Musical highlights at Dresden’s Semperoper One of the most opulent pieces in the history of music turns 100 years old since its premiere. A major work of programme music, it was ‘dedicated in gratitude to the Royal Chapel in Dresden’ by Richard Strauss, and the composer himself conducted the premiere of the Alpine Symphony at the then Dresdner Hofkapelle on 28 October 1915 in Berlin. TEXT & PHOTOS: SEMPEROPER DRESDEN | TRANSLATION: EMMIE COLLINGE
To commemorate the anniversary of this symphonic poem, it will be performed under the musical direction of Christian Thielemann on 21 October 2015 at Dresden’s Semperoper as part of this year’s ‘Richard Strauss Festival’, once more recollecting the tight bonds between the composer and Dresden’s Opera and its musicians. Not insignificantly, nine of Richard Strauss’s operas staged their premieres at Dresden’s Opera. The special concert with the Sächsische Staatskapelle will be flanked by two rather contradictory Strauss operas – namely, Elektra (16 and 22 October 2015) and Arabella (17 and 24 October 2015), which testify to the broad spectrum of his musical creations. These will feature outstanding soloists such as Iréne Theorin, Camilla Nylund, Waltraud Meier, Anne
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Schwanewilms, Genia Kühmeier, Bo Skovhus and Kurt Rydl. A concert matinee with the great Soile Isokoski will close the festival on 25 October. The following spring will delight fans of Baroque music, as March’s ‘Baroque Days 2016’ unite Händel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto (18, 22 and 24 March 2016), Alcina (19, 25 and 27 March 2016) and Orlando (26 March 2016) from the Semperoper’s repertoire along with concerts by the Sächsische Staatskapelle and a concert matinee with the young countertenor Valer Sabadus (27 March 2016). Guests of the festival include the conductors Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alessandro De Marchi, Christopher Moulds and, at the Palm Sunday Concerts (20 and 21 March), Reinhard Goebel, all of whom
are veritable experts on baroque music, as well as the vocalistsVeronica Cangemi, Serena Malfi, Sonia Prina and David Hansen amongst others. For both the Richard Strauss Festival 2015 and the ‘Baroque Days 2016’, ticket packages will be available for special rates, with reductions of 20 per cent and 50 per cent on the regular price. www.semperoper.de Main image: Alcina Above: Arabella Orlando Elektra Below: Thielemann Christian