CONDUCTOR

Philippe Auguin

PRODUCTION

Otto Schenk

SET DESIGNER Günther Schneider-Siemssen

COSTUME DESIGNER

Milena Canonero

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Gil Wechsler

STAGE DIRECTOR

Stephen Pickover

Richard Strauss

Arabella

GENERAL MANAGER

Peter Gelb

MUSIC DIRECTOR

James Levine

PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR

Fabio Luisi

Lyric comedy in three actsLibretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal

Friday, April 11, 2014, 7:30–11:15 pm

The production of Arabella was made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Michael Falk

The 55th Metropolitan Opera performance of

Friday, April 11, 2014, 7:30–11:15 pm

Richard Strauss’s

Arabella

2013–14 Season

in order of vocal appearance

ConductorPhilippe Auguin

A fortune teller Victoria Livengood

Countess Adelaide Waldner Catherine Wyn-Rogers

Zdenka, her daughter Juliane Banse

Matteo, a young officer Roberto Saccà

Arabella, Zdenka’s sister Malin Byström

Count Elemer Brian Jagde

Count Waldner, a retired captain Martin Winkler

A waiter Mark Schowalter

Mandryka Michael Volle

Welko Mark Persing

Count Dominik Alexey Lavrov*

Count Lamoral Keith Miller

The Fiakermilli Audrey Luna

Djura Jeffrey Mosher

Jankel Timothy Breese Miller

Cardplayers Scott Dispensa Seth Malkin Earle Patriarco

* Member of the

Lindemann Young Artist

Development Program

Yamaha. Celebrating 25 Years

as the Official Piano

of the Metropolitan Opera.

Latecomers will not be

admitted during the

performance.

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Met TitlesTo activate, press the red button to the right of the screen in front of your seat and follow the instructions provided. To turn off the display, press the red button once again. If you have questions please ask an usher at intermission.

Chorus Master Donald PalumboMusical Preparation Donna Racik, John Keenan,

Dan Saunders, and Jonathan KellyAssistant Stage Director Gina LapinskiPrompter Donna RacikMet Titles Christopher BergenGerman Coach Marianne Barrett Scenery, properties, and electrical props constructed and

painted in Metropolitan Opera ShopsCostumes executed by Metropolitan Opera

Costume DepartmentWigs and Makeup executed by Metropolitan Opera

Wig and Makeup DepartmentLadies’ millinery by Gary Brouwer of

Eaves Brooks CostumesMen’s hats by Richard TautkusUniforms by Lambert Hofer, Vienna, AustriaFurs by Alexander and Sons

Arabella is performed by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., publisher and copyright owner.

This performance is made possible in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.

Before the performance begins, please switch off cell phones and other electronic devices.

Malin Byström in the title role of Strauss’s Arabella

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A scene from Madama Butterfly2013–14 season

e Metropolitan Opera is pleased to salute Bank of America in recognition of its generous support during the 2013–14 season.

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Act IIn the Waldners’ hotel suite, Countess Adelaide von Waldner consults a fortune teller about the family’s financial crisis. The cards predict a rich marriage for their beautiful daughter Arabella, which would get the family out of debt, but the fortune teller sees danger from a second daughter. Adelaide admits that their

“son,” “Zdenko,” who has been warding off creditors at the door, is in fact a girl, Zdenka, who has been brought up as a boy to save the family the ruinous expense of introducing two daughters into society. Adelaide and the fortune teller leave and Zdenka, alone, laments the family’s situation. She fears they will have to leave Vienna and she will never see Matteo again, a young lieutenant and one of her sister’s suitors with whom Zdenka has fallen in love. To keep him happy, she has been writing him love letters in Arabella’s hand. Suddenly Matteo appears and asks his best friend, “Zdenko,” to help him win Arabella—otherwise he will shoot himself. Then he rushes off, leaving Zdenka desperate.

Arabella returns from a walk to find presents from her three other suitors, Counts Elemer, Dominik, and Lamoral. Although Zdenka loves Matteo, she begs her sister to favor him so he will not be heartbroken. Arabella replies that the right man for her hasn’t appeared yet—she knows that once he does, she’ll recognize him. Elemer arrives to invite Arabella for a sleigh ride. Before she goes off to change, she notices a stranger outside the window whom she had seen earlier that morning. The two girls leave as Count Waldner enters and tells his wife that as a last resort he has sent a photograph of Arabella to a rich old friend and fellow officer, Mandryka, hoping he would marry her. A few moments later Mandryka himself is announced—in fact, not the old Croatian friend, who has died, but his nephew and heir. The younger Mandryka has fallen in love with Arabella’s portrait and sold one of his forests in Slavonia to come to Vienna and ask for her hand. He lends the stunned Waldner some money, then leaves with the promise of an introduction later in the day. Waldner sets off to gamble with his newfound wealth. Matteo returns and Zdenka promises him she will have another letter from

Vienna, 1860

Act I A drawing room in a Vienna Hotel

Intermission (aT APPROXIMATELY 8:40 PM)

Act II Foyer to a public ballroom

Intermission (aT APPROXIMATELY 10:00 PM)

Act III A lobby in the hotel

Synopsis

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Synopsis CONTINUED

her sister that evening at the Coachmen’s Ball. Arabella, alone, reflects on the decision as to which suitor she will choose, her thoughts turning to the stranger she saw in the street. When Zdenka returns, the sisters go off to their sleigh ride.

Act IIIn the foyer of the ballroom, Waldner introduces Arabella to Mandryka, who turns out to be her fascinating stranger. Their meeting begins awkwardly as Mandryka, not used to Viennese society, feels he doesn’t find the right words, but Arabella is instantly attracted by his honest and straightforward manner—it is love at first sight. Mandryka tells of his young wife who died, of his lands, and the Slavonian custom of a girl pledging her engagement by presenting her future husband with a glass of water. Arabella returns his declaration of love but asks for one last evening to bid farewell to her girlhood. The coachmen’s mascot, the Fiakermilli, enters accompanied by her admirers and names Arabella queen of the ball. Mandryka orders champagne for everyone and steps aside as Arabella bids goodbye to Dominik, Elemer, and Lamoral. Meanwhile Matteo pleads desperately with Zdenka for some sign of Arabella’s professed love. Zdenka presses a key into his hands, telling him it opens the door next to Arabella’s bedroom, and that Arabella will meet him there later this evening. Mandryka, who has overheard the conversation, is appalled. Furious, he orders more champagne, drinks recklessly, and flirts with the Fiakermilli. Waldner appears, demanding to know what’s going on, and Adelaide explains that Arabella has gone home. Assuming there must be some sort of misunderstanding, Waldner convinces Mandryka to return with him to the hotel at once.

Act IIIArabella enters the hotel lobby, dreamily thinking about her future life. Matteo, who has just spent some time in a dark room with someone he thought was Arabella, is amazed to find her there and can’t make sense of her cool cordiality. Mandryka arrives with the Waldners. Recognizing Matteo as the person who was given the key, he is convinced of Arabella’s betrayal despite her protestations of innocence. His behavior leads Waldner to demand satisfaction. Suddenly Zdenka comes running down the stairs in a nightgown. Overcome with shame, she confesses she gave herself to Matteo to avert a worse disaster. While her shocked parents forgive her, Matteo happily realizes that something hadn’t been adding up from the beginning and that he is in love with Zdenka. Mandryka, though mortally ashamed, quickly takes charge of the situation and asks Waldner for Zdenka’s hand on Matteo’s behalf. As the others retire to their quarters, Arabella asks Mandryka to have his servant bring a glass of water to her room. Left alone and unable to forgive himself for his lack of trust in Arabella, Mandryka despondently wonders how she feels about him now that she left without even saying goodnight. As he is about to leave, Arabella appears at the top of the stairs, water glass in hand. She forgives Mandryka, and they renew their promise of love.

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Richard Strauss

Arabella

In Focus

Premiere: Dresden State Opera, 1933The romantic comedy Arabella was the final collaboration of Richard Strauss and his great librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It tells the story of an impoverished noble family in mid 19th century Vienna trying to function on a tight budget in a changing world. The parents hope to marry one daughter, the title character, to a wealthy suitor while raising her younger sister, Zdenka, as a boy to save money. While certain elements of operatic farce are present (including class issues and gender disguise), there is a sober atmosphere about the work. The second act, for example, takes place at a ball—but rather than a fantasy of an aristocratic utopia, it’s a “coachman’s ball.” The issues of transformation—emotional, spiritual, psychological—that Strauss portrayed so powerfully in extreme terms in his earlier operas become, in Arabella, universal. The work is a simple romance with a mundane domestic setting, but its characters’ journeys are as moving and affecting in their own way as in, say, the highly symbolic Die Frau ohne Schatten. Arabella herself—honest, pure, well-meaning—is one of opera’s most appealing and believable characters. The setting of “Old Vienna” is quite different from that in the same authors’ Der Rosenkavalier: the nostalgia of the earlier opera is mythical and self-consciously anachronistic; in Arabella, it is frank and without irony.

The CreatorsRichard Strauss (1864–1949) composed an impressive body of orchestral works and songs before turning to opera. After two early failures, Salome (1905) caused a theatrical sensation, and the balance of his long career was largely dedicated to the stage. His next opera, Elektra (1909), was his first collaboration with Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874–1929), a partnership that became one of the most remarkable in theater history. Hofmannsthal emerged as an author and poet within the fervent intellectual atmosphere of Vienna at the turn of the last century. Their personalities were very different—Hofmannsthal enjoyed the world of abstract ideas, while Strauss was famously simple in his tastes—which makes their collaboration all the more extraordinary.

The SettingArabella is set in Vienna around 1860. The historical moment that drives the plot is the situation of a fading landed gentry attempting to keep up appearances while somewhat adrift in the modern urban melting pot.

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The MusicThe score of Arabella is beautiful and charming, with a wealth of lyrical melody perfectly attuned to the demands of the story and characters. Arabella’s love interest, Mandryka, is one of Strauss’s great baritone roles: his music, as his character, is straightforward, with excursions into the bumptious (the end of Act II and the beginning of Act III, when he thinks himself mocked by the jaded city dwellers) and conversely into the lyrical (later in Act III when he seeks forgiveness for his earlier behavior). However, it is Strauss’s most exalted domains—his writing for the soprano voice and for the orchestra—that are magnificently apparent throughout this score. The title character’s introspective soliloquy that ends Act I is a rich and evocative portrayal of a person’s calm yet profound internal monologue. Arabella’s Act I duet with Zdenka (also a soprano) is among the finest for this voice type in the repertoire. Beyond its ravishing beauty, it conveys a sense of wistful melancholy that represents Strauss’s human insight at its best. It is also one of the moments in the score that makes use of a Balkan folk melody. Another such instance appears when Arabella meets Mandryka at the ball, and further development of this idea is heard in her Act III musings about the married life in her future. Act II contains bright dance music as well as vocal display in the character of the Fiakermilli, written for a coloratura soprano as an artistic recreation of yodeling. The orchestra creates unforgettable effects, nowhere more notable than in the touching final scene, in which the listener is transported into a musical experience of forgiveness, wisdom, and the burgeoning of true love.

Arabella at the MetThe U.S. premiere of Arabella took place at the Met in 1955, in an English-language production directed by Herbert Graf and conducted by Rudolf Kempe. Eleanor Steber sang the title role, opposite George London, Hilde Güden, and Roberta Peters. Swiss soprano Lisa della Casa made 16 notable appearances as Arabella in this production between 1957 and 1965, and Anneliese Rothenberger appeared 12 times as Zdenka in the same period. The current production by Otto Schenk premiered in 1983, with the work presented in German for the first time at the Met. Erich Leinsdorf conducted Kiri Te Kanawa in the title role, Bernd Weikl as Mandryka, and Kathleen Battle as Zdenka. Christian Thielemann led eight performances in 1994, including the Met debut of Natalie Dessay as the Fiakermilli. The most recent revival in 2001 starred Renée Fleming as Arabella, Barbara Bonney as Zdenka, and Hans-Joachim Ketelsen as Mandryka, with Christoph Eschenbach conducting in his Met debut.

In Focus CONTINUED

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Program Note

It is fortunate for posterity that Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss had little personal contact and, during the many years of their artistic collaboration, conducted virtually all their business by letter. Their extensive

correspondence allows us to watch, with an intimacy rarely granted to outsiders, the tortuous process of creation that resulted in so much fascinating work. In these letters we can follow with exceptional clarity the development of Arabella, first produced at the Dresden Opera in 1933 and, because of the poet’s untimely death four years earlier, their final work together.

The essential features of the Strauss-Hofmannsthal collaboration were established right at the beginning of the partnership. In 1906 Strauss persuaded Hofmannsthal to adapt one of his plays into a libretto. During the course of his labors, Hofmannsthal found himself acceding over and over again to Strauss’s demands for various changes. Tedious as this must have been to him, Elektra, the opera that resulted from their joint efforts, proved that Strauss’s instincts had been correct. As Hofmannsthal discovered, often to his chagrin, those instincts remained in all essentials correct during the remaining years of their collaboration.

While Hofmannsthal—fastidious, complex, touchy, self-protective—admired the scope of Strauss’s musical talent, he found the composer intolerably coarse in sensibility from the beginning of their professional relationship, and was slow to acknowledge Strauss’s superior sense of theatrical effectiveness. Even as late as 1927, when the pair were finishing up their work on Die Ägyptische Helena, their fifth opera, Hofmannsthal was ever ready to explode at what he took to be the more insensitive of Strauss’s demands for changes.

But by the time they began to make some headway with the project that was to become Arabella, Hofmannsthal had learned to control his impatience better, to assert himself whenever he thought his ideas superior to Strauss’s but to do so in a more flexible and productive way than before. “I am by no means annoyed by your letters and suggestions,” he replied to Strauss when asked for greater liveliness in the action of Arabella, “they are, on the contrary, of real service to me.” Some of his old scorn flashed out in response to the composer’s suggestion that what they might use in the second act of Arabella was “a colossal ballet” based on South Slav folk tunes. “By now,” Hofmannsthal responded acidly, “I have come to regret my premature description which has led your fantasy, busy and active as it is, along the wrong track.” But such reactions were by then rare.

Strauss took Hofmannsthal’s rebuke in good humor, but he continued to ask, in his own sometimes insensitive way, for what he most needed: characters about whom he could care, diverse and interesting situations, a drama, not of metaphysical speculation, but of down-to-earth situations. Though intrigued by many features of Hofmannsthal’s evolving libretto, as time went on the composer

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Program Note CONTINUED

felt that something fundamental was lacking. Only after much thought and uncertainty did he realize that the difficulty was central and concerned the heroine herself, whom, as he wrote to Hofmannsthal, he suddenly found, “altogether too flat and psychologically insignificant.” Directed to the source of the trouble, Hofmannsthal was able to proceed, if not more smoothly than before, at least more purposefully, and after a great deal more work he was finally able to bring Acts II and III into focus in a way that met with the composer’s approval.

Through Strauss’s insistence, Hofmannsthal could at last discover the destiny of the figures whom he had found haunting his imagination so many months before, when he first developed the idea for Arabella. These characters derived mainly from Lucidor, a short story he had outlined years earlier. The most important of them were a pair of sisters—Arabella, the elder one, as Hofmannsthal wrote to Strauss, “dazzling,” and Lucile, the younger, “softer and more humble”—balanced by a pair of suitors. One of these men, who figured in Lucidor, had lost his heart to the older sister, who, however, did not return his love. Instead, he was loved in secret by the younger sister (who, for reasons of familial expediency, was dressed by her widowed mother as a boy, under the name Lucidor). Lucile/Lucidor wrote letters to the suitor in Arabella’s name and arranged an assignation in a dark bedroom, in which she took her sister’s place. The other suitor, at first a Tyrolean, half peasant, half gentleman, soon began to turn into a character “from a half-alien world (Croatia), half-buffo and yet a grand fellow, capable of deep feelings, wild and gentle, almost daemonic…” From the beginning, Hofmannsthal pictured the first as a high tenor and the second as a baritone. They would eventually be called Matteo and Mandryka, and the younger sister became Zdenka.

Now that the last two acts had found their true shape, both Strauss and Hofmannsthal understood for the first time what became of the story’s protagonists. There remained the task of discovering the springs of their behavior, the psychology and traits of character that lead them to behave in the way that had been marked out for them. The collaborators knew their characters’ destiny—now they had to find out exactly who they were.

At the beginning of July 1929, almost two years after the idea of Arabella first surfaced, Hofmannsthal sent the composer a completely reconceived first act, much simpler in action than any of the earlier versions, and showing, in Hofmannsthal’s words, “the character of Arabella more definitely in the center.” But even then Strauss was not satisfied: still missing was a monologue for Arabella herself, something introspective and lyrical with which to bring down the curtain on Act I.

In part, no doubt, the composer was influenced by his lifelong love affair with the soprano voice, for him the most expressive as well as sensuous of all the musical means as his disposal. In Der Rosenkavalier, the first Strauss-

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Hofmannsthal collaboration to be based on an original libretto, the psychological understanding communicated to the audience by the Marschallin’s monologue at the close of Act I irradiates the rest of the opera. The same could be done for Arabella, Strauss believed, and he asked his librettist for a “great contemplative solo scene” with which the heroine might end the first act. Strauss’s music rose magnificently to the opportunities offered by Hofmannsthal’s lines, beginning

“Mein Elemer!,” and the essential features of the heroine’s character remain with us throughout the events that follow—above all, the idealism and purity of soul that make her yearn, not merely for a husband, but for a soulmate.

A particularly fascinating aspect of the final collaboration of these two complementary geniuses is that Strauss’s insistence on using elements of popular theater lends the work its psychological complexity. It was the composer, for example, who suggested that Mandryka should overhear the assignation given to Matteo by Zdenka in her sister’s name. Only through Hofmannsthal’s gift for language could Strauss find the long-breathed lyricism that would transfigure his heroine, her sister, and her suitor into such memorable creatures. And only through Strauss’s sense of theater could Hofmannsthal discover the true nature of his characters’ inner lives.

—Dale Harris

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The Cast

this season Madama Butterfly and Arabella at the Met, Tristan und Isolde and Die Zauberflöte for Washington National Opera, La Bohème and Tosca for the Vienna State Opera.met appearances Tosca, Die Frau ohne Schatten, La Bohème, Lohengrin, and Doktor Faust (debut, 2001).career highlights He is music director of Washington National Opera and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, and in recent seasons in Washington has conducted Don Giovanni, Manon Lescaut, Nabucco, Così fan tutte, Lucia di Lammermoor, Salome, and Götterdämmerung. He has also led Die Tote Stadt and La Forza del Destino at the Vienna State Opera, Tannhäuser for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, La Traviata for Opera Australia, Manon at Buenos Aires’s Teatro Colón, and has conducted at all the leading German opera houses including those of Munich, Dresden, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Stuttgart. Orchestral engagements include appearances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Dresden Staatskapelle, and London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

this season Zdenka in Arabella for her debut at the Met, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus with Lyric Opera of Chicago, and concerts with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and a US tour with the Vienna Philharmonic.career highlights The German-born soprano made her stage debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Berlin’s Komische Oper, and has sung the title role in the world premiere of Heinz Holliger’s Snow White and Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Zurich, the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro for her debut at the Salzburg Festival, Leonore in Fidelio at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, and Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito and the Daughter in Hindemith’s Cardillac at the Vienna State Opera.

Philippe Auguinconductor (nice, france)

Juliane Bansesoprano (zurich, switzerland)

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this season The title role of Arabella at the Met, the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro in Geneva, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera, and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Covent Garden.met appearances Marguerite in Faust (debut, 2011).career highlights Recent performances include the title role of Thaïs at Valencia’s Palau de les Artes, Marguerite and Fiordiligi at Covent Garden, the Countess at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and Amelia in Simon Boccanegra at the Göteborg Opera. She has also sung Romilda in Serse with Stockholm’s Royal Opera, Mathilde in Guillaume Tell in concert in Rome and London, Hélène in Les Vêpres Siciliennes in Geneva, Donna Anna for her 2011 Salzburg Festival debut, Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow in Montpellier, the Countess and Marguerite with the Göteborg Opera, Agathe in Der Freischütz in Bregenz, Amalia in I Masnadieri at Covent Garden, Musetta in La Bohème in Mannheim and Bregenz, and Fiordiligi and the title role of Massenet’s Manon with Opera North.

this season The Fiakermilli in Arabella at the Met, the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute with the Pittsburgh Opera, the title role of Lakmé for her debut with Opéra de Montréal, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos with Virginia Opera, and Madame Mao in Adams’s Nixon in China with Ireland’s Wide Open Opera.met performances Ariel in Thomas Adès’s The Tempest, Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos, and the Queen of the Night (debut, 2010).career highlights Recent performances include Ariel with the Quebec Opera and in concert with Rome’s Santa Cecilia Orchestra, the Queen of the Night with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Madame Mao with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and her Carnegie Hall debut in George Crumb’s Star Child with the American Symphony Orchestra. She has also sung the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Naples, Venus in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre in concert with the New York Philharmonic, Gilda in Rigoletto with San Antonio Opera, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Memphis, and the Queen of the Night with the Rome Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Pittsburgh Opera.

Malin Byströmsoprano (helsingborg, sweden)

Audrey Lunasoprano (salem, oregon)

The Cast CONTINUED

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this season Adelaide in Arabella for her debut at the Met, Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia for her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival, and Micah in Handel’s Samson at Boston’s Symphony Hall with Harry Christophers and the Period Instrument Orchestra and Choir.career highlights Recent performances include Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Verbier Festival, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, and Mrs. Sedley in Peter Grimes at the Aldeburgh Festival and for her debut at La Scala. She has also sung Erda and Waltraute in Wagner’s Ring cycle in Valencia and Florence, Sosostris in Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage with Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Magdalene in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Cornelia in Giulio Cesare, Genéviève in Pelléas et Mélisande, Auntie in Peter Grimes, First Norn in Götterdämmerung, and Erda in Das Rheingold and Siegfried at Covent Garden. She has also appeared at English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Houston Grand Opera, and at the Salzburg Festival.

this season Matteo in Arabella for his debut at the Met, Walther in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Zurich, the title role of Lohengrin in Düsseldorf, and Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos at Covent Garden.career highlights He has recently sung Don José in Carmen at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bacchus in Hamburg, the title role of Idomeneo in Frankfurt, and Walther in Amsterdam and at the Salzburg Festival. He has also sung the title role of Werther at the Vienna State Opera, the title role of Peter Grimes in Düsseldorf, Alexei in Prokofiev’s The Gambler at Covent Garden, Walter in Weinberg’s The Passenger at the Bregenz Festival, and the title role of Pfitzner’s Palestrina in Hamburg and Zurich. Additional performances include Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with the Dallas Opera, the title role of Lucio Silla at the Salzburg Festival and in Venice, the Duke in Rigoletto in Turin, and Alfredo in La Traviata at Tokyo’s New National Theatre.

Catherine Wyn-Rogersmezzo-soprano (chesterfield, england)

Roberto Saccàtenor (sendenhorst, germany)

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this season Mandryka in Arabella for his debut at the Met, Montfort in Les Vêpres Siciliennes at Covent Garden, the title role of Der Fliegende Holländer with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de Perles and Rodrigo in Don Carlo in Zurich, and the title role of Guillaume Tell at the Munich Festival.career highlights From 2007 to 2012 he was a member of Munich’s Bavarian State Opera where he has sung Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, Amfortas in Parsifal, and the title roles of Wozzeck and Eugene Onegin. From 1999 to 2007 he was a member of the Zurich Opera where his new productions included Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Eugene Onegin, Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande, Barak in Die Frau ohne Schatten, Wolfram in Tannhäuser, and Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. He has also appeared at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Paris Opera, and the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals.

this season Waldner in Arabella for his debut at the Met, Orest in Elektra in Warsaw, and Alberich in Wagner’s Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festival.career highlights Klingsor in Parsifal in Stockholm, Stuttgart, and Tallinn, Alberich in Bucharest and for his 2013 debut at the Bayreuth Festival, the title role in the world premiere of Lera Auerbach’s Gogol at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, Nekrotzar in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre at Berlin’s Komische Oper, the title role of Wozzeck in Graz, and Simone in Zemlinsky’s Florentine Tragedy in Lyon. He has been a member of the Vienna Volksoper since 2009, where his roles include Don Pizarro in Fidelio, Dr. Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, the title role of Gianni Schicchi, Frank in Die Fledermaus, Kaspar in Der Freischütz, and Kecal in The Bartered Bride.

Michael Vollebaritone (freudenstadt, germany)

Martin Winklerbass-baritone (bregenz, austria)