IMZ MEMBER NEWS | 13
CLASART CLASSIC as Rodolfo “is a gold treasure from Canada. A real tenor!” Conducted by Michael Güttler. (101688/108088)
Richard Wagner Siegfried With Siegfried, the Scala Ring Cycle by Guy Cassiers is continued. Lance Ryan, having interpreted this role on the greatest stages of the world portrays the naïve hero. His antagonists are Peter Bronder, great and agile as Mime, Terje Stensvold, an experienced Wanderer and Johannes Martin Kränzle, who continues his mean and deceitful depiction of Alberich. The leading ladies are Nina Stemme, once again unrivalled as Brünnhilde and Anna Larsson, moving as the God-mother Erda. (101695/108092)
Recording Of Orfeo Ed Euridice Completed For the Gluck anniversary in 2014, Clasart Classic has realized a film adaption of Gluck’s first reformative work Orfeo ed Euridice starring the incomparable Bejun Mehta as Orfeo. The Baroque theatre of the Ceský Krumlov Castle provides an ideal backdrop for one of the most important operas in music history. Director Ondrej Havelka captures much more than the hauntingly beautiful music of Gluck performed by singers
on stage. He chooses a cinematic approach that literally takes us behind the scenes, into the hall, and down into dark corridors deep below the theatre. The mixture of period details and modern psychological interpretation cannot fail to grip the viewer. The immortal myth of a lover’s power to bring his beloved back to life with music assumes a new dimension here, with an ingenious depiction of Euridice’s death, and Orfeo bringing about a most unexpected ending... “Bejun Mehta is arguably the best countertenor in the world today” wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung, and in the role of Orfeo, he lends credi-
NEW PRODUCTIONS
bility to the emotions tormenting his heart. As Euridice, Austrian soprano Eva Liebau juggles joy and jealousy as the beloved who doesn’t realize just how lucky she is. Bringing comic relief to the work’s dark tone is Regula Mühlemann as Amor, who cheerily sends mortals zigzaging on their way to life, love – and, maybe, death. Co-Production partners are Unitel/ Classica, BVA, ORF, Czech Television, SVT, YLE, RSI and Arthaus Musik.