratete« am Burgtheater Wien von Robert Borgmann, für die sie die Kostüme gestaltete, wurden zum Berliner Theatertreffen 2014 und 2015 eingeladen.
In der Spielzeit 2014/15 arbeitet die Künstlerin zum ersten Mal an der Staatsoper Hamburg und entwirft die Kostüme für Beat Furrers Oper »la bianca notte / die helle nacht« in der Inszenierung von Ramin Gray.
Licht
Adam Silverman
Adam Silverman arbeitet als Lichtdesigner für Opern-, Schauspiel- und Tanzproduktionen an internationalen Bühnen. So gestaltete er unter anderem das Licht für »Pelléas et Mélisande« am Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, »Aida« an der Deutschen Oper Berlin, »Tannhäuser« an der San Francisco Opera, »Norma« an der Opera North sowie »Un Ballo in Maschera« an der Metropolitan Opera. Ferner war er als Lichtdesigner an der Nederlandse Opera, am Royal Opera House Covent Garden, an der English National Opera und an der Opera Australia engagiert. Bereits 2008/09 war Adam Silverman mit seinem Lichtkonzept zu »Death in Venice« an der Hamburgischen Staatsoper tätig.
Dramaturgie
Angela Beuerle
Dramaturge
Origin:
Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Studies:
Musicology, German and Scandinavian Studies, University of Hamburg; doctorate (Dr. phil.) with a thesis on medieval language theory
Career stages:
Freelance dramaturge for music theatre (since 2014), teaching at the theatre academy of the HfMT Hamburg (since 2014), dramaturge for music theatre at Staatstheater Stuttgart (2006-2014), freelance artistic participation at Hamburgische Staatsoper, Ruhrtriennale (until 2006); publishes regularly in the fields of opera, concert, music and literature
Cooperations:
Peter Konwitschny, La fura dels baus, Joachim Schlömer, Igor Bauersima, Yona Kim, Thomas Bischoff, Markus Dietz, Calixto Bieito, Andrea Moses, Jossi Wieler/Sergio Morabito, Lydia Steier, Philipp Himmelmann, u. a.
Dramaturgie
Michael Sangkuhl
Dramaturgy
Birthplace:
Regensburg, Germany
Studies:
Historical musicology, philosophy and art history at the University of Regensburg
Relation to the State Opera:
Dramaturge at the Hamburg State Opera and for the concerts of the Philharmonic State Orchestra since the 2022/23 season
Stations:
Internships, assistant director, evening stage manager and stage manager for surtitles at the Staatstheater Saarbrücken, at the Theater Regensburg and at the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl
Academic teaching in the field of musicology at the University of Regensburg
photo: Johannes Xaver Zepplin
Chorleitung
Christian Günther
Associate Chorus Master
Birthplace:
Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Studies:
Conducting at University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, conducting lessons with Neeme Järvi, Jorma Panula and Gianluigi Gelmetti
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Assistant Chorus Master at Hamburg State Opera since the 2019/20 season
Career stages:
Assistant of the Chorus Master at Hamburg State Opera (2008-2019), regular guest appearances at NDR-Chorus (since 2018), Guest Chorus Master at Zürich Opera House (2018), Assistant of Eberhard Friedrich with the Chorus of the Bayreuth Festival (2017), Guest engagements at Music Festival Bremen, at Festival der Projektgruppe Neue Musik Bremen as well as at Oh Ton-Ensemble Oldenburg, Leader of the Ensemble “Atelier Neue Musik”, Lectureship at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen (since 2007), Associate Chorus Master and Leader of the children's chorus at Theater Bremen (2002-2007), 2nd Capellmeister at Theater Bremen (2005-2007), Conductor of the Ensemble “piano possible” Munich (1996-2007), Guest répétiteur at Stuttgart State Theater, Theater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich and at the Biennale in Munich
Cooperation with choruses:
Chorus of Hamburg State Opera, NDR Chorus, Children's chorus of Theater Bremen, et al.
Dr. Kieron
Thomas Lehman
Meister Astaroth
Bo Skovhus
Baritone
Birthplace:
Ikast, Denmark
Studium:
Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Royal Academy for Opera of Copenhagen
Prizes:
Österreichischer Kammersänger, order of knights of Denmark, honorary member of Freunde der Wiener Staatsoper
Important parts:
König Lear (Lear), Cortez (Die Eroberung von Mexiko), Beckmesser (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Dr. Schön/Jack the Ripper (Lulu), Mandryka (Arabella), Conte Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus), Hamlet (Hamlet v. Ambroise Thomas), Claudius (Hamlet v. Arno Schreier), Peer Gynt (Peer Gynt), Bariton (Jedermann-Monologe), René (Der Graf von Luxemburg), Danilo (Die lustige Witwe), Tamare (Die Gezeichneten), Jean-Charles (Das Floß der Medusa), Eugen Onegin (Eugen Onegin), Schischkow (Aus einem Totenhaus), Bariton (Lyrische Sinfonie), Bariton (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde), Titus (Berenice), Karl V (Karl V), Kowaljow (Die Nase), Amfortas (Parsifal), Peter (Hänsel und Gretel), Gefangener (Il Prigioniero), Agamemnon (Iphigénie en Aulide), Oreste (Iphigénie en Tauride), Frank & Fritz (Die tote Stadt), Jonny (Jonny spielt auf), Ulisse (Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Andrej Bokonski (Krieg und Frieden), Ramiro (L’Heure espagnol), Graf (Capriccio), Barbier (Die schweigsame Frau), Storch (Intermezzo), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Jelezki (Pique Dame), Wolfram von Eschenbach (Tannhäuser), Heerrufer (Lohengrin), Grigori Stepanowitsch (The bear), Oberst Chabert (Oberst Chabert), Melisso (Alcina), et al.
Stages:
Hamburgische Staatsoper, Opéra Bastille, Opéra Garnier, Salzburger Festspiele, Wagner Festspiele Budapest, Bayerische Staatsoper, Volksoper Wien, Wiener Staatsoper, Konzerthaus Wien, Musikverein Wien, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Staatsoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Theater an der Wien, Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, Oper Köln, Niederländische Oper Amsterdam, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Real Madrid, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Philharmonie Berlin, Festival d‘Aix-en-Provence, Teatro Regio di Torino, Königliche Oper Kopenhagen, Glyndebourne Festival, Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Verbier Festival, Wigmore Hall, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Staatsoper Budapest, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Willy Decker, Romeo Castellucci, Stefan Herheim, Claus Guth, Christoph Loy, Karoline Gruber, Calixto Bieito, John Cox, Roberto de Simone, Marco Arturo Marelli, Jonathan Miller, Jürgen Flimm, Peter Konwitschny, Jens-Daniel Herzog, Robert Carsen, Sabine Hartmannshen, Frank Castorf, Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Jerome Savar, Dimitri Tcherniakov, Franceska Zambello, David McVicar, Martin Kusej, Markus Bothe, Emmanuelle Bastet, Torsten Fischer, Günter Krämer, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Kirill Petrenko, Christoph Eschenbach, Armin Jordan, Philippe Jordan, Kent Nagano, Franz Welser-Möst, Simone Young, Michael Boder, Ingo Metzmacher, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, James Conlon, Sir Andrew Davis, Bertrand de Billy, Charles Dutoit, Claus Peter Flor, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Marek Janowski, Mariss Jansons, Sir Charles Mackerras, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Georges Prètre, Donald Runnicles, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Ulf Schirmer, Horst Stein, Sir Jeffrey Tate, Christian Thielemann, Edo de Waart, Dietfried Bernet, Rudolf Bibl, Alfred Eschwe, Peter Schneider, François-Xavier Roth, Gabriel Feltz, Fabio Luisi, Allan Gilbert, Manfred Honeck, et al.
Miriel
Siobhan Stagg
Highlights in Siobhan Stagg’s 2017/18 season include Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; Gilda (Rigoletto) for the Hamburgische Staatsoper; Najade (Ariadne auf Naxos) for her debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Pamina, Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Musetta (La bohème) and Contessa di Folleville (Il viaggio a Reims) for the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
A member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin since 2013/14, her roles in the house have so far included Pamina, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Gilda, Marguerite de Valois (Les Huguenots) and Waldvogel and Woglinde in “The Ring Cycle” conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
Elsewhere she has sung Cordelia in Aribert Reimann’s “Lear” for the Hamburgische Staatsoper; Blonde for the Hamburgische Staatsoper and the Dutch National Opera; Woglinde for the Deutsche Staatsoper, the title role in Luigi Rossi’s “Orpheus” for the Royal Opera and Morgana (Alcina) and Marzelline (Fidelio) for the Grand Théâtre de Genève.
Siobhan Stagg’s upcoming engagements include her U.S. debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the title role of “Cendrillon”, her debut for the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) in her debut for Australia’s Victorian Opera.
Highlights on the concert platform include Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem” (Berliner Philharmoniker/Christian Thielemann), Zemlinsky’s “Lyric Symphony” at the BBC Proms (BBC Symphony Orchestra/Simone Young), Haydn’s “Creation” (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis), Mozart arias with Rolando Villazon at the Salzburg Mozartwoche (Mozarteumorchester Salzburg/Kristiina Poska) and a tour of Australia with Roberto Alagna.
photo: Simon Pauly
Chor
Chor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper
The chorus members appear on stage at the Hamburg State Opera in a different role almost every night. From one day to the next, they might be sailors, pilgrims or conspirators, then courtiers, hunters, the deranged or the imprisoned. In the role of crusaders in I Lombardi alla prima Crociata they travel to Jerusalem, other nights they are invited to Madama Butterfly's marriage or acclaim Prince Igor. The ladies and gentlemen of the opera chorus demonstrate their artistic prowess, their flexibility, and their love of the stage in every performance.
With a membership around 70, the chorus of the Hamburg State Opera has been one of the world’s best opera choruses for many years. The varied repertoire – almost always in the original language – is multifaceted and includes baroque operas and dramatic operas, major works by Verdi and Wagner as well as contemporary pieces. At the start of the 2013/14 season, Eberhard Friedrich took over the post of Chorus Master.
photo: Niklas Marc Heinecke
Orchester
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
Orchestra
The Philharmonic State Orchestra is Hamburg’s largest and oldest orchestra, looking back on many years of musical history. When the “Philharmonic Orchestra” and the “Orchestra of the Hamburg Municipal Theatre” merged in 1934, two tradition-steeped orchestras combined. Philharmonic concerts have been performed in Hamburg since 1828, artists such as Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms being regular guests of the Philharmonic Society. The history of the opera company goes back even further: Hamburg has been home to musical theatre since 1678, even if a regular opera or theatre orchestra was only formed later. To this day, the Philharmonic State Orchestra has embodied the sound of the Hansa City, a concert and opera orchestra in one.
During its long history, the orchestra encountered great artist personalities. Apart from composers of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, such as Telemann, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mahler, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, since the 20th century chief conductors such as Karl Muck, Joseph Keilberth, Eugen Jochum, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Aldo Ceccato, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gerd Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher and Simone Young have shaped the orchestra’s sound. Renowned conductors of the pre-war era such as Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Karl Böhm and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt gave brilliant performances, as did outstanding conductors of our times: suffice it to mention Christian Thielemann, Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Petrenko, Adam Fischer and Sir Roger Norrington.
Starting with the 2015/2016 season, Kent Nagano has taken on the position of Hamburg’s General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the Hamburg State Opera and since June 2023 also its honorary conductor. In his first season Kent Nagano initiated a new project, the Philharmonic Academy, focusing on experimentation and chamber music. In 2016, Nagano and the Philharmonic toured South America, followed by concert tours to Spain and Japan in 2019, and in the spring of 2023, the Philharmonic State Orchestra made its debut at New York's Carnegie Hall under his direction, which was acclaimed by audiences and the press. Since 2017 Kent Nagano and the Philharmonic State Orchestra have continued the traditional Philharmonic Concerts at the new Elbphilharmonie, for which they commissioned Jörg Widmann to compose the oratorio ARCHE, which was given its world premiere during the hall’s opening festivities. The concert recording has been released by ECM, for which Widmann received the OPUS KLASSIK as Composer of the Year 2019, and ARCHE was performed again in 2023 to great acclaim.
The Philharmonic State Orchestra offers approximately 35 concerts per season and performs more than 240 performances per year at the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier, making it Hamburg’s busiest orchestra. The stylistic bandwidth covered by the 140 musicians, ranging from historically informed performance practice to contemporary works and including concert, opera and ballet repertoire, is unique throughout Germany. Chamber Music has a long tradition at the Philharmonic State Orchestra: what began in 1929 with a concert series for chamber orchestra has been continued since 1968 by a series of chamber music only.
In 2008 Simone Young and the Philharmonic State Orchestra won the Brahms Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society. The orchestra has recorded the complete Ring by Wagner as well as the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner – the latter in the rarely-performed original versions – as well as works by Mahler, Hindemith and Berg, and has released DVDs of opera and ballet productions by Hosokawa, Offenbach, Reimann, Auerbach, J.S. Bach, Puccini, Poulenc and Weber.
The members of the Philharmonic State Orchestra feel equally beholden to Hamburg’s musical tradition and responsible for the city’s artistic future. Since 1978 the musicians have been participating in education programmes in Hamburg’s schools. Today, the orchestra maintains a broad education programme, including school and kindergarten visits, patronage for music projects, introductory events for children and family concerts. The orchestra’s own academy prepares young musicians for their professional careers. The Philharmonic’s musicians thereby make an equally enjoyable and valuable contribution to tomorrow’s music education in the music metropolis of Hamburg.
More about Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
photo: Foto: Felix Broede
