Cast

Conductor

Karina Canellakis

Biography will be published shortly.

Find further information about Karina Canellakis here.

Performances

• Women's love and death

photo: Mathias Bothor

Johan Reuter

Zu den Opernplänen des dänischen Bass-Baritons zählen 2016 u.a. „Il Tabarro“ und „Gianni Schicchi“ in Kopenhagen, Enescus „Oedipe“ in London und „Der fliegende Holländer“ in Hamburg, München, Kopenhagen und Helsinki geplant. 2017 stehen u.a. „Dead Man Walking“ in Kopenhagen, Elektra in München und Henzes Elegie für junge Liebende am Theater an der Wien auf seinem Programm.

In Kopenhagen wird er Mahlers „Kindertotenlieder“ und „Des Knaben Wunderhorn“, in Lyon Faurés Requiem singen. Johan Reuter studierte an der Königlichen Musikakademie und an der Akademie der Königlichen Oper seiner Heimatstadt Kopenhagen und nahm an Meisterkursen von Ernst Haefliger, von Anthony Rolfe Johnson und Richard Trimborn teil. Seit 1996 ist er Ensemblemitglied der Oper von Kopenhagen, wo ein breites Repertoire singt. Zu den wichtigsten Produktionen der letzten Jahre zählen „Lulu“ an der Metropolitan Opera in New York und in Kopenhagen, Maskarade konzertant in Amsterdam und szenisch in Kopenhagen, „Die Walküre“ in Toronto, „Die Frau ohne Schatten“ in London, Berlin und Zürich, „Tosca“ und „Cavalleria rusticana/I Pagliacci“ in Kopenhagen, „Der fliegende Holländer“ in Kopenhagen, Berlin und Madrid, „Nabucco“ an der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Braunfels‘ „Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna“ konzertant bei den Salzburger Festspielen, halbszenische Aufführungen „Wozzeck“ unter Esa-Pekka Salonen in Dortmund und Los Angeles, „Vec Makropulos“ in New York unter Jiri Belohlavek und bei den Salzburger Festspielen unter Esa-Pekka Salonen, Wotan in „Das Rheingold“ in München unter Kent Nagano, in Berlin und bei den Bayreuther Festspielen unter Christian Thielemann, „Das Rheingold“ und „Siegfried“ unter Adam Fischer in Budapest, „Tristan und Isolde“ konzertant in Berlin unter Marek Janowski, „Die Zarenbraut“ unter Mark Elder, Theseus in der Uraufführung von Harrison Birtwistles „The Minotaur“, „Elektra“, „Salome“ und „Wozzeck“ (Warner/ Harding) in London, „Arabella“ in Wien, „The Rake’s progress“ unter Christopher Hogwood und Gurlitts „Wozzeck“ in Madrid, „Le Nozze di Figaro“ am Theater an der Wien und in Berlin, „Macbeth“ in Lissabon, „Zaide“ und „Alceste“ unter Ivor Bolton bei den Salzburger Festspielen, Schischkov in Janaceks „Aus einem Totenhaus“ unter Marc Albrecht in Paris und Madrid, „Wozzeck“ in Essen (Schaaf/Soltesz), „Don Giovanni“ in Frankfurt, „Le Nozze di Figaro“, Leporello in „Don Giovanni“, Kothner in „Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg“ (Konwitschny/ Metzmacher) und Guglielmo in „Così fan tutte“ in Hamburg.

Auf dem Konzertpodium sang er Haydns „Schöpfung“ und „Die Jahreszeiten“, Mahlers 8. Symphonie, „Rückert-Lieder“ und „Das klagende Lied“, Beethovens 9. Symphonie, Brahms‘ „Vier ernste Gesänge“ in der Orchesterversion von Glanert und Brahms‘ „Ein deutsches Requiem“, Mozarts „Requiem“, Berlioz‘ „Romeo et Juliette“, „Peer Gynt“, Michelangelo Lieder von Schostakowitsch in Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Athen, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Brüssel, Florenz, Pisa, Perugia, Madrid, Lissabon, Thessaloniki, Aarhus, bei den Salzburger und Bregenzer Festspielen unter Dirigenten wie Marc Albrecht, Semyon Bychkov, Paul MacCreesh, Valeri Gergiev, Leopold Hager, Philippe Herreweghe, Marek Janowski, Zubin Mehta, Marc Minkowski, Kazushi Ono, Michael Schønwandt oder Lothar Zagrosek.
Er gab Liederabende in Kopenhagen, München, Hannover, Bergen und Madrid.

Performances

• Der Freischütz
• Women's love and death

Mezzo-soprano

Annika Schlicht

Birthplace:
Stuttgart, Germany

Studies:
Singing at Hochschule für Musik „Hanns Eisler“ in Berlin with Prof. Renate Faltin

Master class:
with Julia Varady, KS Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, KS Brigitte Fassbaender, KS Deborah Polaski und Patricia McCaffrey

Prizes:
3rd prize at the international Wilhelm Stenhammar Competition in Sweden (2016), 2nd prize at the Anneliese Rothenberger Competition (2013), Grand Prix and several special prizes at the Giulio Perotti Competition (2012), 3rd song prize and sponsorship prize from Bronnbach e.V. at the DEBUT Competition (2012), scholarship holder of the Liz Mohn Cultural Foundation, scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Association

Important parts:
Fricka (Das Rheingold, Die Walküre), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), Waltraute (Götterdämmerung), Adriano (Rienzi), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Fenena (Nabucco), Magdalena (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Olga (Eugene Onegin), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Auntie (Peter Grimes), Mrs. Quickly (Falstaff), Forester's Wife (The Cunning Little Vixen), u. a.

Stages:
Royal Opera House London, Royal Opera House Muscat, Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, Opera Bastille, Semperoper Dresden, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Oper Frankfurt, Bergen International Festival, Salzburg Festival, Bregenz Festival, u. a.

Cooperation with directors:
Harry Kupfer, Hans Neuenfels, Luc Bondy, Claus Guth, Dmitri Tcherniakov and Johannes Erath, Stefan Herheim, Jossi Wieler, u. a.

Cooperation with conductors:
Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Metha, Sir Donald Runnicles, Kent Nagano, Alexander Soddy, Ivan Repusic, John Fiore, Stephane Deneve, Eun Sun Kim, Alondra de la Parra, Enrique Mazzola, Asher Fisch, Edward Gardner, Ingo Metzmacher, Christopher Moulds, Stefan Soltesz, Sebastian Weigle, u. a.

Performances

• Das Paradies und die Peri
• Ariadne auf Naxos
• 3rd Philharmonic Concert
• Pique Dame
• Women's love and death
• Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde)

photo: Simon Pauly

Orchestra

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

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.

Performances

• Rathausmarkt Open Air
• 1st Academy Concert - Program I
• 1st Academy Concert - Program II
• 1st Academy Concert - Program III
• 4th Academy Concert
• Trionfi
• Carmen
• THE TIMES ARE RACING
• 1st Philharmonic Concert
• Kannst du pfeifen, Johanna
• Boris Godunov
• Special chamber concert
• Tosca
• Jubiläumsgala: 30 Jahre Internationales Opernstudio
• La clemenza di Tito
• Orchesterprobenbesuch
• 2nd Philharmonic Concert
• Don Giovanni
• Jane Eyre
• 3rd Philharmonic Concert
• Elektra
• Der Freischütz
• Luisa Miller
• La Bohème
• SLOW BURN
• 4th Philharmonic Concert
• Hänsel und Gretel (Hansel and Gretel)
• Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)
• The Nutcracker
• New Year's Eve concert
• Der fliegende Holländer
• 5th Philharmonic Concert
• Die Kreide im Mund des Wolfs
• Ariadne auf Naxos
• Manon
• 6th Philharmonic Concert
• Ariadne auf Naxos (concerted)
• Les Contes d'Hoffmann
• Mitridate, re di Ponto
• Eugene Onegin
• Mitridate, re di Ponto (concerted)
• Eugen Onegin (concerted)
• 7th Philharmonic Concert
• PhiSch - das Staatsorchester hautnah...
• Don Pasquale
• Don Pasquale (concerted)
• Rigoletto
• Maria Stuarda
• La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the West)
• Il trovatore
• Falstaff
• 8th Philharmonic Concert
• La Traviata
• The Odyssey
• Parsifal
• Pique Dame
• Opening concert of the Hamburg International Music Festival
• Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank
• Romeo and Juliet
• Die dunkle Seite des Mondes
• Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde)
• 9th Philharmonic Concert
• Salome
• NATIONAL YOUTH BALLET: Die Unsichtbaren
• Nijinsky
• Frühlings Erwachen
• Così fan tutte
• Le Nozze di Figaro
• 10th Philharmonic Concert
• Demian
• Nijinsky Gala L
• 1st Philharmonic Concert
• The Seagull
• HOUSE WARMING CONCERT
• Das Paradies und die Peri
• 3. Blaues Konzert
• Schulkonzert
• 2nd Philharmonic Concert
• Kids only #1: Erwachsene verboten
• Ruslan und Ljudmila
• Lady of the Camellias
• 3rd Philharmonic Concert
• Surrogate Cities
• L'elisir d'amore
• 4th Philharmonic Concert
• New Year's Eve concert
• 5th Philharmonic Concert
• Monster´s Paradise
• Kids only #2: Überall doch nirgends zuhause
• 6th Philharmonic Concert
• POINT OF NO RETURN
• The great silence
• Lohengrin
• 7th Philharmonic Concert
• Women's love and death
• Madama Butterfly
• 8th Philharmonic Concert
• Il barbiere di Siviglia
• Special concert music festival
• 9th Philharmonic Concert
• Kids only #3: Ich zieh aus!
• Wonderland
• 10th Philharmonic Concert
• Nijinsky Gala LI

photo: Foto: Felix Broede

Soprano

Ambur Braid

Renowned for her dramatically nuanced and psychologically complex interpretations, Canadian soprano Ambur Braid also brings to the stage an unmatchable authenticity and incandescent vocal power. Her Salome, Senta (Der fliegende Holländer), Die Färberin (Die Frau ohne Schatten), Eva (Schreker’s Irrelohe) and Rachel (Halévy’s La Juive) have left an unforgettable impression, and this season Braid makes her anticipated role debut as Marie (Wozzeck) in two new productions. Firstly for Opéra de Lyon in Richard Brunel’s new production under Daniele Rustioni, and thereafter for Canadian Opera Company in William Kentridge’s new production under Johannes Debus. Elsewhere Ambur makes her company debut at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía as Madame Lidoine in Robert Carsen’s production of Dialogues des Carmélites under Riccardo Minasi.

Praised as being “born to play Salome” (Bachtrack, 2023), it has since become a signature role for Braid, with huge critical acclaim in both Barrie Kosky’s production for Oper Frankfurt and Atom Egoyan’s production for Canadian Opera Company, the latter of which brought Ambur’s appearance in the film ‘Seven Veils’. Other notable role and company debuts include both Eva (Irrelohe) and Die Färberin (Die Frau ohne Schatten) under Daniele Rustioni for Opéra de Lyon, Senta (Der fliegende Holländer) in Herbert Fritsch’s production for Komische Oper, and Stephana in Umberto Giordano’s rarely performed Siberia for Bregenz Festival. A former ensemble member of Oper Frankfurt, selected recent highlights include Rachel in Tatjana Gürbaca’s new production of La Juive under Henrik Nanasi, Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos) under Thomas Guggeis, Chawa in Rudi Stephan's Die Ersten Menschen - a new production by Tobias Kratzer - conducted by Sebastian Weigle and recorded for CD release, as well as the eponymous roles of Norma under Erik Nielsen and Tosca conducted by Carlo Montanaro.

Recent concert highlights include Schmitt’s La Tragédie de Salomé with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under Alain Altinoglu and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa. This season Braid returns to Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 at the Tanglewood Festival in Boston and with Gulbenkian Orchestra, both under Hannu Lintu.

Ambur Braid has received degrees from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and San Francisco Conservatory and is a studio alumna and former ensemble member of the Canadian Opera Company.

Find further information about Ambur Braid here.

Performances

• Salome
• Women's love and death

photo: Jennifer Toole

Tenor

Thomas Blondelle

Thomas Blondelle, born in 1982 in Bruges/Belgium, began his vocal training at the age of 14 at the conservatory of his home town and later also studied piano, musicology, composition and chamber music here. He is a prize-winner: first prize at the 'Axion Classics' competition 2001, 2nd prize at the singing competition 'Prix Jâcques Dôme' in Verviers 2002, prize for "young promising singer" at the 'Viñas Competition' in Barcelona 2005, 2nd prize at the 'Concours Reine Eilisabeth' 2011, Palazetto Bru prize at the Belvedere Competition 2012.

After his first permanent engagement at the Staatstheater Braunschweig (2006 to 2009), the tenor has been a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin since 2009, where he sang roles such as Tamino (DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE), Mercury (DIE LIEBE DER DANAE), Chevalier (DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES), Cassio (OTELLO), Macduff (MACBETH), Ismaele (NABUCCO), Walther (TANNHÄUSER), Prince (L'AMOUR DES TROIS ORANGES), Bob Boles (PETER GRIMES), Herod (SALOME), Don Ottavio (DON GIOVANNI), Pelleas (PELLEAS ET MELISANDE), Eisenstein (DIE FLEDERMAUS), Hexe (HÄNSEL UND GRETEL), Erik (DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER) and David (DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG).

Guest engagements have taken him to the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Volksoper Wien, the Oper Frankfurt, the Semperoper Dresden, the Staatstheater Stuttgart, the Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival, the Saito Kinen Festival Japan, the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, the Théatre Royal de la Monnaie, the Opéra National du Rhinasbourg, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Proms, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Cincinnati Opera and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Thomas Blondelle has worked with conductors such as Simon Rattle, Alan Gilbert, Marc Albrecht, Marco Armiliato, Maurizio Barbacini, Paolo Carignani, Alexander Joel, Michail Jurowski, Jiri Kout, Sigiswald Kuijken, Kent Nagano, Carlo Rizzi, Donald Runnicles, Ulf Schirmer, Michael Schønwandt, Steven Sloane, Kazuki Yamada, Lothar Zagrosek and Alan Gilbert.

Find further information about Thomas Blondelle here.

Performances

• Women's love and death

photo: Simon Pauly

Soprano

Elsa Dreisig

Birthplace:
Paris, France

Studies:
Vocal performance at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“ in Leipzig

Master classes:
with Lionel Sarrazin
International Opera Studio at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin (2015 – 2017)

Prizes:
Danish Crown Prince Couple's Cultural Award 2019, “Young Opera Artist of the Year” (Copenhagen Opera Festival, 2017), “Young Artist of the Year” (Opernwelt magazine, 2016), “Best Female Singer” (International Singing Competition “Operalia”, 2016), “Révélation artiste lyrique” (Victoires de la Musique Classique, 2016), “Prix du jeune soliste 2015 des radios francophones publiques”, 1st prize and Audience prize (“Neue Stimmen” der Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2015)

Important parts:
Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice), Diane (Hippolyte et Aricie), Gretchen (Faust), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Musetta (La Bohème), Violetta (La Traviata), Natascha (Violetter Schnee), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Manon Lescaut (Manon), Micaëla (Carmen), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Elvira (I Puritani), Gilda (Rigoletto), Sifare (Mitridate)

Stages:
Staatsoper Hamburg, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Opéra de Paris, Opernhaus Zürich, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, Festival Berlioz in La Côte-Saint-André, Salzburger Festspiele, Lucerne Festival

Cooperations with directors:
Ivo van Hove, Christof Loy, Floris Visser, Laurent Pelly

Cooperations with conductors:
Daniel Barenboim, David Zinman, Sir Simon Rattle, Franz Welser-Möst, Massimo Zanetti, Fabio Luisi, Marc Minkowski

Find further information about Elsa Dreisig here.

Performances

• Manon
• Women's love and death

photo: Simon Fowler- Erato/Warner Classics

Joseph Middleton

Biography will be published shortly.

Performances

• Women's love and death