When a Dutch ship anchors on Kirchberg and a famous servant celebrates his wedding at the Philharmonie, two great opera evenings are in sight! Concert performances of Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro can be found on the programme this season.
Wagner composed The Flying Dutchman when he was about 30 years old. In this opera with autobiographical undertones, he illustrates an odyssey marked by sacrifice and redemption. To prevent his listeners from getting lost, the composer introduced his famous Leitmotive even during the overture, each one of them tied to a person, feeling or idea and providing musical bearings. The Luxembourg Philharmonic will be led by the exceptional young Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski, recently appointed music director at the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse; he conducted his first The Ring of the Nibelungen cycle at the age of 22.
Wagner’s storm-tossed ghostly voyage will be preceded by Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in March, a truly crazy opera night presented by
the Kammerorchester Basel under the baton of its conductor Giovanni Antonini. They are joined, among others, by Florian Boesch in the role of Count Almaviva, a regular guest at the Mozart shrine that is the Salzburg Festival. Clever servants, love intrigues, an abandoned Countess and other devious plot twists are the necessary ingredients to finally reach the safe musical harbour of marriage. Cecilia Bartoli celebrates her return to the Philharmonie in the role of the musical poet in Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice. The Salle de Musique de Chambre sees song recitals by soprano Asmik Grigorian and baritone Christian Gerhaher, who shares the stage with the violist in residence, Tabea Zimmermann. The grand finale for these vocal fireworks is the return of Diana Damrau, Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch at the piano, dedicating themselves to Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss.
Set your sails for the Philharmonie!
Anne Payot-Le Nabour
