As the curtain-raiser to this year's Opera Festival, the Bayerische Staatsoper will be presenting another work from Giuseppe Verdi's comprehensive œuvre. With the new staging of Il trovatore, the French director Olivier Py will be appearing before audiences at the Bayerische Staatsoper for the first time. The cast of the premiere includes two international favourites with the public: Jonas Kaufmann will be making his role début as Manrico alongside Anja Harteros as Leonora. The two Russian-born soloists Elena Manistina and Alexey Markov are making their house débuts as Azucena and Count di Luna. The Bayerische Staatsorchester will be conducted by the Verdi expert Paolo Carignani (premiere: June 27).

A contemporary work will be the last premiere of the outgoing General Music Director Kent Nagano: George Benjamin's opera Written on Skin, which was successfully premiered at last year's Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, will be coming to the stage of the Prinzregententheater. Staging is by the British director Katie Mitchell. Kent Nagano conducts Klangforum Wien, and soprano Barbara Hannigan will be appearing in the role of Agnès (premiere: July 23).

In the Wagner and Verdi anniversary year, the focus of the Festival performances is on the two great composers of the 19th century. The programme includes the season's two new Verdi productions, Árpád Schilling's Rigoletto (July 17/20/24) and Dmitri Tcherniakov's Simon Boccanegra (July 12), with their original casts, along with Martin Kušej's interpretation of Macbeth with Nadja Michael (July 29) and Otello with Johan Botha, Pavol Breslik and Anja Harteros under the baton of Paolo Carignani (July 16). In La traviata, Marina Rebeka as Violetta Valéry makes her début at the Bayerische Staatsoper alongside Piotr Beczala and Simon Keenlyside (July 9). There are some outstanding voices to be heard in Don Carlo with René Pape, Jonas Kaufmann, Mariusz Kwiecien and Anja Harteros in the leading roles, and what is probably Verdi's darkest opera is conducted by Zubin Mehta (July 25/28).

Richard Wagner is also represented with a large number of works. The curtain-raiser on 29 June will be David Alden's interpretation of Tannhäuser conducted by Kent Nagano. This also provides the opportunity for a reunion with Anne Schwanewilms as Elisabeth, Matthias Goerne as Wolfram von Eschenbach and Robert Dean Smith as Tannhäuser. Lohengrin is sung by a cast of the highest quality, with Klaus Florian Vogt in the title role, Annette Dasch as Elsa von Brabant and Evgeny Nikitin as Friedrich von Telramund (July 3). The programme also includes Tristan und Isolde with Peter Seiffert, René Pape and Petra-Maria Schnitzer (July 11) plus another Ring cycle with Kent Nagano as musical director (July 13/14/15/18). Die Walküre features Bryn Terfel as Wotan in the cast for the first time in Munich. To close the Festival on 31 July, General Music Director Kent Nagano will be standing on the rostrum of the Bayerische Staatsorchester for one last time, with Parsifal.

As usual, the Festival programme also includes the new productions of the current season: Alongside Jörg Widmann's opera Babylon, premiered in October 2012 with Anna Prohaska and Jussi Myllys in the leading roles (July 21), the curtain at the National Theatre will rise on Calixto Bieito's interpretation of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov (July 26/30). Robert Carsen's Ariadne auf Naxos completes the programme (July 4/7/10).

The Festival programme will also be framed by a variety of concerts and a number of evening recitals: Pavol Breslik interprets Franz Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin (July 5). Christian Gerhaher also focuses on Romantic music, with songs by Robert Schumann (July 28), Dmitri Hvorostovsky will sing works by Rachmaninov and Liszt (July 3). Soprano Diana Damrau presents an evening of intimate music by Strauss, Schubert Fauré et al. accompanied by harpist Xavier de Maistre (July 22).

During the Munich Opera Festival, the Bayerische Staatsoper goes on in presenting two selected performances to watch on the website www.staatsoper.de/tv. The streaming of Olivier Py’s Il trovatore (July 5, with Anja Harteros and Jonas Kaufmann) and Calixto Bieito’s Boris Godunov (July 26, with Alexander Tsymbalyuk in the title role) will complete the STAATSOPER.TV 2012/13 season. For the 2013/14 season, a total of nine performances are planned to be presented online, live and free of charge. 

STAATSOPER.TV

 


Giuseppe Verdi
Il trovatore
Premiere
Thursday, 27 June 2013, 7.00 p.m.
Performances
Monday, 1 July 2013, 7.00 p.m.
Friday, 5 July 2013, 7.00 p.m.
Monday, 8 July 2013, 7.00 p.m.
Nationaltheater

supported by

Partner der Münchner Opernfestspiele
  

George Benjamin
Written on Skin
Premiere
Tuesday, 23 July 2013, 8.00 p.m.
Performances
Thursday, 25 July 2013, 8.00 p.m.
Saturday, 27 July 2013, 7.00 p.m. 
Prinzregententheater

Partner of the world premières of the Bavarian State Opera
 

1943 – 1963 – 2013. These three dates mark turning points in the chequered, lively history of the Bayerische Staatsoper. The opera house is taking the anniversary as an opportunity to address a number of historic questions: "Commemorating 50 years of the restored National Theatre is bound to give rise, in particular, to questions about art and about ourselves. Where has our society moved on to since the Second World War? Where do we stand today? Who are we? We are reflecting these questions in both old and new works", comments Nikolaus Bachler.

Alongside the November premiere of Die Frau ohne Schatten directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski and conducted by Kirill Petrenko, the programme also includes Giuseppe Verdi's La forza del destino (directed by Martin Kušej) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's late work La clemenza di Tito (directed by Jan Bosse). In spring 2014, Kirill Petrenko will be conducting a new interpretation of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten. The 2014 Munich Opera Festival will open with a new production of Gioachino Rossini's Guillaume Tell, and a baroque opera, Claudio Monteverdi's L’Orfeo, will be introduced into the repertoire of the Bayerische Staatsoper in July 2014.

In addition, the schedule also includes 35 further productions, such as Babylon, Boris Godunov, La Calisto, L’Enfant et les sortilèges / Der Zwerg, Eugene Onegin, Rusalka, Salome, Il turco in Italia and Wozzeck. A Celebratory Concert to mark the 150th birthday of Richard Strauss, the Anniversary Celebration commemorating 50 years since the reopening of the opera house and an Opera Studio production of Opera Studio production in the Cuvilliés Theatre complete the programme.

The Premieres

Richard Strauss
Die Frau ohne Schatten
Musical direction Kirill Petrenko
Stage direction Krzysztof Warlikowski
Premiere on Nov. 21, 2013 in the Nationaltheater

Giuseppe Verdi
La forza del destino
Musical direction Asher Fisch
Stage direction Martin Kušej
Premiere on Dec. 22, 2013 in the Nationaltheater

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
La clemenza di Tito
Musical direction Kirill Petrenko
Stage direction Jan Bosse
Premiere on Feb. 10, 2014 in the Nationaltheater

Production by the Opera Studio
Premiere on Apr. 30, 2014 in the Cuvilliés-Theater

Bernd Alois Zimmermann
Die Soldaten
Musical direction Kirill Petrenko
Stage direction Andreas Kriegenburg
Premiere on May 25, 2014 in the Nationaltheater

Gioachino Rossini
Guillaume Tell
Musical direction Dan Ettinger
Stage direction Antú Romero Nunes
Festival premiere June 28, 2014 in the Nationaltheater

Claudio Monteverdi
L'Orfeo
Musical direction Ivor Bolton
Stage direction David Bösch
Festival premiere on July 20, 2014 in the Prinzregententheater 

 

Opera and ballet lovers from all over the world will be able to enjoy a total of seven opera performances and two ballet evenings in full and live online from Munich. The first of these were the audiovisual transmissions of Jörg Widmann's new opera Babylon, Giacomo Puccini's Turandot, John Neumeier's version of The Nutcracker, Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa, Richard Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, and Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth.

These will be followed by streams of the following opera performances:

June 1, 2013
Terence Kohler
Helden

July 5, 2013
Giuseppe Verdi
Il trovatore

July 26, 2013
Modest Mussorgsky
Boris Godunov

"I think that live streaming, as a one-off event, provides a contemporary way of opening the doors of the Opera House to the world. STAATSOPER.TV is live, like the theatre, and disappears when the curtain falls – and this is what gives it its very special appeal. The Bavarian State Opera is thus able to present itself to an even wider audience as a unique forum where innovative music theatre meets the world's best artists", says General Manager Nikolaus Bachler.

Four to six cameras in the auditorium of the National Theatre will broadcast the performances to the whole world via www.staatsoper.de/tv. Up to 40 microphones in the orchestra pit and on the stage will provide first-class sound quality. The streams will be offered in three different transmission qualities which will adjust automatically to the viewer's computer power or internet connection. Before each live stream, General Manager Nikolaus Bachler will provide an introduction to the work, and the State Opera will also allow a glimpse behind the stage of the Opera House during the intervals. Subtitles in German and English complete the services offered. Apart from a computer, laptop or tablet PC, users will only require a broadband internet connection such as DSL and speakers connected to the device.

As a sponsor for STAATSOPER.TV, it has been possible to attract, with The Linde Group, an international corporation which has been involved with the Bavarian State Opera for many years. Linde is exclusive Season Partner since the 2008/09 season and will now also be the International Streaming Partner for the next four seasons.