Anja Harteros

After Tristan und Isolde (2016), Parsifal (2017) and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (2018) this is the fourth installment of the exclusive, multiyear partnership between Deutsche Grammophon and the Bayreuth Festival, in which the Yellow Label is the exclusive audiovisual partner of the mythical Wagner festival, releasing each edition's new production on Blu-ray. This year, we are proud to release on Blu-ray the celebrated production of Lohengrin which was premiered on 25 July 2018, featuring an illustrious cast including Piotr Beczala and Anja Harteros in their house debuts, as well as the acclaimed return of Waltraud Meier to the Bayreuth Festival. The New York Times praised Piotr Beczala’s Lohengrin as “outstanding”, Anja Harteros [making] her impressive Bayreuth debut” as Elsa, and Ortrud “played with dominant presence by the incomparable Waltraud Meier”.

Tosca, una de las óperas más representativas de Giacomo Puccini, llega ahora a los cines desde el Salzburg Easter Festival. La soprano alemana Anja Harteros brilla en el papel protagonista de Floria Tosca, mientras Aleksandrs Antonenko retrata a Cavaradossi de manera contundente, y Ludovic Tézier se convierte en un excitante malvado Scarpia.

Anja Harteros excels in the title role of Michael Sturminger’s cinematic staging of Puccini’s “Tosca”, the centrepiece of Salzburg Easter Festival. Aleksandrs Antoņenko compellingly portrays Cavaradossi, while Ludovic Tézier is a thrillingly malevolent Scarpia. Christian Thielemann leads the Staatskapelle Dresden. “Tosca” is a political thriller with a heart-breaking love story that gives a vivid account of the harassment of artists, political persecution, torture and arbitrary executions. In Salzburg it is set in the Mafiosi world of modern day Rome and is “the perfect thriller … reminiscent of Scorsese’s ‘Goodfellas’” (Kleine Zeitung), a “film noir”

Like an outcry the elemental force of the orchestra shatters the silence, the storm on the coast of Cyprus rages incessantly. The wind whips, lightening cuts through the roaring skies. As Othello, the great general and commander becomes entangled in Iago's web of machinations; as the calamitous seed of jealousy germinates and Othello's love for his wife Desdemona begins to decay, even on their wedding day; as Desdemona, "nevertheless insists, although she senses or feels that this harm comes her way, and that Othello in his jealousy is really capable of killing her" (Amélie Niermeyer) – with his Otello Verdi created an operatic drama, the likes of which had never before been so tight, so direct, so intensive and so beautiful, and still today unmatched.

En abril de 2017, un gran ojo brilló sobre el escenario del Festival de Pascua de Salzburgo. Formaba parte de la reconstrucción de la ópera de Wagner "Die Walküre", que Herbert von Karajan había desarrollado él mismo para Salzburgo 50 años antes. Con motivo del aniversario de esta actuación legendaria, la élite de Wagner de nuestro tiempo se reunió para recrear la visión del teatro musical de Karajan de 1967 bajo la dirección de Christian Thielemann. Contigo. a. Georg Zeppenfeld, Anja Harteros, Peter Seiffert, Anja Kampe y Vitalij Kowaljow no dejaron nada que desear en términos de voz, y Christian Thielemann es el director que generalmente se dice que se acerca más al antiguo concepto de sonido de Karajan en la actualidad.

El nuevo "Ballo in maschera" de Munich ha recibido muchos elogios de la crítica: "Esta producción muestra lo que puede ser una ópera utopía" (Abendzeitung). Diez años después de dejar el cargo de director musical de la Ópera Estatal de Baviera, Zubin Mehta regresó a Múnich en marzo de 2016 para celebrar su 80 cumpleaños dirigiendo la obra maestra de Verdi por primera vez en una producción escénica. Su elenco cuenta con algunos de los mejores cantantes de Verdi de la actualidad: la soprano Anja Harteros, quien canta Amelia por primera vez y 'llenando cada nota con intensidad verdiana', el tenor Piotr Beczala como un 'Riccardo visual y vocalmente elegante' y George Petean como un 'ejemplar'. Renato (Neue Musikzeitung). En la nueva producción súper sensible del director Johannes Erath, esta historia histórica de amor ilícito, conspiración y traición se desarrolla de una manera surrealista, escenario sombrío transformado por iluminación y proyecciones.

El Festspiel-Saison en el Festspielhaus Baden-Baden culminó con Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel, Anja Harteros y Ekaterina Gubanova en el escenario de esta magnífica gala de ópera. La gala presentó una diversa gama de arias solistas y dúos. Entre los aspectos más destacados, se incluyeron obras de 'Tosca' de Puccini, 'Otello' de Verdi y 'Cavalleria rusticana' de Mascagni. Sony Classical se complace en ver que este concierto final de la Gala de la Ópera cobra vida en este lanzamiento en DVD y Blu-ray, imprescindible para cualquier fanático de la ópera.

La Forza del Destino es una de las óperas más irregulares de Giuseppe Verdi. En ella hay páginas excelsas, entre las mejores que jamás escribiera, junto con otras de menor calidad. Entre las primeras hay que destacar los espléndidos dúos de tenor y barítono, el aria de Leonora y la mejor de todas ellas para quien esto escribe: La vergine degli angeli, que siempre estaría entre las composiciones que yo me llevaría a una isla desierta. Entre las mediocres están las que Verdi compuso para las escenas en las que aparecen Preziosilla y Melitone. No me atrevo a decir qué haría yo con esta ópera para así evitar levantar las iras de mis amigos más puristas.

Dresden y la Staatskapelle Dresden tienen una relación especial con Richard Strauss. Muchas de sus composiciones tuvieron su estreno mundial en Dresden y el compositor dedicó An Alpine Symphony a la orquesta de Dresden. El programa incluye Four Last Songs, Ernster Gesang de Wolfgang Rihm y el estreno en Alemania de la última canción completa de Strauss “Mallows” en una versión orquestal, arreglada específicamente para Dresden por Wolfgang Rihm.

Verdi wrote this five act opera with a French Libretto for the Paris opera. Premiere 1867. Then there are three versions of this opera, the French 1867 version, the revised Italian four Act Don Carlo 1884, plus the Modena version 1886. This version is the 1884 version with Act One reinstated, as well as the original beginning of Act 2. To complicate matters the French opera was simply translated into Italian, and then the changes were made. There is an even newer edition completed in 1980 by Ricordi, and others floating around as well.

This is an exhilarating experience both visually and aurally. How wonderful that Barenboim is havng such success with Verdi this late in his career.The excitement and power is there in all the big movements and the tempi shouldn't upset anyone. There is clarity and drive in all the big choral fugues and the climaxes will knock your socks off. But it was the quiet moments I found most moving. The incredibly detalied camera work increases this sense of intimacy and the video quality is excellent. Really.

The setting of the opera is the enchantress Alcina's island: here by her magic powers she has created a magnificent palace in a beautiful landscape, to lure her many lovers into her power. One of these is Ruggiero, a warrior, who under Alcina's spell has forsaken his duty and his betrothed, Bradamante.

Coming just before the mature final works, Verdi's Simon Boccanegra - along with Un Ballo in Maschera, Les Vêpres Siciliennes, La Forza del Destino and Don Carlos - occupy a strange but fascinating hinterland in the career of the composer. Each of the operas, influenced by Verdi's political involvement in the Risorgimento for the reunification of Italy during the period, are very much concerned with the exercise of power, but they all rely on typically operatic conventions of bel canto and French Grand Opéra in their use of personal tragedies and unlikely twists of fate to highlight the human feelings and weaknesses that lie behind their historical dramas. Written in 1859, but revised by the composer in 1881, Piave's libretto given an uncredited reworking by Arrigo Boito, Simon Boccanegra is consequently one of the more interesting works from this period, certainly from a musical standpoint. Live from Teatro all Scala, Milan 2010.

Wagner's Lohengrin is the mythical tale of the mysterious Knight of the Grail, who appears to defend the princess Elsa - wrongly accused of the murder of her brother. Highlights of Wagner's most lyrical score include the famous Wedding March, which accompanies the marriage of Lohengrin and Elsa. Superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann ("currently the hottest tenor in opera" - The New York Times) makes his role debut in this performance from 2009 and filmed in Munich. He is joined by German soprano Anja Harteros - a former winner of the prestigious Cardiff Singer Of The World competition.

Mozart's opera telling the story of the King of Crete who returns from Troy to find his his son in love with the daughter of the slain Paris, King of Troy. Conducted by Sir Roger Norrington and performed by Ramon Vargas, Magdalena Kozena, Anja Harteros and Ekaterina Siurina.