Singer

An absolute must: with Poro, re dell’Indie, Handel set a popular libretto to music in his inimitable way. Alexander the Great conquers India and gets embroiled in intrigues of love and murder. The opera is performed on the stage, in costume and with props and is staged by countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic, who also sings the title role. Julia Leszneva can also be seen as the tragic Queen Cleofide. Lucile Richardot in the role of Poro’s sister Erissena sings the famous lyrical aria Son confusa pastorella.

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Poro, re dell’Indie

The Concert Hall Ulrichskirche

To what lengths may a person to go to free themselves from terrible circumstances? The young Katerina, married into wealth yet lonely nonetheless, imprisoned in a mercilessly cold world dominated by men and controlled by its police force, is longing for something more. She is forced to hide her joie de vivre on account of her tyrannical father-in-law, and suppress her desires for love because her husband is impotent and distant. When he is away and the bravado Sergei starts working on the farm, she seems to have found a way out of this dull situation devoid of action. But in the end, four people are dead, including a murderess. Premiered in Leningrad in 1934, the acclaimed opera was intended to further fuel the promising career of the then 24-year-old Dmitri Shostakovich. But one visit to a performance by Stalin was enough for him to suspect the celebrated star of being a potential enemy of the regime. From then on, Shostakovich was forced to live and compose in oppressive fear. Yet where words are forbidden, his musical world simmers, sizzles and lies in wait to explode at the next touch.

Lady Macbeth von Mzensk

Oper Leipzig

Masaaki Suzuki will conduct his acclaimed his vision of the work, performed according to Bach’s partbooks, with solo singers stepping out of the choir. The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists will be integrated with the most brilliant members of a new generation of Bach singers. 

To experience a performance of the St Matthew Passion is to participate in something larger than a concert. For Bach and his congregation, this music formed part of a shared act of devotion, a way of understanding and engaging with the central message of Christianity. But the generosity of Bach’s musical imagination allows the music to resonate beyond its original context with an extraordinary humanity, bringing solace and inspiration to performers and listeners, whatever our beliefs.

Bach’s earlier musical version of the Passion of Christ, the St John, was already extravagant and ambitious by the standards of the time.  The St Matthew, composed for Leipzig in 1727, goes even further, with two choruses and two orchestras, sometimes in dialogue, sometimes in ferocious opposition, sometimes in exultant unity. Bach illuminates the complex structure of the piece with amazing inventiveness, varying the instrumentation and musical structures, interweaving the ancient chorales of his Lutheran forebears through the biblical narrative and the reflective poetry of his collaborator Picander.

“A dream cantata date for Japanese maestro and local supergroup…Here was choral and instrumental Bach performed not just with meticulous professionalism but a dash and verve that filled each movement with an infectious enthusiasm.”

Bass-baritone

Timothy Edlin

Events

Upcoming events

9 - 23 Feb, 2027

Bach: St Matthew Passion · Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras

Past events

Jun 7, 2025

Poro, re dell’Indie · Händel-Festspiele Halle

25 - 29 May, 2025

Lady Macbeth von Mzensk · Oper Leipzig

Future and recently performed repertoire

Administrator / Guardian in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich

Oper Leipzig

Singer in St Matthew Passion by Bach

Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras

Timagene in Poro by Handel

Händel-Festspiele Halle

About

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