Schedule

Verdi's opera was inspired by a true historical event: the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden at a costume ball in 1792. But before setting this event to music, Verdi had to contend with the censors, scandalised by the idea of representing a regicide on stage.His Masked Ball is therefore set in America and focuses on the impossible love between Riccardo, the governor of Boston, and Amelia, the wife of his best friend, who takes his revenge by killing him.

Riccardo: Matthew Polenzani
Renato: Igor Golovatenko/Ludovic Tézier/Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar
Amelia: Anna Netrebko/Angela Meade
Ulrica: Elizabeth DeShong
Oscar: Sara Blanch

‍

Opera in Concert

As in all episodes of Ovid’s «Metamorphoses», a transformation also takes place here: After he is slain by his rival, the giant Polifemo, Acis is transformed into a gushing spring by his lover, the water nymph Galatea. The love triangle ignited the imagination of numerous artists – including the 23-year-old Händel. His Serenata is a charming miniature opera full of musical discoveries that the composer used in later works. Philippe Jaroussky, a world-famous countertenor, has additionally made a name for himself as a conductor, and for the first time here leads the Orchestra La Scintilla.

Aci: Bruno de Sá

Galatea: Elizabeth DeShong

Polifemo: Nicolas Brooymans

‍

Mozart's Requiem with Philadelphia Orchestra

A masterwork from a prodigiously gifted composer who shaped the music of his lifetime and centuries thereafter. In his Requiem, Mozart summoned all the fire and brimstone hell could hold, making ominously real the awful majesty of death and the miracle of redemption. 

Conductor: Dame Jame Glover

Soprano: Lauren Snouffer

Mezzo-soprano: Elizabeth DeShong

Tenor: David Portillo

Bass-Baritone: Brandon Cedel

Philadelphia Symphonic Choir

Richard Wagner
Siegfried Idyll (18 mins)
Interval
Richard Wagner
Excerpts from ‘Götterdämmerung’:
Waltraute’s Plea to Brünnhilde (32 mins)
Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey (8 mins)
Funeral Music (12 mins)
Immolation Scene (18 mins)

Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Anja Kampe Brünnhilde
Elizabeth DeShong Waltraute
London Symphony Orchestra

‍