"Aleko" and "Iolanta", Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden 27. July 2009

The fourth performance of Rachmaninov's first opera "Aleko", with John Relyea in the title role, and Tchaikovsky's last opera "Iolanta", with Anna Netrebko in the title role and Piotr Beczala as Graf Vaudemont, took place on Monday 27. July 2009 at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Valery Gergiev conducted the Chorus and Orchestra of the Mariinsky Orchestra of St. Petersburg. The stage director, in a co-production by the Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg, was Mariusz Treliński.

Aleko
one act opera
Music by Sergei Rakhmaninov
Libretto by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenkoafter the poem by Alexander Pushkin

Cast
Aleko: John Relyea
Young Gypsy: Sergei Skorokhodov
Zemfira: Irina Mataeva
Old Gypsy: Sergei Aleksashkin
Old Gypsy Woman: Elena Vitman

Iolanta
one act opera
Music by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Libretto by Modest Tchaikovsky after the play "Kong Renés Datter" by Henrik Hertz

Cast
Iolanta: Anna Netrebko
Graf Tristan Vaudémont: Piotr Beczala
René, König der Provence: Mikhail Kit
Robert: Alexei Markov
Ebn-Hakia: Alexander Gergalov
Alméric: Andrei Zorin
Bertrand: Fyodor Kuznetsov
Martha: Natalia Evstafieva
Brigitte: Eleonora Vindau
Laura: Ekaterina Sergeeva

Production
Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Stage Director: Mariusz Trelinski
Set Designer: Boris Kudlička
Costume Designer: Magdalena Musial
Lighting Designer: Marc Heinz
Cinematographer: Wojciech Puś
Choreographer: Tomasz Wygoda
Animators: Michał Jankowski and Tomasz Popakul
Literary Consultant: Piotr Gruszczynski
Musical Preparation: Marina Mishuk
Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko
Co-production of the Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg

Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Orchestra and Chorus of the Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden
Monday 27. July 2009

About the Operas
Synopsis
Premiere of "Aleko" and "Iolanta" at the Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg 17. Apr 2009
Variations in "Iolanta" Libretto
Iolanta
Iolanta's Russian/Spanish Libretto
Iolanta's English Libretto

Reports
Our friends Anne-Laure and Roxanne, who had previously attended the premiere and the performance on 21. July, have attended also this fourth performance. Anne-Laure has kindly written the following report for the blog:

I think that it was the best performance of the four. Anna was as usual really convincing, touching (and gorgeous)as Iolanta and vocally even more secure (better projection for example) than at the premiere. This music (a trully wonderful music. Thank you Tchaikovsky!) suits her very well and she is really inspired by it even if the role is sometimes maybe a little low for her. Her singing is like velvet for the ears.


Beczala was also very good and their duet was fabulous. Markov was good too. Gergiev and the Mariinsky orchestra and chorus were really excellent. We can feel that they understand that music very well. The colors of the orchestra were magnificent.


But I think that on this night, Anna owned the stage and as a consequence she had the more cheerful applauses. The team was granted a real standing ovation and bravi (not a "false" as during the premiere, where they upped the curtain while people were standing to leave). When they brought flowers for the singers, Gergiev as usual gave his bouquet to Anna, who finally threw them to the musiciens in the pitch. Unfortunately, I think that one of them didn't see the bouquet coming, because Anna started to smile and laugh quite embarassed and shameful and made a sign of apologize before returning to her place. That was really funny.


After the performance she signed autographs, posed for pictures with fans and chatted a little bit with some of them before going to the party organized for the cast.


A shame that there will not be a dvd of this production!!!

Reports, written in Japanish, and some nice photos of the performances of "Aleko" and "Iolanta" at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden on 27. July 2009 can be found at the Japanish blog dognorah.exblog.jp.

Photos
Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala at the curtain calls of "Iolanta" on 27. Jul 2009. Photos [1-3] by Anne-Laure

Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczala and Valery Gergiev at the curtain calls of "Iolanta" on 27. Jul 2009. Photos [1-2] by Britta

Anna at the stage door of the Festspielhaus after the performance. Photo by Roxanne.

Radio Broadcasts
One of the last two performances of "Aleko" and "Iolanta" will be broadcast on SWR2 Kultur, on Sunday 7. February 2010 at 20:03

Related posts
Anna Netrebko at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus 2008-2009 Season
Planned DVDs releases with Anna Netrebko
Breaking News - Piotr Beczala replaces Rolando Villazón in Iolanta, Baden-Baden
Press Conference of Anna Netrebko in Baden-Baden
"Aleko" and "Iolanta", Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden 18. July 2009
"Aleko" and "Iolanta", Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden 21. July 2009
"Aleko" and "Iolanta", Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden 24. July 2009

Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala at the Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden

Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala were on Saturday evening at the Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden, in an invited private guided tour, to visit the exhibition "Der Blaue Reiter".

Source
Anna Netrebko besucht Ausstellung „Blauer Reiter“ im Museum Frieder Burda - Museum Frieder Burda [German]

Photos
Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala in front of Franz Marc's painting "Blaues Pferd I" (Blue Horse I) from 1911. Photos [1-2] by Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden

Long-term cooperation agreement between Universal Music Classical Management & Productions (UMCMP) and First Classics GmbH

UNIVERSAL MUSIC CLASSICAL MANAGEMENT & PRODUCTIONS (UMCMP), a leading international company of the UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP (UMG), and FIRST CLASSICS GmbH, the new network of German classical concerts organizers, have a long-term cooperation agreement. It includes new and innovative ways of cooperation in classic live events.

Initial projects are due to start this autumn, continuing on a larger scale in the 2010/2011 season. Existing contracts for UMCMP artists will be honored.

"For us, First Classics is the perfect partner because it focuses on artistic quality and reaches out to a well-informed public that wishes to experience the stars of classical music as well as new artistic developments," said Manfred Seipt, UMCMP managing director, in a statement. "By working closely with our group's labels such as Deutsche Grammophon and Decca, we will, through this new partnership, be able to present artists in Germany more successfully than ever before."

Andreas Schessl, managing director of First Classics, added: "The partnership with Universal Music opens up new opportunities for us to include top international stars on our prestigious concert series and also allows us to familiarize our public with the stars of tomorrow."

UNIVERSAL MUSIC CLASSICAL MANAGEMENT & PRODUCTIONS (UMCMP), with headquarters in London, is part of the UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP and is one of the leading companies in the field of artist management and event production / promotion for classical music. Among the artists managed by UMCMP they are world stars like Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón, Elina Garanca, Thomas Hampson, and many more. Jeffrey Vanderveen and Manfred Seipt are the Managing Directors of UMCMP.

FIRST CLASSICS GmbH was founded by renowned private concert organizers from Germany, mainly in the field of classical music business. It develops projects for classical music and organizes tours of top artists and ensembles.

Sources
UNIVERSAL MUSIC und FIRST CLASSICS starten langfristige Kooperation - PR-inside.com, 27. Jul 2009 [German]
UMCMP Inks Deal With First Classics - Billborad.biz, 28. Jul 2009 [English]

"Aleko" and "Iolanta", Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden 24. July 2009

The third performance of Rachmaninov's first opera "Aleko", with John Relyea in the title role, and Tchaikovsky's last opera "Iolanta", with Anna Netrebko in the title role and Piotr Beczala as Graf Vaudemont, took place on Friday 24. July 2009 at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Valery Gergiev conducted the Chorus and Orchestra of the Mariinsky Orchestra of St. Petersburg. The stage director, in a co-production by the Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg, was Mariusz Treliński. One more performance of "Aleko" and "Iolanta", the last one of the run, is scheduled on 27. July 2009.

The cast for this third performance was almost the same one than for the two previous performances, being the only changes Irina Mataeva replacing Veronika Dzhioeva as Zemfira in "Aleko" and Mikhail Kit replacing Sergei Aleksashkin as King René and Alexander Gergalov replacing Edem Umerov as Ebn-Hakia in "Iolanta".

Aleko
one act opera
Music by Sergei Rakhmaninov
Libretto by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenkoafter the poem by Alexander Pushkin

Cast
Aleko: John Relyea
Young Gypsy: Sergei Skorokhodov
Zemfira: Irina Mataeva
Old Gypsy: Sergei Aleksashkin
Old Gypsy Woman: Elena Vitman

Iolanta
one act opera
Music by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Libretto by Modest Tchaikovsky after the play "Kong Renés Datter" by Henrik Hertz

Cast
Iolanta: Anna Netrebko
Graf Tristan Vaudémont: Piotr Beczala
René, König der Provence: Mikhail Kit
Robert: Alexei Markov
Ebn-Hakia: Alexander Gergalov
Alméric: Andrei Zorin
Bertrand: Fyodor Kuznetsov
Martha: Natalia Evstafieva
Brigitte: Eleonora Vindau
Laura: Ekaterina Sergeeva

Production
Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Stage Director: Mariusz Trelinski
Set Designer: Boris Kudlička
Costume Designer: Magdalena Musial
Lighting Designer: Marc Heinz
Cinematographer: Wojciech Puś
Choreographer: Tomasz Wygoda
Animators: Michał Jankowski and Tomasz Popakul
Literary Consultant: Piotr Gruszczynski
Musical Preparation: Marina Mishuk
Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko
Co-production of the Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg

Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Orchestra and Chorus of the Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden
Friday 24. July 2009

About the Operas
Synopsis
Premiere of "Aleko" and "Iolanta" at the Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg 17. Apr 2009
Variations in "Iolanta" Libretto
Iolanta
Iolanta's Russian/Spanish Libretto
Iolanta's English Libretto

Reports
Our friend Herbert attended this third performance and kindly wrote the following report for the blog:

What can I tell you but: Another triumph for Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala!

The third performance of Iolanta at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden was sold out again, and it was cheered by an enthusiastic audience.

Anna sang and played the story of the princess who is unaware of her blindness and then is cured and she did it so convincingly that she must have moved everybody in the audience. It was simply overwhelming when Iolanta began to see the colours and forms created by nature for the first time in her life.

Polish tenor Piotr Beczala (Count Vaudemont) and Russian baritone Alexey Markov (Robert) also received applause during the performance for their arias. But the undisputed highlight was the duet of Iolanta and Vaudemont, Tvoyo molèan ye neponyatno (I do not understand your silence), which I have never heard any better before. It makes a big difference whether you listen to it in a concert or on CD, or if you see and hear it as an acted scene in a complete opera. The audience began to cheer and applaud even before the final tones of the music had finished (the orchestra of the Marinsky Theatre under Valery Gergiev was excellent and so was the acoustics of the Festpielhaus).

After the finale there was a rising storm of applause for the chorus, the principal singers and for Gergiev, but the house almost exploded when Anna came out for her last curtain call. Everybody rose and gave her standing ovations.

As always, she thanked not only those in the orchestra stalls near the stage but also the people in the galleries high under the roof, in the heavens , to whom she waved with her both arms.

There was a moment of scare and also of laughter when the curtain moved down in the same second when the singers wanted to step forward to the orchestra pit one more time, but nobody was hurt and the curtain went up again.

After the show a large crowd gathered at the stage door. When Anna came down the steps an official led her across the red carpet to the restaurant opposite where she was greeted with applause when entering. Piotr Beczala followed her and said that they would come back immediately. And so it was! Only a few minutes later Anna returned, wearing a red dress and holding a large bouquet of flowers in her arms. She signed many programmes and pictures, smiled when photos were taken, and then she waved good-bye and moved towards a car waiting for her leaving a happy crowd behind who had had a memorable summer night in Baden-Baden.

This morning, while I was waiting at the train station, I saw Ukrainian bass Mikhail Kit together with his wife (?) and some colleagues. I asked him if he was King René, and he smiled and answered in his deep voice: Yes, that s me. And then he signed my programme.

On-line Press Reviews
Anna Netrebkos Weg ins Licht - klassik.com 25. Jul 2009 [German]

Videoclips
Iolanta, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, 24. July 2009: 1. Scene, Iolanta's Arioso. 2. Scene. Uploaded to Youtube by Valenzisomere


Iolanta, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, 24. July 2009: 6. Scene, Scene and Robert's Aria. Uploaded to Youtube by Valenzisomere


Iolanta, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, 24. July 2009: 6a. Scene, Vaudémont's Romance. Uploaded to Youtube by Valenzisomere


Iolanta, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, 24. July 2009: 7. Scene. Uploaded to Youtube by Valenzisomere




Iolanta, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, 24. July 2009: 7. Scene, Iolanta-Vaudémont Duet. Uploaded to Youtube by Valenzisomere


Iolanta, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, 24. July 2009: 8. Scene. Uploaded to Youtube by Valenzisomere


Iolanta, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, 24. July 2009: 9. Scene, Finale. Uploaded to Youtube by Valenzisomere


Iolanta, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, 24. July 2009: Curtain calls. Uploaded to Youtube by Valenzisomere


Photos
Curtain call after "Iolanta" on 24. Jul 2009. Photos [1-16] by Herbert

Anna Netrebko at the Hall of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden after the performance of "Aleko" and "Iolanta" on 24. Jul 2009. Photos [1-3] by Herbert

Radio Broadcasts
One of the last two performances of "Aleko" and "Iolanta" will be broadcast on SWR2 Kultur, on Sunday 7. February 2010 at 20:03

Related posts
Anna Netrebko at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus 2008-2009 Season
Planned DVDs releases with Anna Netrebko
Breaking News - Piotr Beczala replaces Rolando Villazón in Iolanta, Baden-Baden
Press Conference of Anna Netrebko in Baden-Baden
"Aleko" and "Iolanta", Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden 18. July 2009
"Aleko" and "Iolanta", Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden 21. July 2009

Anna Netrebko will be from August 2009 the new face for Brillance Intense Couleur by Schwarzkopf

Opera star Anna Netrebko will be from August 2009 the new face for Brillance Intense Couleur by Schwarzkopf. Schwarzkopf invited journalists to an international press conference on 22. July 2009 in Baden-Baden, where Netrebko was singing the title role in the rarely staged one-act opera "Iolanta" by Tchaikovsky on the previous night.

Approximately fifty journalists from Germany, France, Russia and other countries participated in the press talk with Anna Netrebko, among them chief editors and beauty editors of important lifestyle and women’s magazines. Along with Anna Netrebko, hostess Tina Müller, Corporate Senior Vice President at Henkel, took part in the press talk.

Press
Anna Netrebko for Brillance Intense Couleur [English]

"Aleko" and "Iolanta", Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden 21. July 2009

After the outstanding premiere of Rachmaninov's first opera "Aleko", with John Relyea in the title role, and Tchaikovsky's last opera "Iolanta", with Anna Netrebko making her role-debut in the title role and Piotr Beczala as Graf Vaudemont, which opened the Baden-Badener Sommerfestspiele 2009 at the Fespspielhaus Baden-Baden on Saturday 18. July 2009, the second performance, out of a series of four, took place yesterday, on Tuesday 21. July 2009. Valery Gergiev conducted the Chorus and Orchestra of the Mariinsky Orchestra of St. Petersburg in a co-production with the Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg, directed by Mariusz Treliński. Two more performances of "Aleko" and "Iolanta" are scheduled on 24. and 27. July 2009.

The cast for this second performance was the same one than for the premiere and not the alternated one initially announced in the programme.

Aleko
one act opera
Music by Sergei Rakhmaninov
Libretto by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenkoafter the poem by Alexander Pushkin

Cast
Aleko: John Relyea
Young Gypsy: Sergei Skorokhodov
Zemfira: Veronika Dzhioeva
Old Gypsy: Sergei Aleksashkin
Old Gypsy Woman: Elena Vitman

Iolanta
one act opera
Music by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Libretto by Modest Tchaikovsky after the play "Kong Renés Datter" by Henrik Hertz

Cast
Iolanta: Anna Netrebko
Graf Tristan Vaudémont: Piotr Beczala
René, König der Provence: Sergei Aleksashkin
Robert: Alexei Markov
Ebn-Hakia: Edem Umerov
Alméric: Andrei Zorin
Bertrand: Fyodor Kuznetsov
Martha: Natalia Evstafieva
Brigitte: Eleonora Vindau
Laura: Ekaterina Sergeeva

Production
Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Stage Director: Mariusz Trelinski
Set Designer: Boris Kudlička
Costume Designer: Magdalena Musial
Lighting Designer: Marc Heinz
Cinematographer: Wojciech Puś
Choreographer: Tomasz Wygoda
Animators: Michał Jankowski and Tomasz Popakul
Literary Consultant: Piotr Gruszczynski
Musical Preparation: Marina Mishuk
Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko
Co-production of the Mariinsky Theater of St. Petersburg

Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Orchestra and Chorus of the Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden
Tuesday 21. July 2009

About the Operas
Synopsis
Premiere of "Aleko" and "Iolanta" at the Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg 17. Apr 2009
Variations in "Iolanta" Libretto
Iolanta
Iolanta's Russian/Spanish Libretto
Iolanta's English Libretto

On-line Press Reviews
BADEN-BADEN: „ALEKO“, „JOLANTHE“, 21. 7. 2009, Das neue Traumpaar der Oper - by Ludwig Steinbach, Der Neue Merker, 22. July 2009 [German]
Russischer Opernabend mit Starbesetzung in Baden-Baden - by Udo Pacolt, Der Neue Merker, 22. July 2009 [German]

Radio Broadcasts
One of the last two performances of "Aleko" and "Iolanta" will be broadcast on SWR2 Kultur, on Sunday 7. February 2010 at 20:03

Related posts
Anna Netrebko at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus 2008-2009 Season
Planned DVDs releases with Anna Netrebko
Breaking News - Piotr Beczala replaces Rolando Villazón in Iolanta, Baden-Baden
Press Conference of Anna Netrebko in Baden-Baden
"Aleko" and "Iolanta", Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden 18. July 2009

Anna Netrebko's Lied Recital in Salzburg on 17. Aug 2009 will be Broadcast by Ö1 on 26. Aug 2009

On 17. Aug 2009, within the Salzburger Festspiele 2009, Anna Netrebko (soprano) and Daniel Barenboim (piano), will give a lied recital at the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg, with works of Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The recital will be broadcast by Austrian radio Ö1 on 26. Aug 2009 at 19:30.

Programme
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOW • Of What I Dream in the Quiet Night, op. 40, no. 3
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOW • Forgive! Remember Not These Tearful Days, op. 27, no. 4
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOW • Not the Wind, Blowing from the Hights, op. 43, no. 2
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOW • The Lark Sings Louder, op. 43, no. 1
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOW • On the Hills of Georgia, op. 3, no. 4
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOW • In the Kingdom of Roses and Wine, op. 8, no. 5
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOW • Zuleika’s Song, op. 26, no. 4
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOW • Enslaved by the Rose, the Nightingale, op. 2, no. 2
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOW • The Clouds Begin to Scatter, op. 42, no. 3
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOW • The Nymph, op. 56, no. 1
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOW • Summer Night’s Dream, op. 56, no. 2

PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY • Tell Me, What in the Shade of the Branches, op. 57, no. 1
PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY • To Forget So Soon (1870)
PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY • Frenzied Night, op. 60, no. 6
PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY • Why?, op. 6, no. 5
PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY • Serenade, op. 63, no. 6
PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY • Cradle Song, op. 16, no. 1
PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY • Was I Not a Little Blade of Grass?, op. 47, no. 7
PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY • Mid Sombre Days, op. 73, no. 5
PYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKY • Does the Day Reign, op. 47, no. 6

Anna Netrebko, Soprano
Daniel Barenboim, Piano

Related Posts
Anna Netrebko | 2008-2009 Season