Richard Strauss

Emily Magee Jonas Kaufmann Elena Moşuc

Daniel Harding Wiener Philharmoniker Richard Strauss A true festival miracle! Where else could you experience a barely known original version of Ariadne auf Naxos performed to such a Ariadne high artistic standard? This Urfassung is being celebrated here as a homage to the three founding fathers of the festival. It was the wish of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal that the work, auf Naxos which they dedicated to their artistic friend Max Reinhardt, should be a celebration of the performing arts: ballet, theatre and opera. Version for the Salzburg Festival by Sven-Eric Bechtolf Written immediately after the great success of Der Rosenkavalier, of the Original Version from 1912 Ariadne auf Naxos was a combination of mythological opera and Molière’s drama Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, though Strauss expunged all trace of the latter in his second version of 1916. To Conductor Daniel Harding mark the centenary of the first version, a sensational project has Orchestra Wiener Philharmoniker created a daring production fulfilling the composer’s original dream

of a “Gesamtkunstwerk”. The Primadonna/Ariadne Emily Magee Zerbinetta Elena Moşuc In the beginning, theatre director Sven-Eric Bechtolf presents a The Tenor/Bacchus Jonas Kaufmann virtuoso collage made up of Hofmannsthal’s letters, the play’s text Naiad/A Shepherdess Eva Liebau and insertions of details from Hofmannsthal’s autobiographical Dryad/A Shepherd Marie-Claude Chappuis relationship with the young, inconsolable widow Ottonie von Echo/A Singer Eleonora Buratto Degenfeld-Schonburg. By employing this clever framework, he Harlequin Gabriel Bermúdez introduces two new protagonists into the play as well as transforming Scaramuccio Michael Laurenz them as parallel figures to Bacchus and Ariadne in the opera. The Truffaldino Tobias Kehrer two elements of the work, comedic play and music theatre, which Brighella Martin Mitterrutzner had previously often seemed unconnected, now come together as The Major-Domo Peter Matić a united whole. This new version has been enthusiastically received: Monsieur Jourdain Cornelius Obonya perfect in every detail, every gesture is tailored to the speech flow Hofmannsthal Michael Rotschopf of the play and the music in the opera, the spheres and levels of the Ottonie/Dorine Regina Fritsch work all come together in harmony, offering emotional depth as The Composer Thomas Frank well as wonderfully light-hearted entertainment. Nikoline Stefanie Dvorak Lackey Johannes Lange “The vocals are pure gold”, wrote the Berliner Zeitung. Emily

Magee masters the challenge of her complex character’s richly Staged by Sven-Eric Bechtolf nuanced vocal lines, while Elena Moşuc as Zerbinetta produced her coloratura cascades with breathtaking ease, and Jonas Kaufmann Video Director Hannes Rossacher received accolades from the critics for his role debut as the “best Bacchus ever” (Berliner Zeitung). Daniel Harding and the Vienna Philharmonic provided the necessary musical foundations to the Length approx. 190' performance.

Shot in HDTV 1080 Cat. no. A04001581

A co-production of UNITEL and ORF/3sat

in cooperation with Wiener Philharmoniker, folder: luebbeke.com Salzburg Festival and CLASSICA