Schumann at the Staatsoper, FESTTAGE 2022 updates, DIE SACHE MAKROPULOS
Marc Minkowski conducts Schumann at the Staatsoper
On February 20th and 21st, the Staatskapelle Berlin will perform in the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and in the Philharmonie Berlin under the direction of Marc Minkowski - as well as on February 23rd with a joint guest performance in the Elbphilharmonie. The program for the three concerts in Berlin and Hamburg includes Robert Schumann's oratorio “Das Paradies und die Peri” with Lucy Crowe (soprano), Anna Prohaska (soprano), Anna Lapkovskaja (alto), Andrew Staples (tenor), Linard Vrielink (tenor) and Florian Boesch (bass) as soloists. The choral part will be sung by the Staatsopernchor, rehearsed by Martin Wright. "Das Paradies und die Peri," continues the Schumann focus of this season’s subscription concerts, which include the performance of the four symphonies under General Music Director Daniel Barenboim.
Beginning in 1840, Robert Schumann systematically acquired and developed various musical genres: after the lied, the symphony and chamber music, it was the oratorio in 1843 that became the focus of his interest. Works of this kind should consciously be written for the concert hall rather than for sacred spaces, including "Das Paradies und die Peri." This oratorio takes us to exotic places, in which human feelings and actions meet a higher world of thought - the earthly and the heavenly spheres connect with each other. Schumann composed a diverse, inspired music for this, with brilliant choral settings as well as internal parts.
Igor Levit to perform for the first time at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden at FESTTAGE 2022
Igor Levit will be performing for the first time on April 8, 2022 as part of the FESTTAGE with a piano recital at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. At the center of the recital is the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with his two piano sonatas in B-flat Major KV 570 and C-Minor KV 457, which were composed at the same time as his Da Ponte operas, which are also scheduled to be performed during the FESTTAGE. The program is completed by two works by Franz Liszt, which frame the recital: the "Fantasy on Themes from Mozart's “Le Nozze di Figaro" and the “Réminiscences de Don Juan" with which Liszt very directly refers to Mozart's esteemed operatic works.
After Anne-Sophie Mutter unfortunately had to cancel her participation in the FESTTAGE concert due to pandemic postponements, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden is very grateful that Igor Levit could be won over for a piano recital.