31
Oct
31
Oct
Dortmund
Royal Affairs
Konzerthaus Dortmund
Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
Pavel Baleff, conductor
Diana Damrau, soprano
Nicolas Testé, bass
5
Dec
9
Dec
Soprano Diana Damrau assumes the crowns of three different Tudor queens, the central characters in operas by Donizetti: Anne Boleyn (Anna Bolena), Mary, Queen of Scots (Maria Stuarda), and Elizabeth I (Roberto Devereux). With Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra and Chorus of Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, she performs the substantial and climactic final scene of each work. When Damrau sang Maria Stuarda at the Zurich Opera, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote: “She commands a voice that seems to have no limits. Her coloratura is stunning, her vocal range impressive, and her dynamic shadings are breath-taking. Damrau is in a class of her own.”
This exciting new album comes out on October 2. Order your copy here!
The DVD release of the 2019 New Year’s Eve Gala from Berlin features Diana Damrau in a Broadway inspired evening. It also marked her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker, led by Kirill Petrenko. It is currently available for purchase on Amazon Germany.
The program included overtures to Gershwin’s Girl Crazy and An American in Paris, Bernstein’s Symphonic dances from West Side Story, and Weill’s Lady in the Dark Symphonic Nocturne, featuring Ms. Damrau in Rodgers “If I loved you” from Carousel, Bernstein’s “I feel pretty” from West Side Story, Weill’s “Foolish Heart” from One Touch of Venus, Sondheim’s “Send in the clowns” from A little Night Music and Arlen’s “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz.
“For me, Strauss is one of the greatest composers,” Diana Damrau has said. “The way he handles the soprano voice is a joy. And to be able to sing his music with my voice feels like coming home.” The centrepiece of this album of Strauss songs is the sublime Vier letzte Lieder, in which Damrau – born and trained in Bavaria – joins forces with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and its long-standing Chief Conductor Mariss Jansons, in what was to become his final recording. Her partner in a tempting and diverse selection of songs with piano is Helmut Deutsch. “Not only is Strauss’s music gorgeous,” says Damrau, “there’s the way he combines words and notes – and the psychology.”
Stream on IDAGIO
Sep 26, 2021
Diana Damrau reprises her Lieder and Spanish songs program on October 12 at Wigmore Hall, with pianist Maciej Pikulski by her side on this occasion. For her second recital at the Opéra National de Bordeaux on October 17, Helmut Deutsch will accompany her once again.
Sep 17, 2021
Diana Damrau joins Nicolas Testé once again in a tour of their Royal Affairs program, in which they sing arias and duets by Kings and Queens in opera. They start on September 25 at Antwerp’s Koningin Elisabethzaal, going on to the Festival der Nationen in Bad Wörishofen on October 2, the Dmitry Hvorostovsky Festival on October 24, and singing the last concert of the tour on October 31 at the Konzerthaus Dortmund. Pavel Baleff leads both the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester.
Sep 7, 2021
Edit: Due to illness, Ms. Damrau has sadly had to withdraw from this performance.
The inaugural concert of the Opéra de Paris will take place at Palais Garnier on September 22 and feature an anthology of opera excerpts. Diana Damrau will sing two characters she’s never sung before: she’ll sing the Marschallin in the Act III trio and final duet of Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier with Sabine Devieilhe as Sophie and Ekaterina Gubanova as Octavian, and Alice in the final scene from Verdi’s Falstaff, with Gerald Finley in the title role, Sabine Devieilhe as Nanetta, Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur as Meg, Clémentine Margaine as Quickly, Matthew Polenzani as Fenton, Tobias Westman as Bardolfo, Kiup Lee as Dr. Cajus, Timothée Varon as Ford and Aaron Pendleton as Pistola.
“[...]Damrau’s vocal delicacy, [is] able to open a phrase with a delicate crescendo, while often ending them with soft holds as if she were embracing the syllables to the fullest.”
– Operawire
Soprano Diana Damrau has been performing on the world’s leading opera and concert stages for two decades. Her vast repertoire spans both lyric soprano and coloratura roles including the title roles in Lucia di Lammermoor (La Scala, Bavarian State Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House), Manon (Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera) and La Traviata (La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Opéra national de Paris and Bavarian State Opera) as well as Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte (Metropolitan Opera, Salzburg Festival, Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera House, Bavarian State Opera).
Invested as Kammersängerin of the Bavarian State Opera (2007) and holder of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art (2010), Diana Damrau has forged close links with the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich where she has been seen in new productions of Lucia di Lammermoor, Les contes d’Hoffmann (the four heroines), Ariadne on Naxos (Zerbinetta), The Silent Woman (Aminta), Die Zauberflöte (Queen of the Night) and Rigoletto (Gilda). Other high profile appearances have included La Traviata (Violetta), Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Konstanze) as well as Le Nozze di Figaro (Susanna and Contessa d’Almaviva).
