Eva Maria Westbroek

Leading director Richard Jones staged his witty, darkly comic realization of Gianni Schicchi for The Royal Opera in 2007. The production was revived in 2012 and here he completes the trio with two new productions of Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica. Antonio Pappano conducts an acclaimed cast including Eva-Maria Westbroek, Ermonela Jaho, Lucio Gallo, Elena Zilio and rising star Francesco Demuro. “A triumph…three wonderfully directed and expertly acted productions. Add in Pappano's impeccable conducting and his valuable introductions to the pieces, and you have a nigh-on ideal Trittico.” BBC Music Magazine

Shostakovich's musically brilliant and ingeniously panoramic opera about love, lust, power and oppression is fabulously well played by the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mariss Jansons in this authoritative production. Stage director Martin Kusej builds on formidable musical strengths to forge a relentless drama that explores with emotional conviction the shadowy, layered boundaries between victims and perpetrators. First-rate protagonist Eva-Maria Westbroek is phenomenal in her gripping interpretation of Katarina, compelling the entire cast, including the choir, to almost unbearable realism in their portrayal of timeless human weaknesses.

Andrea Chénier presents a fictionalized account of the last years of the French poet André Chénier, guillotined during the Reign of Terror in 1794. It is the greatest of Giordano’s operas and shows why Puccini sometimes feared Giordano as a rival. Taking the starring role of Chénier, with its three marvellous arias, is Jonas Kaufmann. Soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek sings the role of Chénier’s beloved Maddalena and baritone Željko Lučić stars as Carlo Gérard – the servant-turned-revolutionary who is Chénier’s rival for the love of Maddalena. David McVicar brings Giordano’s thrilling historical drama back to the Royal Opera House for the first time since 1985 in a stunning new production.

Nikolaus Lehnhoff's Hollywood-style production updates Belasco's Wild West, perfectly reflecting Puccini's innovatory spirit. In a new angle on the age-old love triangle theme, corrupt Sheriff Jack Rance (Lucio Gallo) and charismatic criminal Dick Johnson (Zoran Todorovich) vie for the love of glamorous blonde and devout Christian Minnie (Eva-Maria Westbroek), finding her way in a man's world. Carlo Rizzi's idiomatic conducting draws excellent singing from a large cast and fine playing from the Nederlands Philharmonic Orchestra.

With Richard Strauss’ Elektra, the Salzburg Festival delivers a thoroughly impressive new production that the Vienna daily Kurier calls the “best new opera production of 2010”. Reaping acclaim are the top-quality vocalists as well as the mighty stage set and the sensitive direction of Nikolaus Lehnhoff. Portraying Elektra is Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin, who injects astonishing dramatic power into her role. “Impressive in every respect”, wrote the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about her role debut here. Internationally acclaimed Wagner singer Waltraud Meier also gives her spectacular, commanding stage debut here as Klytämnestra. They are complemented by an outstanding Eva-Maria Westbroek as Chrysothemis, and a forceful René Pape as Orest. Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s many years of experience on the world’s greatest stages are clearly visible in his direction of the singers: moving about a sinister, forbidding set bathed in suggestively changing lighting, the vocalists are treated as stage actors, whose expressive gestures are captured with particular vividness and immediacy by the camera. Leading the Wiener Philharmoniker is Daniele Gatti. Alternating between late 19th-century lyricism and early 20th-century excess, he clearly emphasizes the dual conflicts at the heart of the work.

Jonas Kaufmann has taken care in his professional choices not to be pigeonholed and has successfully tackled roles in German, French, and Italian operas ranging from Monteverdi and Mozart to Schoenberg and world premieres, as well as singing lieder and symphonic works. These verismo arias show off Kaufmann's mastery of this repertoire and his ease in bringing an authentically Italianate sensibility to this music.

The most famous, the most performed, the most thrilling, and the most recorded opera cycle in music history. Filmed at the world-famous Metropolitan Opera House in New York, in high definition – the award winning Robert Lepage production. Featuring Bryn Terfel as Wotan – universally recognized as the finest bass-baritone – and Wotan – of his generation. Also starring Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde, and star tenor Jonas Kaufmann as Siegmund.

Jonas Kaufmann returns to the Italian verismo tradition to sing arias that define opera's most passionate and vulnerable leading men. Kaufmann's international reputation is soaring as, going from strength to strength, he delivers consistently thrilling performances. The onyx-dark beauty of his tone and the refinement and unexpected insights of his delivery mark Jonas Kaufmann a poet of tenors. Timed to coincide with his role debut as Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur at Covent Garden opposite Angela Gheorghiu, this disc includes excerpts from the Cilea work that helped put Caruso on the map. This album also entices with rarities from Zandonai's dramatic Giulietta e Romeo and Puccini's Le Villi. Supporting Jonas Kaufmann is Italy's leading symphonic orchestra, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, under its dynamic music director Antonio Pappano. Both maestro and orchestra are utterly at home in this repertoire.

Recorded live at the Bayreuth Festival in 2008, this production stars a host of international stars including Michelle Breedt, Albert Dohmen, Stephen Gould, Hans-Peter Konig, Linda Watson & Eva-Maria Westbroek. Christian Thielemann, one of the most sought-after conductors in the world, takes the baton with the Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra.

Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921) - Anniversary Edition (2012) {8CDs Set Etcetera KTC1435}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.12 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.22 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 483 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2012 Etcetera Records | KTC1435
Classical / Orchestral / Vocals / Dutch

2012 is the 150th anniversary of Diepenbrock’s birth in Amsterdam. Also, it is 100 years since he was acclaimed as the most important Dutch composer since Sweelinck. This definitive collection includes his many vocal compositions as well as those for stage, orchestra and Symphonic Songs.