Beethoven–Berg–Wagner

Artists of extraordinary stature will be appearing at the concert the State Opera Orchestra is scheduled to give at the Forum Karlín on 16 November 2017. In Act 1 of the opera Die Walküre by Richard Wagner (1813–1883), the part of Siegmund will be sung by Austria’s Andreas Schager, the most internationally celebrated and critically acclaimed Heldentenors of the present time. He has performed as a guest on the world’s most prestigious stages, including La Scala in Milan and at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Die Walküre, the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, depicts the inception of the mythical hero Siegfried, the progeny of the incestuous relationship between the semi-divine twins Siegmund and Sieglinde, the wife of the warrior Hunding. In Act 1, the two siblings meet for the first time and immediately feel fatefully attracted to each other. At the Prague concert, Sieglinde will be performed by Meagan Miller, a brilliant American soprano who has gained recognition as Wagner’s Elsa, Eva, Sieglinde, Senta, Isolde and Elisabeth, garnering acclaim throughout Europe and the USA. The Violin Concerto by Alban Berg (1885–1935) is a work that all first-class violinists have included in their core repertoire. The composer dedicated it “to the memory of an angel”, the untimely deceased 18-year-old Manon, the daughter of Alma Mahler. One would be hard pressed indeed to conceive of a more apt performer of the concerto than the young and glamorous Austrian violinist Lidia Baich, who has enjoyed numerous triumphs in Europe, South and North America, as well as in Asia. Our concert will open with the little-known Leonore Overture No. 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827). The composer wrote it for a performance scheduled to take place in 1807 in Prague, which ultimately failed to materialise. The piece received its premiere on 7 February 1828 in Vienna, yet Beethoven did not live to see it.

Program: – Ludwig van Beethoven: *Leonora Overture No. 1, Op. 138 * – Alban Berg: Violin Concerto – Richard Wagner: Die Walküre, Act I

Conductor: Andreas Sebastian Weiser