“Only one lyric tenor on the scene today has the honeyed tone and ingratiating style to make comparisons to Pavarotti and Gigli seem serious, and it is Calleja, the man from Malta.” (New Yorker) Blessed with a golden-age voice that routinely inspires comparisons to “legendary singers from earlier eras: Jussi Björling, Beniamino Gigli, even Enrico Caruso” (AP), Joseph Calleja is well-established as one of the most acclaimed and sought-after tenors today. His expansive discography and frequent appearances on the world’s leading opera and concert stages prompted NPR to hail him as “arguably today’s finest lyric tenor”.
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Piotr Beczała is one of the industry’s most sought-after performers and a constant guest in the world’s leading opera houses. The Polish-born tenor is acclaimed not only for the beauty of his voice, but also for his ardent commitment to each character he portrays. In addition to his operatic work, he has performed much of the classical vocal canon with the world’s most distinguished orchestras and maestri. In the 2024/25 season, Beczała continues to grace opera stages in a diverse array of roles. Beczała commences the season with a debut at Oman’s Royal Opera House, performing in a semi-staged production of Verdi's Un ballo in maschera. Subsequently, Beczała returns to the Metropolitan Opera, starring Radamès in Michael Mayer's spectacular new staging of Aïda. Beczała then appears at the Vienna State Opera for two iconic roles: Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca and Manrico in Il trovatore. At the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, he portrays Don José in Carmen, and later reprises his acclaimed interpretation of the titular knight Lohengrin. Beczała also brings his Lohengrin to Opernhaus Zürich and the Bayreuth Festival. Her also portraits the Prince in Dvořák's Rusalka at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and concludes his season and concludes his season at the Salzburg Festival in the title role of Andrea Chénier in concert.
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French mezzo-soprano Gaëlle Arquez is one of the most prominent rising stars of the opera world. After graduating from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, the young mezzo-soprano made her debut at the Opéra Bastille in Michael Haneke’s 2013 version of Don Giovanni (Zerlina) under the direction of Philippe Jordan. Ever since, she has been frequently invited to sing in many of the most renowned opera houses in the world. Nominated “Révélation Lyrique” at the “Victoires de la Musique 2011”, Gaëlle Arquez released her highly anticipated debut recording “Ardente Flamme” for Deutsche Grammophon in 2017.
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In times of Corona, moderator Holger Wemhoff looks inside the classic scene in the concerti classic daily podcast.
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Long recognised as one of the most innovative musicians of our time, American baritone Thomas Hampson has received countless international honours for his singular artistry and cultural leadership. His operatic repertoire is comprised of more than 80 roles, and his discography includes more than 170 albums, with multiple nominations and winners of the GRAMMY Award, Edison Award, and the Grand Prix du Disque.
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Within just a few years, Swiss soprano Regula Mühlemann has established herself as one of her generation’s most important voices. Equally at home on the operatic and concert stages, she is acclaimed by audiences and critics alike for her exceptionally beautiful timbre and sensitive performances. For her performances in the Salzburg Festival’s 2022 production of Die Zauberflote, The Telegraph hailed: "Regula Mühlemann is outstanding as a radiant Pamina."
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Praised by critics and loved by audiences for her beauty of tone and impeccable artistry, soprano Mojca Erdmann is a star in the international music scene. She is known for her broad repertoire – ranging from baroque to contemporary music – which she performs in major opera houses, festivals, and concert halls worldwide. In the 2024/25 season, Mojca Erdmann demonstrates her versatility on the concert stage. In the Pierre Boulez Saal, the soprano performs Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire and Chamber Symphony No. 1 together with the Boulez Ensemble and under the direction of Zubin Mehta to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth. On the concert stage of the Arena di Verona, Erdmann sings Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4 under the direction of Wolfram Christ before returning to the Pierre Boulez Saal. Here she sings Gustav Mahler's Rückert-Lieder in the arrangement by Philip Hefti. With conductor Adam Fischer, Mojca Erdmann makes her debut in the role of Elsa in a concert version of Wagner's Lohengrin at the Konzerthaus Copenhagen. After that, Erdmann performs a recital with Malcolm Martineau in Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao before traveling to Palermo's Teatro Politeama, where she sings Bach's St. John Passion under the direction of Lothar Koenigs. The soprano ends her season with concerts at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg: together with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra and under the direction of Kent Nagano, she sings the world premiere of Alex Nante's symphony Anahata.
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