December 2nd through 11th: BAROCKTAGE
Including the premiere of Mozart’s MITRIDATE, RE DI PONTO, Vivaldi’s IL GIUSTINO, Monteverdi’s L’INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA, ten concerts, and a roundtable discussion.
This year, the fourth annual BAROCKTAGE (BAROQUE DAYS) offer 19 events over ten days from December 2nd to 11th and focus on the music of Italy and the composers Vivaldi, Monteverdi, and Mozart. With a programmatic focus on Vivaldi, both in music theater and in concert, the BAROCKTAGE continue their tradition of illuminating lesser-known facets of early music in all their diversity - after having previously devoted themselves to the works of Rameau, Scarlatti and Campra.
The heart of the BAROCKTAGE is the premiere of Mozart's MITRIDATE, RE DI PONTO on December 4th, directed by Satoshi Miyagi, who is making his debut at the State Opera. Les Musiciens du Louvre will play under the musical direction of Mozart specialist Marc Minkowski.
Already on November 20th, the new production of Vivaldi's IL GIUSTINO (directed by Barbora Horáková, with musical director René Jacobs) heralded the BAROCKTAGE as “a successful plea for the whole genre” (Deutschlandfunk). This is the first time that a work by this composer can be experienced on the stage of the State Opera. In addition to the two new productions, Monteverdi's L'INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA (directed by Eva-Maria Höckmayr, with musical director Jean-Christophe Spinosi) is on the festival programme.
The music theater productions will be supplemented by a roundtable with René Jacobs on the occasion of his 30th anniversary at the State Opera and ten concerts - two of them in the Great Hall of the State Opera, six in the Apollo Hall and two more concerts in the Pierre Boulez Hall.
Le Poème Harmonique makes a guest appearance on December 3rd under the musical direction of Vincent Dumestre with works by Antonio Vivaldi, Francisco Soto de Langa, Serafino Razzi and Pietro Antonio Locatelli in the Pierre Boulez Saal.
Recorder player Dorothee Oberlinger enriches the program of the BAROCKTAGE once again, this year together with the Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca and a pure Vivaldi program in the Apollosaal (December 4).
The concert by the Berlin Baroque Soloists with Krzysztof Polonek (director and violin) and Diana Tishchenko (violin) on December 4 in the Pierre Boulez Saal is also dedicated to the two composers Mozart and Vivaldi, who composed works that were particularly important for the violin.
Another highlight of the ten-day festival is the concert by Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre on December 10th in the Great Hall of the State Opera, where Mozart's Requiem KV 626 and his Ave Verum Corpus KV 618 are on the program. The program is supplemented with Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's Adagio and Fugue in D minor.
The harpist Xavier de Maistre is a guest at the BAROCKTAGE for the first time with a recital and presents a varied program in the Apollosaal on December 10th, including music by Mozart and Vivaldi.
On December 11, mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre and the Jupiter Ensemble will present works by Antonio Vivaldi in the Apollosaal with Thomas Dunford, who will take on the musical direction and play the lute as a soloist.
In addition, the children's choir of the State Opera, conducted by Vinzenz Weissenburger, can be seen together with members of the Staatskapelle Berlin at an Advent concert in the Great Hall with Schütz's "Christmas Story" and Vivaldi's "Gloria" (December 8).
In addition, there will be a total of three children's concerts for a young audience during the BAROQUE DAYS with members of the Academy for Early Music Berlin entitled "The Four Seasons" in the Apollo Hall, at which Vivaldi's well-known concert collection will be heard.
A total of almost 12,800 visitors came to the 19 events during Barocktage, and ensured an occupancy rate of 84%. “We are very happy that the BAROQUE DAYS have become so established and that we were able to continue wonderfully even after the pandemic years,” says Matthias Schulz. “During these ten days you can feel a very special festival atmosphere throughout the house: through the enthusiastic audience from Berlin and all over the world, but also because of the fact that very different perspectives from many wonderful artists and special ensembles that can be experienced. This year we celebrated 30 years of René Jacobs at the State Opera - a pioneer to whom we owe a lot!”