Operetta gala

Arias and duets from operettas by Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán, Robert Stolz, Johann Strauss and others

From 1. June 2020 until 5. June 2020


Music Direction:
Fabio Luisi

Fabio Luisi

Fabio Luisi hails from Genoa. He is the general music director of the Opernhaus Zürich, the principal conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and music director designate of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, a post he will take up in 2020. From 2011-2017, Fabio Luisi was principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and from 2005-2013 principal conductor of the Wiener Symphoniker, as well as general music director of the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Sächsische Staatsoper (2007-2010), artistic director and principal conductor of the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig (1999-2007), and music director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (1997-2002). With the latter, he made numerous CD recordings (Poulenc, Respighi, Mahler, Liszt, a recording of the complete symphonic works of Arthur Honegger, and Verdi’s Jérusalem und Alzira). He is music director of the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca (Apulia) and has appeared as guest conductor with numerous renowned ensembles, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, the NHK Tokio, the Münchener Philharmoniker, the Filarmonica della Scala, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam, and the Saito Kinen Orchestra, as well as with various prominent opera orchestras. He appeared at the Salzburg Festival with performances of Richard Strauss’ Die Liebe der Danae und Die Ägyptische Helena. His most important appearances at the Opernhaus Zürich include, among others, the new productions of three Bellini operas, as well as Rigoletto, Fidelio, Wozzeck and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. Important CD recordings include Verdi’s Aroldo, Bellini’s I puritani and I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and the complete symphonies of Robert Schumann, as well as the symphonies and the oratorio Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln by Franz Schmidt, the largely forgotten Austrian composer. In addition, he has recorded various symphonic poems by Richard Strauss, and a lauded reading of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3 with the Staatskapelle Dresden. His recordings of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra won Grammy awards. He received the Premio Franco Abbiati, the coveted Italian critics’ prize, in 2013, and in 2014 won the Grifo d’Oro from the city of Genoa. He was awarded the Anton Bruckner Ring by the Wiener Symphoniker, and is a Cavalier of the Italian Republic. The «Philharmonia Records» recording label, founded by the Philharmonia Zürich in 2015, has issued CD recordings of works by Berlioz, Wagner, Verdi, Rachmaninoff, Bruckner, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Frank Martin under Fabio Luisi’s musical director, as well as DVD records of Rigoletto (stage direction: Tatjana Gürbaca), Wozzeck (stage direction: Andreas Homoki), I Capuleti e i Montecchi (stage direction: Christof Loy), the Messa da Requiem (stage direction /choreography: Christian Spuck), and Das Land des Lächelns (stage direction: Andreas Homoki).

Cardillac15 / 18 / 21 / 25 Feb / 1 / 6 / 10 Mar 2026

Cast


Sopran Camilla Nylund


Tenor Piotr Beczała

Camilla Nylund

Camilla Nylund, born in Vaasa, Finland, is one of the most sought-after lyric-dramatic sopranos on the international stage. She studied at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, was a member of the ensemble at the Hanover State Opera from 1995 to 1999, and belonged to the ensemble of the Saxon State Opera in Dresden from 1999 to 2001. In 2008 she was appointed Saxon Kammersängerin, and in 2019 Austrian Kammersängerin. She received the European Culture Prize in 2022 as well as the prestigious Lotte Lehmann Memorial Ring; in 2023 she was awarded the Austrian Music Theater Prize. Guest engagements have taken her, among other places, to La Scala in Milan, the Met, the state operas in Vienna, Hamburg, Munich, and Berlin, to the New National Theatre Tokyo, the Nederlandse Opera, the Royal Opera House London, the Opéra Bastille, Bayreuth, and the Salzburg Festival. Her most important roles include Wagner’s Elisabeth ("Tannhäuser"), Elsa ("Lohengrin"), Eva ("Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg") and Senta ("Der fliegende Holländer"), as well as Strauss’s Marschallin ("Der Rosenkavalier"), Arabella, Salome, the Countess ("Capriccio"), Ariadne, and Chrysothemis ("Elektra"). At the Vienna State Opera she sang Marietta/Marie ("Die tote Stadt"), at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Marie ("Wozzeck"), and at the Berlin State Opera Jenůfa. As a concert singer and in a Lied duo with Helmut Deutsch, she has appeared at the Konzerthaus and Philharmonie in Berlin, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Vienna Musikverein and Konzerthaus, the BBC Proms, and the KKL Lucerne. At the Zurich Opera House she made role debuts as Isolde and Brünnhilde ("Walküre", "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung"), and had previously appeared there as Senta in "Der fliegende Holländer".

Recital Camilla Nylund1 Dec 2025

Piotr Beczała

Piotr Beczała zählt zu den gefragtesten Tenören unserer Zeit. Seit seinem Debüt an der Met als Duca (Rigoletto) 2006, sang er dort ausserdem Lenski (Jewgeni Onegin), den Prinzen (Rusalka), Edgardo, Rodolfo, Vaudémont (Iolanta), Riccardo, Gounods Roméo, Faust, Maurizio (Adriana Lecouvreur) und Werther sowie Des Grieux (Manon). Seine Interpretation des Duca brachte ihm 2014 den Echo Klassik als Sänger des Jahres ein. An der Scala in Mailand sang er Duca, Rodolfo und Alfredo (La traviata). Bei den Salzburger Festspielen, wo er 1997 als Tamino debütierte, feierte er als Roméo, Prinz, Rodolfo und als Faust sowie in konzertanten Aufführungen von Iolanta und Werther Erfolge. Auch als Konzert- und Liedsänger ist er weltweit gefragt. Piotr Beczała, der aus Polen stammt und seit 2012 Schweizer ist, studierte an der Musikakademie in Katowice. Er war langjähriges Ensemblemitglied am Opernhaus Zürich. Neben einer Reihe von DVDs u. a. aus dem Opernhaus Zürich umfasst seine Diskografie Soloalben wie Mein ganzes Herz, The French Collection, Salut, Verdi und Slavic. Bei den International Opera Awards 2018 wurde er zum Sänger des Jahres ausgezeichnet. 2016 debütierte er mit Lohengrin an der Seite von Anna Netrebko an der Semperoper Dresden und sang die Rolle erneut 2017 in Zürich, im Sommer 2018 bei den Bayreuther Festspielen sowie 2020 an der Wiener Staatsoper. Im Sommer 2022 gab er sein Debüt als Radamès in Aida bei den Salzburger Festspielen. In Zürich war er zuletzt als Prinz Sou-Chong in Das Land des Lächelns, als Werther, als Chevalier des Grieux in Manon, mit einem Liederabend, bei einer Operettengala und als Calàf in Turandot zu erleben.

Liederabend Piotr Beczała31 May 2026
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Abstract

Piotr Beczala’s performance of the worldwide hit «Dein ist mein ganzes Herz» (My whole heart is yours) from Franz Lehár’s operetta Das Land des Lächelns (The Land of Smiles) provoked storms of rapturous applause from Zurich audiences. There’s no question about it: ever since his CD devoted to Richard Tauber, it has been clear that Piotr Beczala and operetta are an extremely pleasing combination. The internationally celebrated tenor moves with instinctive confidence in the repertoire of so-called «light entertainment» – which, however, is anything but easy to sing if it is really taken seriously. The pieces require perfect technique, style and treatment of the language. Besides his performances as Lohengrin, Beczala can now be heard in Zurich at an operetta gala. His prominent partner will be Camilla Nylund. The Finnish singer, who is a leading lyrical-dramatic soprano, was last heard at Zurich Opera House as Senta in Richard Wagner’s Flying Dutchman. The two artists have already shared the stage on many occasions. General Music Director Fabio Luisi, for whom this evening is an affair of the heart, will be conducting the Philharmonia Zurich. The programme will feature both popular and lesser-known works from the operetta repertoire.

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