May 28 - Noon July 2 - Noon In his stage play on which the opera is based, Beaumarchais Fire artists, dancers and soldiers accompany Turandot‘s broached the topic of the class struggle between the Count and entrance in Act Two. Before she sets the Prince her riddles, she DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE IL TROVATORE his servant on the eve of the French Revolution. However, only reveals why she is so hardhearted: long ago a female ancestor (THE MAGIC FLUTE) Giuseppe Verdi the brilliance with which Mozart captured the character of each of hers was abused and murdered by a man. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and every figure made the work a classic: “Each one changes, is Opera in 4 acts changed, ground, threshed, torn apart and sewn back together Finally, however, Calaf‘s love is able to break the mask of Opera in two acts Sung in Italian again, until he finally stands before himself as himself and, as- Turandot‘s ancestress. As Puccini wanted, the two of them ‘de- Sung in German tonished and rejoicing, finds himself again as a completely new scend through love to the level of mankind, and this love must verdi Opera de Paris (Opéra Bastille) person,” says Sven-Eric Bechtolf, who has set his production in at the end take possession of the whole stage‘. From Bregenz Festival IL TROVATORE LIVE February 11, 2016 at 19h30 IN CINEMA the 1930s, thus bringing the plot closer to our own time. Director Conductor Recorded July 2013 Alex Ollé Daniele Callegari (Paris time) © Charles Duprat Hui He | Marcelo Alvarez | Ludovic Tézier | Ekaterina Semenchuk Fondation Three enormous, 27-metre-high fire-spewing “dragon dogs”, a In the aftermath of Rigoletto, Verdi’s sole desire was to do July 30 - Noon August 13 - Noon Queen of the Night costume to break all records, three mythi- something new. However, he became impatient, angry even, TURANDOT RIGOLETTO cal creatures for the three ladies operated by puppeteers, and when the project to adapt El Trovador, the play by the Span- Giacomo Puccini Giuseppe Verdi dozens of stunt artists rushing around the stage: in his staging ish dramatist Antonio García Gutiérrez, aroused only guarded turandot for the Bregenz Festival, David Pountney offers “a spectacle of enthusiasm from Salvatore Cammarano, his librettist, and the Opera in 3 acts Opera in 3 acts the highest caliber” (NeueZürcherZeitung), while providing new man to whom Donizetti owed in part the success of Lucia di Sung in Italian verdi Sung in Italian answers to the eternal questions surrounding The Magic Flute. Lammermoor. rigoletto The Kuriernewspaper called it “a visually mind-blowing fairy Conductor Director Was it due to the libretto’s inordinately improbable storyline or Bregenz Festival Nicola Luisotti Claus Guth Opera de Paris (Opéra Bastille) Starring tale”, with Die Welt adding “a colorful as well as smart Magic the illness that would ultimately consume him that the poet left Quinn Kelsey Recorded live July 2015 Michael Fabiano Recorded Spring 2016 Olga Peretyatko Director Marco Arturo Marelli PUCCINI Conductor Paolo Carignani Flute”. Vesselina Kasarova Mlada Khudoley | Riccardo Massi | Michael Ryssov | Manuel von Senden | Guanqun Yu the libretto unfinished? Despite the urgings of the irrepressible ofitskaya Rafal Siwek The vocal ensemble leaves nothing to be desired either: Ana Verdi, Cammarano would not yield. Herein lays the paradox of Festival / Bregenz Forster © 2015 Karl Fondation Durlovski (voted Singer of the Year by Opernwelt magazine) Il Trovatore: in the eyes of its detractors it was the epitome of No man shall ever possess her – the Chinese princess Turan- © Shutterstock.com/Photographee.eu. Shutterstock.com/Larisa L is captivating as the Queen of the Night with her “flawless melodrama and yet the formal constraints imposed by Camma- dot sets three riddles for every man that comes to woo her. So “Oh! Victor Hugo’s Le Roi s’amuse is the greatest subject, and coloraturas” (Der Standard), while Norman Reinhardt sings rano fanned the flames of the composer’s passions. Rather than far none have been able to solve the riddles, and have paid with perhaps the greatest drama of modern times. It’s a work worthy an “outstanding Tamino” (Deutschlandradio) and EikeWilm true characters – excepting perhaps Azucena the Gypsy, who their heads. Then an unknown prince achieves the impossible: of Shakespeare!” A few months before he wrote those words Schulte is a deluxe casting as Second Knight. Patrick Summers guards the secret that will destroy them all – the music por- he correctly answers all three questions. But Turandot is still to Francesco Maria Piave urging him to “turn Venice upside conducts Mozart’s score with the impeccable Vienna Symphony trays almost abstract figures consumed by passion. Originally unwilling to surrender to him. So the Prince is ready to lay down and persuade the Censor to authorise the subject” – no Orchestra. intended by Verdi to be a secondary role, Leonora takes on the down his life if she can find out his name by morning. Through- easy matter given that moral values would be easily offended status of a sacrificial heroine. Her fourth-act cavatina “D’amor out the night, no one may sleep: everyone must try to discover – Verdi was working on an adaptation of King Lear. sull’ali rosee” is not so much a farewell as an Assumption. his name... June 4 - Noon Hui He carries this enraptured music to new heights. She is No doubt, he was already imbued with the play by his revered accompanied by Ekaterina Semenchuk, Marcelo Alvarez and It is this aria sung by Calaf, ‘Nessun dorma‘, that made Gi- master, Shakespeare, when he read Victor Hugo’s drama. On Teatro allaScala AIDA Ludovic Tézier, in a new production by Alex Ollé. acomo Puccini‘s opera Turandot world famous. On the Bregenz discovering in the works of the French writer to whom he Giuseppe Verdi stage it‘s delivered against the imposing backdrop of a dragon- would owe Ernani, the greatest triumph of his “difficult years”, shaped wall on Lake Constance. Marco Arturo Marelli‘s stage a parallel with the triangle formed by the King, his daughter AIDAverdi Opera in four acts July 16- Noon set makes use of Chinese symbols of power. The stage wall is and the jester, it was “like a thunderbolt, an inspiration”. Be- Sung in Italian le di inspired by the world‘s longest man-made structure, the Great tween the frivolous, licentious Duke, and Gilda, a victim of the LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Erwinnozze Schrott | Malin Hartelius | Martina Jankováf | Michaeli Vollegaro | Judith Schmid | Irène Friedli Wall of China. The Bregenz wall is criss-crossed by detach- CONDUCTOR Franz Welser-Möst DIRECTOR Sven-Eric Bechtolf ignorance which holds her captive, stands the double-faceted From Teatro Alla Scala di (THE MARRIAGE MOZART ments of terracotta warriors, over two hundred in all, some of character of the hunchback, both buffoon and curse-obsessed Milano Conductor Zubin Mehta OF FIGARO) them sky-high, others half-submerged in the water. Director father. Monstrous and heartrending, grotesque and sublime, Recorded in February 2015 Peter Stein Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Starring Kristin Lewis the title role reaches its apogee in the aria “Cortigiani, vil razza Anita Rachvelishvili Fabio Sartori There are Chinese elements in the music, too. Puccini was Matti Salminen Opera in four acts dannata”, whose descending movement, from the explosion of After two traditional productions of Aida staged by Zeffirelli in Sung in Italian inspired by tunes from music boxes that a diplomat friend © Photo : Brescia Amisano © Photo : Brescia rage to the moment of entreaty, confirms the composer’s ability brought back from China. But however Chinese Puccini‘ s last the last decade, this new production of Verdi’s magnificent op- From Zurich Opera House to adapt a form inherited from bel canto to theatrical realism. opera might appear, the plot is adapted from a Persian tale and era is presented by two great masters - conductor Zubin Mehta Recorded in 2007 the score is full-blown Italian opera. The powerful Turandot is and director Peter Stein. The acclaimed German director (and Under the baton of Nicola Luisotti, this new production of © 2007 Suzanne Schwiertz_Opernhaus Zurich Schwiertz_Opernhaus Suzanne © 2007 contrasted with the self-sacrificing Liù, who loves Prince Calaf a naturalized Italian), has promised “eine ganz intime Aida”, Rigoletto marks director Claus Guth’s first collaboration with a “totally intimate Aida”. He is joined by the renowned Zubin Mozart and da Ponte’s very first collaboration resulted in a mas- and knows his name but movingly takes the secret to her grave. the Paris Opera. Mehta, who returns the podium of La Scala for Verdi’s quintes- terpiece – Le nozze di Figaro – that represents a highlight in the The populace mourns her death as passionately as previously sential lyric opera. entire history of opera. it relished the spectacle of Turandot‘s suitors being beheaded. Barbara Haveman August 27 - Noon September 24 - Noon Ruggero Raimondi THE MARC LAHO DER FLIEGENDE TOSCA T Conductor THREE PAolO ARRIVABENI Director TENORS HOLLÄNDER Giacomo Puccini CLAIRE SERVAIS O CONCERT Luciano Plácido José (The Flying Dutchman) Pavarotti Domingo Carreras Richard Wagner Opera in 3 acts S Legends Finally on the big screen Recorded at Sung in Italian Caracalla, Rome The Three Tenors 1990 2016 Opera in three acts C Recorded at their first magical Opéra Royal de Wallonie - Liège Sung in German Conductor concert at the Baths of Bryn Terfel A Zubin Mehta Anja Kampe Recorded in January 2015 PUCCINI Matti Salminen Pavarotti’s legendary Caracalla in Rome in 1990 Nessun Dorma wagner Opera Series From Zurich Opera House Puccini’s fifth opera, Tosca marks Opéra royal de wallonie, liège CONDUCTOR DIRECTOR © Opera Royale de Wallonie, Liege/ORW-Croisier de Wallonie, Royale © Opera Alain Altinoglu Andreas Homoki at the Recorded December 2012 SEE BOX OFFICE FOR DETAILS © Toni Suter / T+T Fotografie / Opernhuas Zurich.