In the summer of 2024, the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, picturesquely nestled in the natural landscape of the Alps, will present a magnificent program with top-class productions that has already been well received in advance. Among other things, the famous festival will feature an exciting new production and a multifaceted concert calendar, which will also include a very special highlight in the form of a glittering Schubertiade, which will focus on Schubert's piano sonatas.
Breathtaking opera premiere
With the new production of Peter I. Tchaikovsky's "Mazeppa", the Erl Summer Festival is bringing a gripping, incredibly exciting and musically overwhelming opera rarity to the stage of the Festspielhaus. Based on a poem by Alexander Pushkin, Tchaikovsky's score combines folk-song-like melodies, passionate arias and martial orchestral interludes to create a breathtaking sound experience. With impressive psychological sensitivity, the composer also draws multi-layered characters who increasingly lose their sense of proportion: Instead of friendship and compassion, only the law of the strongest ultimately reigns in the opera, which premiered in 1884. The dramatic plot revolves around Maria, the daughter of the landowner Kotschubei, who loves the much older General Mazeppa. After the two marry against Maria's father's wishes, a bitter power struggle ensues: Kochubei accuses Mazeppa of treason before the tsar, but is subsequently executed himself. When Maria realizes the fatal consequences of her love, she descends into madness.
Petr Sokolov © Emil Matveev
In Erl, the demanding title role of General Mazeppa will be performed by the outstanding baritone Petr Sokolov, Maria by the excellent South African soprano Nombulelo Yende, Kotschubei by the brilliant bass Alexander Roslavets and his wife Lyubov by the wonderful mezzo-soprano Helene Feldbauer from Upper Austria.
Helene Feldbauer © Helene Feldbauer
The multi-award-winning tenor Mikhail Pirogov as Andrej is also part of the ensemble. This spectacular Erler performance will be directed by the successful stage director Matthew Wild, with musical direction by Karsten Januschke - one of the greatest talents of the younger generation of conductors - and stage and costume design by the internationally renowned set designer Herbert Murauer.
This year's opera program also includes two complete "Ring" cycles with the trend-setting Erl productions of "Rheingold", "Walküre", "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung", for which director Brigitte Fassbaender, conductor Erik Nielsen and set designer Kaspar Glarner were responsible. The productions, which were acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, can be seen in the Passion Playhouse.
Top-class Schubertiade with Paul Lewis
In 1868, the painter Moritz von Schwind (1804-1871) made a drawing of a Schubertiade at Joseph von Spaun's (1788-1865). A fictitious Schubertiade, however, as Franz Schubert had already died in 1828 and Schwind had to gather together "from memory" all of the composer's friends in the picture - and in front of a portrait of Countess Caroline Esterházy (1811-1851) prominently placed on the wall - who had once come together for the Schubertiades: Immortalized here alongside Joseph von Spaun are Franz Grillparzer, Leopold Kupelwieser, Eduard von Bauernfeld, Franz von Schober and Moritz von Schwind himself, among others, who are grouped around Franz Schubert playing the piano. The interesting drawing gives an impression of the great music-historical significance of the Schubertiades, which were initiated at the beginning of the 19th century by Schubert's friends as house concerts to financially support the composer, who was often short of money. They quickly established themselves as salon highlights in Vienna - with Franz Schubert at the piano and singer friends intoning his songs.
Paul LewiPaul Lewis © UKARIA 2024s © UKARIA 2024
In summer 2024, the Tyrolean Festival will now present a Schubertiade comprising four concerts: with a highly concentrated rendition of Schubert's magnificent piano sonatas, which - once described by musicologists as "negligible" - have become a permanent part of the repertoire of the great pianists of our time. In Erl, it is the internationally acclaimed British pianist Paul Lewis who will be devoting himself to Schubert's piano sonatas in the Festspielhaus as part of this exemplary concert series. Born in 1972, Lewis, one of the leading pianists of his generation, is one of the world's outstanding interpreters of the Central European classical repertoire with his masterful cycles of the most important piano works by Schubert and Beethoven.
Musical gems with exciting discoveries
In addition to this Schubertiade, the Tyrolean Festival Erl will also be presenting other musical treasures in summer 2024. For example, the opening concert of the Tyrolean Festival Erl, conducted by Julia Jones, will set central compositions by Samuel Barber, Jean Sibelius and Gustav Mahler in a dialog with the main work of the evening, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's ingenious setting of Goethe's ballad "The First Walpurgis Night". The multi-award-winning Schumann Quartet will also be performing, as will pianist Claire Huangci and the Aris Quartet, who have put together an evening full of exciting discoveries (e.g. Fanny Hensel's magnificent String Quartet in E flat major). The wonderful Salzburg ensemble Péridot, on the other hand, is dedicated to "Mozart in Prague" and presents compositions (for example from "Don Giovanni", which premiered in Prague) that are inextricably linked to the city on the Vltava, where Mozart celebrated the greatest triumphs of his career. The unique Musicbanda Franui from East Tyrol, on the other hand, remembers in its 31st year of existence that Franz Schubert, whom it so admires, was only 31 years old and is therefore dedicating a brilliant Schubert special to the composer. Also on the program in Erl is the rousing prizewinners' concert of the Wind Academy with highly talented artists of the youngest generation. And, of course, the family concert for all generations must be mentioned, which allows audiences to experience the fascinating world of Richard Wagner's "Ring" in a playful way. Finally, a very special highlight of the program should be highlighted: The choral concert "The Great Erl Liturgy" performs international sacred music with works by Anton Bruckner, Arvo Pärt, Frank Martin and Rodion Schtschedrin as well as gospel and African songs with the powerful-voiced choir of the Tyrolean Festival Erl under Olga Yanum. Highly recommended!
July 4 to 28, 2024
www.tiroler-festspiele.at
