Oper

At the finale of the "Musikfest Berlin" 2022, the musicians of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and their BigBand performed “Epitaph” as a tribute to the 100th birthday of Charles Mingus.
Under the energetic baton of Titus Engel, the musicians of the BigBand and the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Jazzinstitut Berlin explore the realms of expression of dark threat, profound songfulness, conflict and ecstasy with irrepressible joy of playing and remarkable clarity. Star trumpeter Randy Brecker lets his wonderfully clear tone soar to the highest heights. It becomes touching when Jorge Puerta sings "Freedom" with a powerful voice and the musicians hum along…

At the finale of the "Musikfest Berlin" 2022, the musicians of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and their BigBand performed “Epitaph” as a tribute to the 100th birthday of Charles Mingus.

Nico Dostal is generally regarded as one of the last masters of the operetta – yes, it is even said that along with Paul Abraham he rang in what may somewhat grandiloquently be termed this incredible genre’s „Gattungsdämmerung”, its twilight. The operetta singer in black face in Abraham’s „Die Blume von Hawai” sings the operetta’s swan song: „Bin nur ein Jonny, zieh durch die Welt, singe für Money, tanze für Geld. Heimat, dich werd ich niemals mehr sehn!” [I’m only a Jonny, travel around the world, sing for money, dance for dollars by the roll. Home, you I’ll never see again!] By contrast, Dostal’s „Clivia“ is anything but a swan song.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Christmas Eve, based on a short story by Gogol, centres on the love of the blacksmith Vakula for the rich farmer’s daughter Oksana, who mockingly requires him to obtain for her the Tsarina’s shoes in order to win her hand in marriage. However, evil spirits are on the rampage imperilling their love – a witch on her broomstick gathers the stars and the devil steals the moon. Rimsky-Korsakov blends Christian and pagan elements, Ukrainian folk songs and carols, and atmospheric orchestral interludes in this vivacious and fantastical village romance. This is the disc version of the audiovisual release on 2.110738 and NBD0154V: ‘Sebastian Weigle leads the excellent Frankfurt orchestra and chorus in a spellbinding account of Rimsky-Korsakov’s score’, wrote MusicWeb International. It also won the German Record Critics Award for Quarterly Critics Choice and was a Musicweb International ‘Recommended’ release.

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) wrote his first opera at the early age of 21, which over the next 25 years was to be followed by another seventy. From 1830 onwards his operas caught the attention of the public and remained on the programmes, which was unusual at that time. When in 1841 the sought-after opera composer was on yet another of his tours, he was approached by the manager of the Vienna Kärntnertortheater, Bartolomeo Morelli, who requested him to set Linda di Chamonix to music after a libretto by Gaetano Rossi. Donizetti, who was keen to establish himself in Vienna, having already done so in Paris and Milan, accepted the commission.