Fabio Luisi leads Vienna Symphony and Zurich Opera this spring
On the heels of his successful January concert series with the Vienna Symphony, Fabio Luisi returns to lead the orchestra in four programs that mark the close of his eight-year tenure there as Chief Conductor (March 12–31). These follow a special gala concert (Feb 9) and a new production of Rigoletto (Feb 3–26), both celebrating Verdi’s bicentennial at the Zurich Opera, where Luisi is now in his inaugural season as General Music Director.
Four orchestral programs with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra:
When Luisi brought the Vienna Symphony to New York’s Lincoln Center last season, the New York Times observed: “Mr. Luisi whipped his musicians into a frenzy of speedy, tightly focused playing. If you measure performances in terms of sheer energy, precision, and adrenaline, these were hard to top.” Last October, he helped launch the orchestra’s new recording label with an account of Mahler’s First Symphony, prompting one commentator to report: “Luisi’s interpretation is among the most satisfying I’ve heard in years” (Classical Candor). Their recording of Mahler’s Sixth will be released in the United States on February 26.
For the first of their March programs together, Luisi leads the Vienna Symphony in two performances of César Franck’s sole symphony, Gottfried von Einem’s Capriccio, and Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto; Gramophone magazine describes piano soloist Ingolf Wunder as “in control, consistent, confident, and professional … [with] that subtle extra magic” (March 12 & 13).
Three days later, Luisi reunites with the orchestra for Verdi’s Overture to La forza del destino, Richard Strauss’s Aus Italien, and Castelli Romani for piano and orchestra by Joseph Marx. This time the piano soloist will be Markus Schirmer, winner of the Karl Böhm Interpretation Prize (March 16 & 17).
Brahms’s enigmatic Fourth Symphony forms the centerpiece of Luisi’s penultimate program with the orchestra, alongside Benjamin Britten’s “Soirées Musicales” and Luciano Berio’s arrangement of Verdi’s Eight Romances for tenor and orchestra with Rolando Villazón, who Opera News styles “the most talked-about and sought-after lyric tenor in the world” (March 19, 20 & 21).
The annual highlight of the season, “Springtime in Vienna,” marks Luisi’s final performances as the Vienna Symphony’s chief conductor, for which he has selected a program of personal favorites from his homeland. These include overtures by Verdi and Rossini, a Puccini intermezzo, Respighi’s symphonic poem Feste Romane, and Verdi and Puccini arias featuring the “virile, glistening voice” (New York Times) of tenor Roberto de Biasio (March 30 & 31).
Verdi bicentennial celebrations at the Zurich Opera:
To honor the 200th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth, Zurich Opera presents a Verdi Gala Concert of the great Italian’s overtures, arias, and duets on February 9. Luisi will lead the Philharmonia Zurich, Zurich Opera Choir, and a quintet of vocal soloists headed by star soprano Anja Harteros, whose way with Verdi helped her become the first German to win Cardiff Singer of the World. Her fellow soloists will be mezzo Olivia Vote, tenor Francesco Meli, baritone Alexey Markov, and bass Tomasz Rudnicki.
Luisi next takes the podium to premiere Zurich’s new take on Verdi’s Rigoletto (Feb 3–26). His leadership of the same opera at the Metropolitan Opera inspired the New York Times’s Anthony Tommasini to comment:
“Mr. Luisi is steeped in the Verdi style. There was vigor and clarity in the music making, starting from the grave orchestral prologue. … Mr. Luisi also allowed ample breathing room for soaring melodic lines and supplely rendered the Verdi trademark oom-pah-pah accompaniments. … This Rigoletto showed how effective he can be.”
In a new staging by Tatjana Gürbaca, opera director of the Mainz State Theater, the upcoming Zurich presentation will star baritone Quinn Kelsey in the title role. When Kelsey undertook the part at the Canadian Opera Company, the Globe and Mail declared: “Kelsey could be a Rigoletto for the ages. His richly modulated voice, musical intelligence, and dramatic physicality are exactly what the role demands. He gave a stupendous performance.”
Finally, Luisi looks forward to conducting the Zurich Opera’s revival of Puccini’s La bohème, headlined by Inva Mula, Sen Guo, Stefano Secco, and Massimo Cavalletti (Feb 15 – March 3).
Grammy nod with the Metropolitan Opera
In addition to his European appointments, Luisi serves as Principal Conductor of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, with which his new recording of Wagner’s epic “Ring” cycle has been nominated for the Grammy Award for “Best Opera Recording.” Released on Blu-ray DVD by Deutsche Grammophon, it was recorded live over the course of two seasons, with Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde and Bryn Terfel as Wotan under Luisi’s “exciting, insightful, and assured” leadership (New York Times). Luisi returns to the Ring in April and May, for three more Met cycles of Robert Lepage’s landmark production.
A list of the conductor’s upcoming engagements follows, and more information is available at the web sites provided below.
Fabio Luisi: spring engagements
Feb 9
Zurich, Switzerland
Zurich Opera
Verdi Gala Concert
Feb 3, 5, 8, 10, 13, 17 & 26
Zurich, Switzerland
Zurich Opera
Verdi: Rigoletto (new production)
Feb 15, 17, 28 & March 3
Zurich, Switzerland
Zurich Opera
Puccini: La bohème
March 12 & 13
Vienna, Austria
Vienna Symphony
Einem: Capriccio for Orchestra, Op. 2
Beethoven: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 in G, Op. 58 (with Ingolf Wunder, piano)
Franck: Symphony in D minor FWV 48
March 16 & 17
Vienna, Austria
Vienna Symphony
Verdi: Overture to La forza del destino
Joseph Marx: Castelli Romani, three pieces for piano and orchestra in E-flat (with Markus Schirmer, piano)
Richard Strauss: Aus Italien, Symphonic Fantasia in G, Op. 16
March 19, 20 & 21
Vienna, Austria
Vienna Symphony
Britten: “Soirées Musicales,” Suite of Five Movements after Rossini, Op. 9
Verdi (arr.: Luciano Berio): Eight Romances for Tenor and Orchestra (with Rolando Villazón, tenor)
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
March 30 & 31
Vienna, Austria
Vienna Symphony
“Springtime in Vienna”
Verdi: Overture to Nabucco
Verdi: Overture to I vespri siciliani
Verdi: “Quando le sere al placido,” Rodolfo’s aria from Luisa Miller (with Roberto de Biasio, tenor)
Puccini: Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut, Act III
Puccini: “E lucevan le stelle,” Cavaradossi’s aria from Tosca, Act III (with Roberto de Biasio, tenor)
Rossini: Overture to Guillaume Tell
Respighi: Feste Romane (symphonic poem)
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© 21C Media Group, February 2013