UniTeL and Classica present Ludwig van Beethoven FIDELIO Melanie Diener Roberto Saccà Sandra Trattnigg Alfred Muff Bernard Haitink Opernhaus Zürich Ludwig van Beethoven his opera will win me the martyr’s crown”, lamented “ Beethoven about his “Fidelio”. Indeed, it cost him almost Tsuperhuman efforts to find an adequate musico-dramatical way of bringing to the stage the battered ideals of the French Revolution, “freedom, equality, fraternity”. The opera underwent FIDELIO and survived two titles, three librettists, three versions and four overtures until it was finally given its successful world premiere in Vienna in 1814 in the two-act form we are familiar with today. Conductor Bernard Haitink Beethoven blends Singspiel, drama, tragedy and a hymn to Orchestra Orchestra of the Zurich Opera House humanity into a unique whole. Chorus Chorus of the Zurich Opera House Chorus Master Ernst Raffelsberger With his “Fidelio”, Bernard Haitink, at the head of the orchestra Don Fernando Krešimir Stražanac of the Oper Zürich, proves that he is an ideal interpreter Don Pizarro Lucio Gallo of Beethoven’s masterwork by delivering an unforgettable Florestan Roberto Saccà performance. Haitink, as we can read in the “Neue Zürcher Leonore/Fidelio Melanie Diener Zeitung”, “grabs the score, carves it into a warm and compact Rocco Alfred Muff musical shape, and sheds the brightest light onto the multitude Marzelline Sandra Trattnigg of motivic connections and contrapuntal reactions”. Haitink drew Jaquino Christoph Strehl storms of applause from the Zurich public especially with his First Prisoner Bogusław Bidziński decision to insert the Third Leonore Overture between the Second Prisoner Morgan Moody dungeon scene and the oratorical closing jubilatory chorus. Ezio Toffolutti’s stage depicts the interior of a prison and, with its Staged by Katharina Thalbach ponderous architecture, recalls the monumental prison etchings Video Director Felix Breisach of Piranesi. German actress Katharina Thalbach stages the work, Length 147’ which is hard to trim down in any compelling fashion, with love and faith in its truthfulness. Shot in HDTV 1080 Providing impressive role portraits are Melanie Diener as Cat. no. A90500925 Leonore, Roberto Saccà as Florestan, Alfred Muff as Rocco, Lucio Gallo as Don Pizarro, Kresimir Strazanac as Don Fernando, A Zurich Opera House production Sandra Trattnig as Marzelline and Christoph Strehl as Jaquino. Design: luebbeke.com WORLD SALES: C Major Entertainment +49-(0)3030306464 All rights reserved · credits not contractual · Different territories [email protected] Photos: © Suzanne Schwiertz.