2014 Aix Festival : the most famous French Opera festival new edition
This year edition of the most prestigious French opera festival focuses on works composed around the end of the 18th century.
Like in Glyndebourne, Mozart has always been the center of the festival. The Magic Flute is presented in the Grand Théâtre de Provence in a new production by Simon McBurney, famous for modern and imaginative staging with video. As the Queen of the Night, after Anja Silja in the 1950s (and she still sings), Edita Gruberova in the 1980s (also still singing) and Natalie Dessay in the 1990s (well…), Albina Shagimuratova is to be heard. Mari Eriksmoen sings Pamina, Christog Fischesser Sarastro, Topi Lehtipuu Tamino, Thomas Oliemans and Josef Wagner shares the role of Papageno.
Opera stars and younger promising artists on stage !
Sarah Connolly, Patricia Petibon, Sandrine Piau and Sonia Prina sing the main parts in Haendel’s Ariodante.
Olga Peretyatko, former member of the festival’s Academy, is Fiorilla in Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia. Adrian Sâmpetrean, Pietro Spagnoli, Alessandro Corbelli and Lawrence Brownlee play the other parts.
A staged version of Schubert’s Winterreise is sung by Matthias Goerne. Markus Hinterhäuser, the next Artistic Director of the Salzburg Festival, plays the piano.
Several Bach’s cantatas are gathered under the title Trauernacht (Night of mourning).
Jean-Guihen Queyras, Valery Gergiev, Waltraud Meier, Sabine Devieilhe and young artists with deliciously long names like Léa Trommenschlager, Rupert Charlesworth or Edwige Herchenroder are parts of the concert program.
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte • CONDUCTOR: Pablo Heras-Casado • STAGE DIRECTOR: Simon McBurney • ORCHESTRA Freiburger Barockorchester
Haendel: Ariodante • CONDUCTOR: Andrea Marcon • STAGE DIRECTOR: Richard Jones • ORCHESTRA Freiburger Barockorchester
Rossini: Il Turco in Italia • CONDUCTOR: Marc Minkowski • STAGE DIRECTOR: Christopher Alden • ORCHESTRA Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble
Schubert: Winterreise • for a baritone and a piano • VIDEO CREATION: William Kentridge
Johann Sebastian Bach: Trauernacht • CONDUCTOR: Raphaël Pichon • STAGE DIRECTOR: Katie Mitchell
Rossini: La Scala di seta • semi-staged version with piano • CONDUCTOR: Francesco Pasqualetti
Rameau: Les Boréades • concert version • CONDUCTOR: Marc Minkowski
Booking for 2014 Aix Festival opens on Monday 3 February 2014, starting at 12AM.
“2014 Aix Festival” by Anh Tuan Nguyen is under terms and conditions of the licence Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 France