Opening of NCPA Opera Festival 2012
Venue
Dates
Duration
Approximate 145 mins (Intermission Included)About
Synopsis
Conductor
Artist
Presenter
A ghost ship that can never make port, doomed to sail the oceans forever. After storms and high seas, true love arrives. Der Fliegende Hollander represents the beginning of Wager's artistic maturity and marks his first step towards the creation of 'Music Drama'. Based on Scandinavian folklore Wagner wrote this magnificent and romantic mythical opera inspired by his own stormy sea crossing experience. Both the music and libretto were written by the maestro himself. Since its premiere, Der Fliegende Hollander has always been one of Wagner's most performed operas, attributing greatly to its gloomy and magical texture that mixes with relaxing and elegant touches occasionally, its composition method that fuses human voice perfectly with orchestral music, its story of intertwined love and fate, and its profound philosophical theme of sacrifice and redemption.
As the opening program of the NCPA Opera Festival 2012, Der Fliegende Hollander marks NCPA's first Wagner production. The year 2013 will witness the 200th anniversary of the birth of Wagner, and NCPA takes the initiative to delicate this production to the commemoration of the great composer. In the production of Der Fliegende Hollander, NCPA sticks to the advanced internationalization production idea of gathering top-notch artists worldwide, as it always does. The production team is a premium lineup led by extremely talented opera conductor Gian-Carlo del Monaco. All main characters are sung by outstanding artists who have rich experience in performing German and Austrian operas. The stage, combining realistic and imaginary representation, is on a par with the best 3D magical epic films: the spooky ghost ship and high-tech application of veiling, silk, and 12 large projection screens create lifelike scenes of roaring waves and violent winds on the sea. With the magnificent music, the opera emanates a supernatural force, carrying the audiences to experience vividly the misery and despair of the Dutchman who sails across oceans and belongs nowhere, and his compassion and calmness after he is redeemed by pure love and all turbulence and sufferings are gone.
An eerie and frightful ship with red sail and black mast is floating on the boundless ocean as the captain, a Dutchman, is cursed by a demon to lead a vagrant life on the sea until meets a woman who is truly in love with him and willing to sacrifice for him when he is allowed to go on shore every seven years.
The time for the Dutchman reaching land comes again after another seven years. He lands on the shore of Norway and the captain Daland's beautiful and kind-hearted daughter Senta have heard the legend of the Dutchman since she was little. Gradually sympathy develops into burgeoning love. She believes that she can offer him the unperishing love and make him free from curse. However, a young man named Erik falls in love with Santa and his confession of love to her is accidentally overheard by the Dutchman. Thinking that he will be abandoned again, the Dutchman resolutely takes off in deep grief and desperation. Senta hastily runs after him but is stopped by Erik, Daland and other bystanders. At this moment, the captain pours out his life story to make her quit out of fear, but this lovely and faithful girl swears to love him till death. She fiercely breaks away from the people restrained her, and jumps off the cliff into the ocean, stretching out her arms toward the Dutchman. His ship sinks in surging waves. Amidst the sound of current and sunset glow, the figures of Senta and the Dutchman embrace each other and emerge from the ocean.
Richard Wagner had strong interest in drama since childhood, and he watched Der Freischtitz conducted by Webber. In addition, he was also interested in reading literary classics. Beethoven and Shakespeare exerted the biggest impact on him in his early exposure to music. These two masters helped him pursue both music and drama. In Germany, a cradle of philosophy thinking and famous philosophers, Richard Wagner drew on German folk music and cultural traditions, but also was ideologically influenced by time-honored German philosophy. Schopenhauer's philosophy thinking helped him find the corresponding theory in echo with his creation, thereby allowing him to have a deeper understanding of his own works.
When following the creation traditions of German and Austrian operas, Richard Wagner gave full play to the comprehensive characteristics of opera art, and integrated profound thoughts into opera art to originate Music Drama, a unique type in terms of the form and content throughout opera history. The so-called "Music Drama" refers to an integrated art form created by Richard Wagner with reference to his understanding of the holidays of ancient Greece, which integrates music, dance and stage art in one. His musical dramas, such as Tristan and Isolde, open up a new realm for the development of German and Austrian operas. Compared with the traditional operas, such "Music Drama" works embody unique theatrical and musical art philosophy. In the creation course of these works, Richard Wagner adhered to the principle of Drama First, achieved organic integration of music and other art forms, and set foot on the need of drama performance rather than merely express the music. Brahms commented as follows: "Long after the death of Richard Wagner, no wonderful works are created. All the other things are temporarily overshadowed by his significance. No one will immediately understand his significance and give him due appraisal."
Treasures, left by Richard Wagner for future generations, are more than well-known music works. With his world view and philosophy as backbone and with music, literature and all the available arts as brick, he built ideal art gallery. Richard Wagner realized incredible goal which seemed too ambitious and idealistic in the opinion of most people. Romain Roland ever commented that: "He is a great model in the drama world. He suppresses those frivolous games and non-sense episodes in the plays, and only concentrates on innermost life and animated soul. Therefore, he is our master".
His versatility led him to perform collaborations in all areas at the highest levels like the State television, to have daily collaborations with artists like Dario Fo, Tonino Guerra, Mietta Corli, Hugo de Ana, Nicolas Joel, Ezio Frigerio, Josep Maria Flotats, Lindsay Kemp, Pier'Alli, Gianni Quaranta, Raffaele Curi, Lluis Pasqual, José Carlos Plaza, Tito Egurza, Margherita Palli, Luca Ronconi, William Landi, Peter Stein, Vladimir Vasiliev and many others passing from international conferences until the Theatre which he has a very special feeling.
In over a decade of successful career he has made over 360 productions and he has worked with major opera theatres around the world.
During this time he was a soloist and second chorus-master in one of the famous Bulgaian Choirs "Madrigal", or "Kammerchor Sofia". With this choir he participated 10 years in the "Bregenzer Festspielen" in Austria; Festival of Sydney in Australia; Avignon in France (Der fliegende Hollander with Jose van Dam as Hollander); many concerts and opera performances in Europe - France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and many CD & TV recordings.
For three years (1990-1993), Mr. Vassilev has been teaching young conductors and leads the Student Choir at the National Music Academy in Sofia. Since 1993 he lives in Switzerland and is a Chorus master and Soloist in Theater Biel Solothurn. Besides, he is a Chorus master at the "Oper Schenkenberg" (Carmen 2010, Il Trovatore 2013) and at "Sommeroper Selzach" (Tales of Hoffmann 2012). He also participated at many Festivals - in the botanical garden Basel (Les Brigands, La Cenerentola, Die verkaufte Braut), Oper auf der St. Petersinsel (Mozart and Rousseau), Open air Solothurn. Mr. Vassilev teaches singing, piano and music theory and sings at concerts as a soloist.
Mr. Vassilev has worked with several conductors like Fabio Luisi, Pinchas Steinberg, Marc Soustrot, Sylvain Cambreling, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Marc Tardue and many others; and Regisseurs: Jerome Savary, Harry Kupfer, David Pountney, Dieter Kaegi, Bruno Berger-Gorski, Anette Leistenschneider etc. In September 2010, the Choir of the Theater Biel Solothurn with his leader Mr. Valentin Vassilev has received an honor for special cultural achievements to the city of Biel, Switzerland.Eva Johansson is a frequent guest at Opera companies such as the Wiener Staatsoper, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Semperoper in Dresden, the Staatstheater Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, at the Royal Opera of Covent Garden in London, the Opera Bastille and Opera Garnier in Paris, the opera houses of Nice, Genf, Sevilla, Madrid, Stockholm, Oslo, Tel Aviv, the Liceo in Barcelona and also at the Metropolitan Opera of New York or Japan. She has sung under the baton of conductors like C. Abbado, W. Sawallisch, B. Haitink, J. Levine, D. Barenboim, M. Janowski, C. Thielemann and P. Schneider.
At the Bayreuth Festival Eva Johansson sang Elsa in Lohengrin and Freia in Das Rheingold from 1988 - 1993. With her highly praised debut of Senta in Der Fliegende Hollander in a new production in Frankfurt in October 1999, Eva Johansson added another role of the dramatic Fach.
In autumn 2000 she opened the season of Los Angeles Music Centre together with Placido Domingo in Die Walkure and Sieglinde with Valerie Gjergjiev conducting. In autumn 2001 she gave her sensational debut as Salome. In spring 2002 she was debuting Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio in a new production at the Berlin Deutsche Oper followed by taking the main part in Ariadne, in summer 2002 Isolde in Tristan und Isolde in Venice, Fidelio in San Diego in 2003 and Kaiserin in Frau Ohne Schatten in Madrid.
Her debut at the Zurich opera house in December 2003 with the title role of Elektra, directed by Kuseji and under the baton of Mo. von Dohnanyi was such a great success that Zurich decided for a revival in the following year.
The 2009/2010 season included his very acclaimed debut as Alberich (Rheingold) at Oper Leipzig, Hauptmann (Wozzeck by Gurrlitt) at Lucerne Festival, Telramund in Lohengrin at Teatro Massimo Palermo, debut as Jochanaan (Salmoe by R. Strauss),Orest (Elektra by R.Strauss) in Teatro Comunale di Modena, Teatro Municipale Piacenza, Teatro Comunale di Ferrara and Teatro Comunale Bolzano, Wanderer (Siegfried) at Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, Papageno and Hollander (Der Fliegender Hollaender) at Tyrolean Festival, a role which he will sing in 2012 in his Montreal debut.
Thomas Gazheli was born in Karlsruhe, where he began his musical education as trumpet- and violinplayer. He studied singing at the Hochschule Frankfurt am Main with Prof. Maclane-Lanier and completed his studies with Prof. Josef Metternich in Munich. During his studies in Frankfurt Donald Runnicles engaged him as a soloist at the Stadtische Buhnen Freiburg, followed by engagements at Theater Basel and Staatstheater am Gartnerplatz Munich, where he was a member until 2007 and where he sang a wide and varied repertoire as a principal baritone.
Thomas Gazheli is also known as concert singer with a broad concert repertoire - he sang at the Philharmonie Berlin, Musikvereinssaal Vienna, Philharmonie Koln, Musikhalle Hamburg, Brucknerhaus Linz, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Philharmonie Munich, Herkulessaal and was invited for several seasons to perform with Haydn Orchestra Bolzano.
He gave his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York in 1986/87 in the role of Landgraf in Tannhauser under the musical direction of James Levine. Since then he sang Gurnemanz, Fasolt, Daland, Gremin and Philipp at the Met. His first engagement at the Bavarian State opera he had in 1982 as Geisterbote in Die Frau Ohne Schatten. Since then he sang almost all big bass-roles of the Mozart- (Sarastro, Commendatore) and Wagner-repertoire (Pogner, Fasolt, Gurnemanz, Landgraf, Hans Sachs, Daland) and some roles of the Italian repertoire as well (Fiesco in Simone Boccanegra, Banquo in Macbeth).
Jan-Hendrik Rootering is also a well known and prevalent concert singer. He regularly gives concerts with the Berlin - and Vienna Philharmonics, Symphony orchestra of the Bayerische Rundfunk, the Royal Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestra and he worked with conductors like Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Carlo Maria Giulini, Carlos Kleiber, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Christian Thielemann.
His extensive discography includes recordings of Der Fliegende Hollander, Parsifal, Luisa Miller, and Oedipus Rex (Stravinsky) with James Levine, Don Giovanni with Rafael Kubelik, and Riccardo Muti, respectively, Mozart Requiem under Sir Colin Davis, Haydn's Creation under Sir Neville Marriner, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 under Leonard Bernstein as well as Wolfgang Sawallisch, Mahler's Symphony No. 8 and Schumann's Faust-Szenen with Claudio Abbado. The recording of Das Rheigold conducted by James Levine with Jan-Hendrik Rootering singing "Fasolt", won a Grammy Award. Other recordings feature Jan-Hendrik Rootering with song recitals (Songs by R. Strauss, H. Wolf, R. Schumann and the Balladen by Carl Loewe as well as Die Winterreise).
In the 2010-11 season Gong Dongjian reprised his performance of the role of Abbot Fa Hai in Zhou Long's Madame White Snake with the Beijing Music Festival, a role which he originated for the work's world premiere with Opera Boston. Recently Mr. Gong performed the role of Philip II in Verdi's Don Carlo with Hawaii Opera Theatre. Other recent engagements include performances of Timur in Turandot with Opera Hong Kong, the leading role in Cong Su's World in Mercury Light with the Berliner Festspiele, the role of the Emperor in Tan Dun's Tea at the New Zealand International Arts Festival, and Zhuang Zhou in Qu Xiao-song's Cleaving the Coffin with the Zeitgenossische Oper Berlin.
Opera highlights include Colline in La boheme with the Vienna Staatsoper; Ramfis in Aida with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Seattle Opera, and Oper der Stadt Koln; Procida in I vespri Siciliani with Opera de Nice; Zaccaria in Nabucco with the Opera de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and Vancouver Opera; the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos with Opera de Lyon; Philip II in Don Carlos with Kentucky Opera; Giorgio in I puritani with Opera Malaga; Sparafucile in Rigoletto with the Bilbao Opera; and Timur in Turandot with Opera Company of Philadelphia. He has also performed the Bonze in Madama Butterfly with the Dallas Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and Cincinnati Opera; Colline in La boheme with New York City Opera; Nourabad in Les Pechêurs de perles with Calgary Opera; and Oroveso in Norma with Opera Memphis.Especially sought after for Italian spinto roles that include Don Alvaro in La Forza del Destino, Otello in Otello, Radames in Aida, Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut and Calaf in Turandot, Mr. Webb has applied the same dynamic intensity and interpretative skill to a growing German tenor repertoire. Appearing as Erik in Der Fliegende Hollander, Lohengrin in Lohengrin, Walter in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg and Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, he continues to engage and enthrall audiences around the world with what has been described as his "powerful and passionate" performances.
Following his dramatic mid-performance Metropolitan Opera debut as Manrico in Il Trovatore during the 2008-2009 Season, Mr. Webb returned as the First Armed Man in Die Zauberflote, Calaf in Turandot and Erik in Der Fliegende Hollander in 2009-2010. That same season, he also joined the Opera National de Lorraine in the title role in Otello and reprised his much heralded portrayal of Radames in Aida on the floating stage at the Bregenz Festival where he appeared in nine performances of it the year before.
His operatic repertoire exceeds 60 roles including Calaf in Turandot, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Don Jose in Carmen, Riccardo in Masked Ball, Radames in Aida, Duke in Rigoletto, Alfredo in La Traviata, Don Carlos, Romeo and Juliet, Faust, Werther, and many others.
He holds a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music in New York City. In 2008, Mok was awarded Cavaliere dell 'Ordine della Stella della Solitarita' Italiana (Knight of the Star of Solidarity of Italy) from the Government of Italy, and Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Government (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters), both awards honoring his contribution to bring the cultural exchanges between Hong Kong, Italy & France.
She got a scholarship from the German Academy and studied from 1994 to 1997 at the Hamburg Music High School. She finished her studies successfully with an examine in concert-singing. Beside universal studies she took lessons from the prestigious musicologist and singing teacher Ellio Battaglia in Italy.
She did win the First Prize in these singing contests: Anton Dvorak Singing Competition in Karlsbad/Tschien, Robert Stolz International Vienna Operetta Competition in Hamburg, Special Prize 'The Young Talent' in Helsinki, and International Singing Contest in Palermo, Sicily.
After her debut as Mimi in Puccini's La boheme, she sung the part of Hannah Glavari in The Merry Widow at the Opera of Rostock, Germany and changed 1999 from soprano to mezzo-soprano. As mezzo-soprano she gave performances at the opera houses of Darmstadt and Passau in Germany, at the Volksoper in Vienna, where she was permanently appointed, in Monte Carlo, Seoul, Osaka, Sevilla and Palermo. Together with the ensemble of the Italian Opera di Milano she went on tour and performed the part of Azucena from Verdi's Il Travatoure in several European main capitals.
Helena Zubanovich occupies the dramatic mezzosopran parts with roles like Amneris from Aida, Santuzza from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Azucena from Il Travatoure, Ulricka from Un Ballo in Maschera, Maddalena from Rigoletto, Princess Eboli, the witch from Rusalka, the Mother from Offenbach's Il Comte de Hoffman as well as Tchaikovsky's Jean d'arc , where she sings the main part.
China NCPA Orchestra keeps an international standard for its arts quality and management. The musicians are from various countries and regions, and most of them have experience from working or studying in Europe or North America. Many artists have worked with this orchestra, including Maestro Lorin Maazel, Maestro Christoph Eschenbach, and soloists such as Stephen Kovacevich, Wang Yuja, Han-Na Chang, Leo Nucci, etc. Maestro Lorin Maazel has appeared with the orchestra in several operas and concerts, in his view it is 'an excellent, hard-working orchestra with great passion.' The orchestra keeps close working relationships with Maestro Maazel and Maestro Eschenbach.
In 2011, China NCPA Orchestra has won acclaim for its performances in NCPA's new productions of Tosca, The Barber of Seville, Die Fledermaus, and a newly composed opera The Chinese Orphan. At the same time, the orchestra was also deeply involved in NCPA's 2011 Gustav Mahler Cycle. Under the batons of maestros including Christoph Eschenbach, Yoel Levi and Jun Maerkl, the orchestra performed Mahler's Symphonies No. 1, 2, 3, 8 and 10. In this year the orchestra has also performed two concerts of contemporary music, with works from Takemitsu, Giya Kancheli, and a group of young Chinese composers. Mr. Kancheli himself attended the concert featuring his work.
Devoted to educational and outreach activities, China NCPA Orchestra has presented a series of Weekend Matinee Concerts since its establishment. With specially selected repertoire, performances of high quality and extremely low ticket prices, these concerts have won great acclaim from both audience and critics.
In 2012, China NCPA Orchestra will perform in NCPA's productions of The Flying Dutchman and Lohengrin. A notable list of artists including Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Roger Norrington, Yan Pascal Tortelier, and Rudolf Buchbinder will perform with the orchestra for the first time, and Maestro Christoph Eschenbach will also return to give multiple concerts. Various tours are also under preparation currently.
NCPA aims to build a world-class orchestra with operation and management conforming to global practices while incorporating Chinese characteristics.
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Dedicated to the staging of epic operas, ballets and dance dramas, the golden Opera House is considered the centerpiece of the NCPA. Its main tone is golden color, which looks glamorous and splendid. In the auditorium are the stalls and three higher levels of balconies, which can seat an audience of 2,207, including the venue of SRO. It is equipped with a modern stage that can be moved up/down/backward/forward or rotated, a ballet stage that can slant, and a rising orchestra pit for the triple winds orchestra. All the cutting-edge staging mechanism provides artists with enormous possibilities of creative performance.
Dedicated to the staging of epic operas, ballets and dance dramas, the golden Opera House is considered the centerpiece of the NCPA. Its main tone is golden color, which looks glamorous and splendid. In the auditorium are the stalls and three higher levels of balconies, which can seat an audience of 2,207, including the venue of SRO. It is equipped with a modern stage that can be moved up/down/backward/forward or rotated, a ballet stage that can slant, and a rising orchestra pit for the triple winds orchestra. All the cutting-edge staging mechanism provides artists with enormous possibilities of creative performance.