Ballet by John Neumeier based on Tennessee Williams | The Glass Menagerie
Fri, Jul. 12, 2024, 7.30 pm - 10.00 pm
Laura Rose Wingfield
Alina Cojocaru
Guest Dancer
Born in Bucharest , Alina Cojocaru trained in Kiev for seven years before joining the Royal Ballet School in 1997. Upon completion of her training, six monts later, she returned to Kiev, to join the Company as a principal dancer. A year later, she joined the Royal Ballet Company (November 1999) and, at the end of the season, was promoted to Soloist. On 17 April 2001 Royal Ballet Artistic Director Sir Anthony Dowell promoted Ms. Cojocaru to the rank of principal dancer after her performance of "Giselle".
Ms. Cojocaru joined the English National Ballet (ENB) in September 2013, as a Leading Principal Dancer. While a member of ENB she continues to perform as a regular guest artist with the Hamburg Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and with companies worldwide.
Ms. Cojocaru has Organized Gala's in Romania and in London for the Romanian charity Hospice of Hope over the last few years. In February 2012 Ms. Cojocaru premiered her Alina Cojocaru - Dream Project, in Tokyo, Japan, which she directed and staged, while performing with friends and colleagues from the Tokyo Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, ENB and Royal Ballet.
As a Guest Artist, Ms. Cojocaru appears with the Kirov Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Hamburg Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Hungarian National Ballet, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Zurich Ballet, National Ballet of Portugal, La Scala Ballet, Nacional Ballet Of Cuba, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, National Ballet of Romania, South African Ballet Theater, Kremlin Ballet, Sarasota Ballet, Zagreb Ballet. Galas with the Hamburg Ballet, La Scala Ballet, National Ballet Of China, Ballet Basel, National Ballet of Latvia, Munich Ballet, Dortmund Ballet, National Ballet of Finland, Morphoses Company, The 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th World Ballet Festival (Tokyo) as well as galas in South Korea, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, USA and Denmark.
Repertory includes: Odette/Odile in "Swan Lake", Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet", "Giselle", Princess Aurora and Princess Florine in "The Sleeping Beauty", Julie in "Liliom", Marguerite Gautier in "Lady of the Camellias", Vera and Natalya in "A Month in the Country", Kitri in "Don Quixote", Olga and Tatiana in "Onegin", "Cinderella", The Sugar Plum Fairy and Clara in "The Nutcracker", Titania in "The Dream", Titania and Hippolyta in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Ballerina in "Etudes", Nikiya in "La Bayadere", Diamonds in "Jewels", Medora in "Le Corsaire", "Symphonic Variations", Mary Vetsera in "Mayerling", "Manon", "La Sylphide"," In the Night", "Las Hermanas", Swanilda in "Coppelia", "Scènes de Ballet", "Gong", "Masquerade", "Polyphonia", "Symphony in C", Chloe in "Daphnis and Chloe", Lise in "La Fille mal gardée", Student in "The Lesson", "Duo Concertant", "The Leaves are Fading", "Other Dances", "Voices of Spring", "Beyond Bach", "Tombeaux", "Ondine", "The Virtiginous Thrill of Exatitude", Fête Polonaise, "Stars and Stripes", "Raymonda" – Act 3, "Flames of Paris", "Flower Festival", "Napoli" – Act 3, "Grand Pas Classique", "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux", "Mussorgsky Waltz", "Dances at a Gathering", "The Dying Swan", "Rushes", "Two Footnotes", "Chroma", "Bird as a Prophet" and many more.
Creations includes: "Musketeer" and "Valse" (Rubina Alla Davidovna), Swanilda in "Coppelia" (Anatolyi Shekera), "Ad infinitium" (Vanessa Fenton), "There Where She Loved" (Christopher Wheeldon), "This House will Burn" (Ashley Page), "Les Saisons" (David Bintley), "Two Footnotes", "Bird as a Prophet", "Rushes" (Kim Brandstrup), "Engram and Chroma" (Wayne McGregor), "Les Lutins" and "La Sylphide" (Johan Kobborg), Julie in "Liliom" (John Neumeier), "24 Préludes" (Alexei Ratmansky) and others.
Prizes and Awards includes: "Dancer of the Year" – German Dance Critics Award (2012), Benois de la Danse – Best female dancer – "Liliom" (2012), "Ballerina of the Decade" Award (Moscow 2010), VIP Romanian Music and Performing Arts Award (2010), The Nijinsky Award – Best Female Dancer (2004), Benois de la Danse – Best Female Dancer – "Giselle" (2004), Internationaler Movimentos Tanz Preis – Best Female Dancer (2004), Critics' Circle Dance Award – Best female dancer (2002), Nagoya International Ballet Competition – Gold Medal and Prix de Lausanne (1997), in April 2002 The president of Romania Ion Iliescu presented Ms. Cojocaru with the medal of Cavaler of Romania (Ordinul National "Pentru Merit" in gradul de cavaler).
Video, TV and live relays include: Kennedy Center Honors 2012, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Nutcracker, Onegin, Daphnis and Chloe, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, The South Bank Show, The Dream, Mime Matters, Don Quixote and pas de deux in various galas.
Amanda Wingfield (as a guest)
Patricia Friza
Soloist
BORN
26.10.79 in Vienna. Austrian
EDUCATION
Ballet School of the Vienna State Opera
MAIN TEACHERS
Judith Reyn, Christian Tichy, Yannik Boquin
ENGAGEMENTS
The Ballet of the Vienna State Opera.
Hamburg Ballet 2006-2023
CREATIONS
A Nurse in "Le Pavillon d'Armide"
Darya Alexandrovna Oblonskaya, Dolly in "Anna Karenina"
Amanda Wingfield in "The Glass Menagerie"
and solos in
Du und Du, Waltz (New Year's Concert 2006, Vienna)
Beethoven Project I
Ghost Light
Let's Keep it Black (Orkan Dann)
A Foreign Sound (Thiago Bordin)
My Dear Love (Orkan Dann)
Trencadís (Aleix Martínez)
Einflüsse (Miljana Vracaric)
Renku (Yuka Oishi/Orkan Dann)
Aether (Luca Andrea Tessarini)
Little Requiem (Aleix Martínez)
REPERTORY
with The Ballet of the Vienna State Opera
Aegina, Pemba and Omara in "Spartacus" (Renato Zanella)
Juwels in "Cinderella" (Renato Zanella)
Italian Dance in "The Nutcracker" (Renato Zanella)
Volga V. in "Duke’s Nuts" (Renato Zanella)
The Cat in "Renard" (Renato Zanella)
A Sage in "Sacre" (Renato Zanella)
A Gypsy in "Romeo and Juliet" (John Cranko)
Pas de Cinq, Big Swan and Spanish Dance in "Swan Lake" (Rudolf Nurejev)
Fairies in "The Sleeping Beauty" (Marius Petipa/Peter Wright)
Polyhymnia and Leto in "Apollo" (George Balanchine)
Eva and Audrey in "As You Like It" (John Neumeier)
Myrtha and Berthe in "Giselle" (Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, Marius Petipa/Elena Tchernichova)
Paulina in "The Winter's Tale" (Christopher Wheeldon)
and solos in
Empty Place (Renato Zanella)
Sensi (Renato Zanella)
Raymonda (Rudolf Nurejew)
Petite Mort (Jirí Kylián)
with The Hamburg Ballet
The Beautiful Girl from Granada in "The Nutcracker"
Bianca in "Othello"
Potiphar's Wife in "The Legend of Joseph"
Polina Andreyevna and The Star of the Revue in "The Seagull"
The Queen Mother, a Big Swan und the Butterfly in "Illusions - like Swan Lake"
Eleonora Bereda und Bronislava Nijinska in "Nijinsky"
Mrs. Muskat in "Liliom"
Prudence Duvernoy and Nanina in "Lady of the Camellias"
Lady Capulet and Isabella in "Romeo and Juliet"
Audrey in "As You Like It"
Aschenbach's assistant, his mother and Tadzio's mother in "Death in Venice"
An Old Woman, 300 years old and The Choosen one in "Le Sacre du Printemps" (Millicent Hodson, inspired by Vaslav Nijinsky)
The Wife in "The Concert" (Jerome Robbins)
A Street Dancer in "Don Quixote" (Rudolf Nurejev after Marius Petipa)
and solo in
Verklungene Feste
Vaslav
Le Sacre
Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Préludes CV
Broadway's Pavlova
Liebeslieder Walzer (George Balanchine)
Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (George Balanchine)
GUESTING
Bavarian State Ballet, Munich
Find further information about Patricia Friza here.
Tom Wingfield
Alessandro Frola
Principal
BORN
3.9.2000 in Parma, Italy. Italian
EDUCATION
Profession Dance Parma
Fomento Artístico Cordobés, Córdoba, Veracruz/Mexico
The School of the Hamburg Ballet
MAIN TEACHERS
Lucia Giuffrida, Francesco Frola, Adria Velásquez, Kevin Haigen, Janusz Mazon, Gigi Hyatt
ENGAGEMENT
Hamburg Ballet since 2019, Soloist in 2022, Principal since 2023
CREATIONS
The Shadow in "Dona Nobis Pacem"
and solo in
Peter and Igor
REPERTORY
Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Endymion in "Sylvia"
Prince Désiré, Catalabutte and Cupid's Blessing in "The Sleeping Beauty" (new version 2021)
Wolf Beifeld in "Liliom"
Frederick the Great in "Death in Venice"
Pas de deux in "A Cinderella Story"
The Man in the Shadow, Prince Siegfried and Prince Alexander in "Illusions – like Swan Lake"
Love in "Bernstein Dances"
Mercutio in "Romeo and Juliet"
Allan Gray in "A Streetcar Named Desire"
Arlequin in ‘Carnaval' and The Spirit of the rose in 'Le Spectre de la rose' in "Nijinsky"
Drosselmeier in "The Nutcracker"
Armand in "Lady of the Camellias"
A Suitor / The War in "Odyssey"
Mr Brocklehurst in "Jane Eyre" (Cathy Marston)
and solos in
Saint Matthew Passion
Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Préludes CV
AWARD
Dr. Wilhelm Oberdörffer-Prize 2023
Find further information about Alessandro Frola here.
Jim O'Connor
Christopher Evans
Principal
BORN
2.11.94 in Loveland, CO. American
EDUCATION
BalletMet Dance Academy
Canada's National Ballet School
The School of the Hamburg Ballet
MAIN TEACHERS
Susan Dromisky, Alexander Gorbatsevich, Kevin Haigen
ENGAGEMENT
Hamburg Ballet since 2012, Soloist 2015, Principal since 2018
CREATIONS
Jim O'Connor in "The Glass Menagerie"
A Mystic in "Dona Nobis Pacem"
and solos in
Turangalîla
Beethoven Project I
Ghost Light
Beethoven Project II
Aether (Luca Andrea Tessarini)
Metamorphosis (Marc Jubete)
Beautiful Soul (Marcelino Libao)
REPERTORY
The King, Count Alexander and Quadrille in "Illusions - like Swan Lake"
Benvolio and Antonio in "Romeo and Juliet"
Fabian in "VIVALDI or What you will"
Albrecht in "Giselle"
Günther in "The Nutcracker"
Vladimir Lensky in "Tatjana"
The Prince and A Bird in "A Cinderella Story"
Theseus/Oberon and Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Arlequin in ‘Carnaval' and The Spirit of the rose in 'Le Spectre de la rose' in "Nijinsky"
Konstantin (Kostya) Gavrilovich Triplev in "The Seagull"
Armand Duval and Des Grieux in "Lady of the Camellias"
Man I in "Bernstein Dances"
Gustav von Aeschenbach in "Death in Venice"
Koll/Fortinbras in "Hamlet 21"
Love/Thyrsis/Orion in "Sylvia"
Catalabutte in "The Sleeping Beauty" (Neufassung 2021)
Harold Mitchell (Mitch) in "Endstation Sehnsucht"
Odysseus in *Odyssey"
Alexei Karenin and Levin in "Anna Karenina"
Mann in Green in "Dances at a Gathering" (Jerome Robbins)
Basil in "Don Quixote" (Rudolf Nurejev after Marius Petipa)
Prince Florizel in "The Winter's Tale" (Christopher Wheeldon)
St John Rivers in "Jane Eyre" (Cathy Marston)
and solos in
Préludes CV
Petrushka-Variations
Christmas Oratorio I-VI
The Song of the Earth
Soldier Songs (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
The Fifth Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Nocturnes
At Midnight
Saint Matthew Passion
Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (George Balanchine)
HE CHOREOGRAPHED
"Soul Sketch"
Premiere: Young Choreographers, Hamburg, 2016
"A Cosmic Second"
Premiere: Young Choreographers, Hamburg, 2017
AWARDS
Prix de Lausanne 2010
Dr. Wilhelm Oberdörffer-Prize 2015
Find further information about Christopher Evans here.
Tennessee
Edvin Revazov
Principal
BORN
30.12.83 in Sevastopol. Ukrainian
EDUCATION
Moscow School
The School of the Hamburg Ballet
MAIN TEACHERS
Boris Rachmanin, Radik Zaripov
ENGAGEMENT
Hamburg Ballet since 2003, Soloist in 2007, Principal since 2010
CREATIONS
Tadzio in "Death in Venice"
Parzival in "Parzival – Episodes and Echo"
Apollo in "Orpheus"
Gate Keeper in "Liliom"
Eugene Onegin in "Tatiana"
Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky in "Anna Karenina"
Tennessee in "The Glass Menagerie"
An Officer in "Dona Nobis Pacem"
and solos in
Christmas Oratorio
Purgatorio
Um Mitternacht
Beethoven Project I
Ghost Light
Beethoven Project II
Herr Sprüngli (Yohan Stegli)
Renku (Yuka Oishi / Orkan Dann)
REPERTORY
Günter and Arabian Dance in "The Nutcracker"
Romeo and Brother Lorenzo in "Romeo and Juliet"
Wolfgang Amadeus in "Windows on MOZART"
Semyon Semyonovich Medvedenko in "The Seagull"
Cassio in "Othello"
The Angel in "The Legend of Joseph"
Endymion in "Sylvia"
Kiefaber and Allan's Friend in "A Streetcar Named Desire"
Armand Duval in "Lady of the Camellias"
The Man in the Shadow and Count Alexander in "Illusions - like Swan Lake"
A Man in "Seasons – The Colors of Time"
Theseus/Oberon and Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Serge Diaghilev and Thomas Nijinsky in "Nijinsky"
Hamlet in "Hamlet"
Albert in "Giselle"
The Prince in "A Cinderella Story"
Peer Gynt in "Peer Gynt"
Orphée in "Orphée et Eurydice"
Gustav von Aschenbach and Frederick the Great in "Death in Venice"
King Florestan XXIV in "The Sleeping Beauty" (new version 2021)
Liliom in "Liliom"
Harold Mitchell (Mitch) in "A Streetcar Named Desire"
The Prodigal Son in "The Prodigal Son" (George Balanchine)
Madge, a Witch in "La Sylphide" (Pierre Lacotte after Filippo Taglioni)
Man in Purple in "Dances at a Gathering" (Jerome Robbins)
Onegin in "Onegin" (John Cranko)
King Leontes in "The Winter's Tale" (Christopher Wheeldon)
and solos in
Requiem
Nocturnes from "Songs of the Night"
Soldier Songs (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
Verklungene Feste
Fourth Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Afternoon of a Faun
Le Sacre
Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Préludes CV
Saint Matthew Passion
The Fifth Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Vaslav
Les Sylphides (Michail Fokine)
Reflet (Stefano Palmigiano)
Liebeslieder Walzer (George Balanchine)
Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (George Balanchine)
GUESTING
Munich (Armand Duval in "Lady of the Camellias", Bavarian State Opera), Stuttgart, Lausanne, London, Milan (Armand Duval in "Lady of the Camellias", Teatro alla Scala), Tallinn, Riga, Moscow (Armand Duval in "Lady of the Camellias", Bolshoi Theatre), Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Tokyo (World Ballet Festival 2015 and 2018), Beijing
HE CHOREOGRAPHED
"Coco Rosie"
Premiere: Young Choreographers, Hamburg, 2011
"Zozula"
Premiere: Young Choreographers, Hamburg, 2012
"Anima"
Premiere: Young Choreographers, Hamburg, 2015
"Vesna"
Premiere: Young Choreographers, Hamburg, 2016
"Closed Rooms"
Premiere: Young Choreographers, Hamburg, 2017
"Rain memories"
Premiere: National Youth Ballet, 2017
"Shakespeare – Sonnets"
Premiere: Hamburg Ballet, 2019
HE FOUNDED
a new ballet company in 2023: The Hamburg Chamber Ballet – Edvin Revazov, as choreographic director, gives a new artistic home to refugee Ukrainian dancers.
HE STAGED NEUMEIER'S BALLET
"Anna Karenina" for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow
AWARDS
Dr. Wilhelm Oberdörffer-Prize 2007
German Theater Prize DER FAUST 2007
Danza&Danza Prize – Best Upcoming Dancer 2008
Premio Positano Léonide Massine 2018
John Neumeier Prize for Choreography 2023
Find further information about Edvin Revazov here.
Ozzie (as a guest)
Stacey Denham
Teacher (guest)
Stacey Denham was born in New York. She danced with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre Repertory Company, the Clive Thompson Dance Company, with Judith Jamison, at the Washington D.C. City Ballet Company and at the Theater des Westens in Berlin. As a long-standing guest teacher she teaches the Theatre Classes in modern dance, based on the Horton-Technique. She is also in charge of the dance composition classes and co-ordinates the "Creativity Workshop" in the Ernst Deutsch Theater.
The Unicorn
Artem Prokopchuk
Corps de Ballet
BORN
1.1.98 in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. Ukrainian
EDUCATION
Accademia Nazionale di Danza Roma
Ballet School of the Hamburg Ballet
MAIN TEACHERS
Irina Rosca, Brunella Vidau, Manuela Cerreto, Janusz Mazon, Kevin Haigen
ENGAGEMENTS
Le Vie del Teatro in Terra di Siena
National Youth Ballet 2017-2019
Hamburg Ballet since 2019
REPERTORY
Flute/Thisbe in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Jaschu in "Death in Venice"
A Thorn Creature in "The Sleeping Beauty" (new version 2021)
The Speaker in "Illusions – like Swan Lake"
The Unicorn in "The Glass Menagerie"
Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet"
Keifaber in "A Streetcar Named Desire"
Petrushka in ‘Petrushka’, The Golden Slave in ‘Sheherazade' and The Faun in 'L'Après-midi d'un faune' in "Nijinsky"
Gaston Rieux in "Lady of the Camellias"
Father Sheperd in "The Winter's Tale" (Christopher Wheeldon)
and solo in
Beethoven Project II
Malvolio
Lennard Giesenberg
Corps de Ballet
BORN
20.5.2000 in Henstedt-Ulzburg, Germany. German
EDUCATION
School of the Hamburg Ballet
MAIN TEACHERS
Kevin Haigen, Janusz Mazon, Stacey Denham
ENGAGEMENTS
Hamburg Ballet (Apprentice) 2019-2020
National Youth Ballet 2020-2022
Hamburg Ballet since 2022
CREATION
The Photographer in "Dona Nobis Pacem"
REPERTORY
Brother Lorenzo in "Romeo and Juliet"
Allan's Friend in "A Streetcar Named Desire"
Conductor
Luciano Di Martino
Conductor
A dynamic and accomplished presence both on the orchestra podium and in the opera pit, Luciano Di Martino is highly acclaimed for his intensity and spontaneity, his precision and musicianship.
In the beginning of 2020 Luciano Di Martino made his debut at the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice with John Neumeier's production "Duse", conducting music by Benjamin Britten and Arvo Pärt and with the ballet "The Glass Menagerie" at the Hamburg State Opera featuring music by Charles Ives, Philipp Glass and Ned Rorem. A further engagement this year led him to conduct the production of Verdi's "Rigoletto" at the Sofia National Opera.
He has appeared as a guest conductor with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, the Novosibirsk Philharmonic, the Hamburg Symphony and the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
Since 2008, Di Martino has been a regular guest at the Hamburg State Opera, where he conducted erformances of Verdi's "La Traviata" as well as Andreas Homoki's production of Verdi's "Luisa
Miller" in 2016.
In 2014 he led Lera Auerbach's ballet "The Little Mermaid", choreographed by John Neumeier, with the Hamburg Ballet and the Hamburg State Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2017 he conducted guest performances of the ballet for the company’s tour to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. He then conducted Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" for the 50th anniversary of Neumeier's choreography.
Luciano Di Martino made his highly successful debut at the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv in April 2012, directing Mariusz Trelinsky's stylized and powerful production of Puccini's "Madame Butterfly".Following his debut in 2010 with the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, conducting the new production of Verdi's "Attila" during the Stars of the White Nights Festival, he conducted also revivals of "Aida", "Don Carlos", "La Sonnambula", "I Pagliacci" and Mendelssohn's oratorio "Elijah" as well as Laurent Pelly’s production of "L'Elisir d'Amore" in 2011 starring Anna Netrebko. He was guest conductor with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Solingen Symphony Orchestra, the Bursa Regional State Symphony Orchestra as well as with the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra in Katowice, the Filarmonica Marchigiana in Macerata and the Tampere Filharmonia Orchestra in Finland.
Other notable highlights in Di Martino's career include conducting "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Historic State Theatre in Minneapolis, a gala concert at the Latvian National Opera in Riga, "La Traviata" and "Carmina Burana" at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, "Otello" and "Tosca" at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, "Il Trovatore" and "Aida" at the Festival Opera Open in Plovdiv, "Madama Butterfly" at the Theatre in Lübeck and "Don Giovanni" and "The Magic Flute" at the Nuremberg State Theatre.
In 2012 he was appointed member of the advisory council of Hamburg’s TONALi Competition and conducted TONALi’s Grand Prix Concert at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg.
Di Martino has been a permanent guest conductor of the Sofia FM-Classic Radio Orchestra since 2005. His live television broadcasts include gala concerts with such distinguished singers as Kammersängerin Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Alexandrina Milcheva, Ghena Dimitrova, Krassimira Stoyanova, and Josè Cura as well as symphony concerts with star soloists Pepe Romero, Uto Ughi, Julian Steckel, Dag Jensen, Anton Barakhovsky and Maxim Vengerov.
Graduated in orchestral conducting in 1996 at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama with Prof. Klauspeter Seibel, he attended specialization courses from 1993 till 1996 at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena with Ilya Musin, Valery Gergiev and Myung-Whun Chung. Following his studies, he first worked as a freelance piano accompanist while also gaining experience in the field of historical authentic performance, conducting baroque ensembles in Hamburg.
He became music director of the Bulgarian State Opera Stara Zagora in 2000, a position he held until 2004. He currently holds the position of conductor and artistic director at the Bulgarian State Opera and Philharmonic in Plovdiv, the European Capital of Culture in 2019, where Di Martino conducted Stefano Poda’s production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.
In 1999 he conducted the first opera production for the opening of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with the operetta "Der Bettelstudent" by Carl Millöcker and the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra.
Orchestra
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
Orchestra
The Philharmonic State Orchestra is Hamburg’s largest and oldest orchestra, looking back on many years of musical history. When the “Philharmonic Orchestra” and the “Orchestra of the Hamburg Municipal Theatre” merged in 1934, two tradition-steeped orchestras combined. Philharmonic concerts have been performed in Hamburg since 1828, artists such as Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms being regular guests of the Philharmonic Society. The history of the opera company goes back even further: Hamburg has been home to musical theatre since 1678, even if a regular opera or theatre orchestra was only formed later. To this day, the Philharmonic State Orchestra has embodied the sound of the Hansa City, a concert and opera orchestra in one.
During its long history, the orchestra encountered great artist personalities. Apart from composers of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, such as Telemann, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mahler, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, since the 20th century chief conductors such as Karl Muck, Joseph Keilberth, Eugen Jochum, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Aldo Ceccato, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gerd Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher and Simone Young have shaped the orchestra’s sound. Renowned conductors of the pre-war era such as Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Karl Böhm and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt gave brilliant performances, as did outstanding conductors of our times: suffice it to mention Christian Thielemann, Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Petrenko, Adam Fischer and Sir Roger Norrington.
Starting with the 2015/2016 season, Kent Nagano has taken on the position of Hamburg’s General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the Hamburg State Opera and since June 2023 also its honorary conductor. In his first season Kent Nagano initiated a new project, the Philharmonic Academy, focusing on experimentation and chamber music. In 2016, Nagano and the Philharmonic toured South America, followed by concert tours to Spain and Japan in 2019, and in the spring of 2023, the Philharmonic State Orchestra made its debut at New York's Carnegie Hall under his direction, which was acclaimed by audiences and the press. Since 2017 Kent Nagano and the Philharmonic State Orchestra have continued the traditional Philharmonic Concerts at the new Elbphilharmonie, for which they commissioned Jörg Widmann to compose the oratorio ARCHE, which was given its world premiere during the hall’s opening festivities. The concert recording has been released by ECM, for which Widmann received the OPUS KLASSIK as Composer of the Year 2019, and ARCHE was performed again in 2023 to great acclaim.
The Philharmonic State Orchestra offers approximately 35 concerts per season and performs more than 240 performances per year at the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier, making it Hamburg’s busiest orchestra. The stylistic bandwidth covered by the 140 musicians, ranging from historically informed performance practice to contemporary works and including concert, opera and ballet repertoire, is unique throughout Germany. Chamber Music has a long tradition at the Philharmonic State Orchestra: what began in 1929 with a concert series for chamber orchestra has been continued since 1968 by a series of chamber music only.
In 2008 Simone Young and the Philharmonic State Orchestra won the Brahms Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society. The orchestra has recorded the complete Ring by Wagner as well as the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner – the latter in the rarely-performed original versions – as well as works by Mahler, Hindemith and Berg, and has released DVDs of opera and ballet productions by Hosokawa, Offenbach, Reimann, Auerbach, J.S. Bach, Puccini, Poulenc and Weber.
The members of the Philharmonic State Orchestra feel equally beholden to Hamburg’s musical tradition and responsible for the city’s artistic future. Since 1978 the musicians have been participating in education programmes in Hamburg’s schools. Today, the orchestra maintains a broad education programme, including school and kindergarten visits, patronage for music projects, introductory events for children and family concerts. The orchestra’s own academy prepares young musicians for their professional careers. The Philharmonic’s musicians thereby make an equally enjoyable and valuable contribution to tomorrow’s music education in the music metropolis of Hamburg.
photo: Foto: Felix Broede
