Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Season 2011/2012: Artistic freedom for the top artists

Villazón directs and sings in “The Elixir of Love”
As part of the opera programme, Rolando Villazón will direct the Donizetti opera “L’elisir d’amore” during the 2012 Whitsun Festival (“The Elixir of Love”, premiere on 28th May 2012), concurrently taking on the roll of Nemorino in his new production of the work. Conductor Christian Thielemann will continue his Strauss series in Baden-Baden with Renée Fleming, Sophie Koch and Robert Dean-Smith. For “Ariadne auf Naxos” (premiere: 18th February 2012) the Saxon State Orchestra Dresden will sit in the Baden-Baden orchestra pit for the first time .Valery Gergiev will present a new production of the Mussorgsky opera “Boris Godunow” with his Mariinsky Ensemble (premiere: 20th July 2012).

New York City Ballet back in Germany for the first time in 31 years
In the field of ballet/dance the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden can look forward to two extremely prominent Festspielhaus debuts: The New York City Ballet will take to a German stage for the first time in 31 years (16th – 18th March 2012) – only they second time they have done so since the end of the Second World War. At the conclusion of the 2011/2012 season, the Het Nederlandse Ballet will present a gala celebrating the 80th birthday of the dance innovator Hans van Manen, and has also announced the company will perform a premiere by the dance legend (7th/8th July 2012). In keeping with tradition, the Hamburg Ballet-John Neumeier will perform as guests in Autumn (8th – 16th October 2012) and the Mariinsky Ballet St. Petersburg will return to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden during the Christmas season. On this occasion the ensemble will bring the impressive new narrative ballet “Anna Karenina” to Baden-Baden from St. Petersburg.

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Concert:Kaufmann, Garanca, Netrebko, Schrott
For the first time in the history of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, a New Year’s concert will be presented in addition to a New Year’s Eve concert, featuring performers no less renowned than those singing in the final show of the year. Latvian mezzosoprano Elina Garanča and German tenor Jonas Kaufmann will take to the stage together for the concert on 31st December 2011 at 5pm, then Anna Netrebko and her husband Erwin Schrott will launch the New Year with arias and duets at the first ever New Year’s Concert, which will be presented on Tuesday 3rd January 2012 at 8pm.

Tchaikovsky, Bach and a plea for the Kunstlied
In the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden concert programme, composers Peter Tchaikovsky and Johann Sebastian Bach play an important role. As part of the 2011 Autumn Festival, Valery Gergiev will introduce the winners of this year’s International Tchaikovsky Competition, and will complement significant solo concerti with the complete symphonies of Tchaikovsky. These concerts will be performed in two venues only - the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus and New York’s Carnegie Hall.
In 2011/2012 General Manager and Artistic Director Andreas Mölich-Zebhauser will use various programmes to present a case for the Kunstlied. Highlights include evenings such as “Songs With and Without Words” on 21st April 2012, in which performers including Ian Bostridge, Simon Keenlyside, Martin Stadtfeld and Xavier Maistre will undertake a journey into the world of the Lied. Another welcome highlight will be a rare Evening Song Recital featuring Jonas Kaufmann on 23rd April 2012.

With performances of the complete Bach Cello Suites (Mischa Maisky on 1st April 2012) and all the Brandenburg Concerti (15th April 2012), Berlin Academy for Early Music), lovers of German baroque music will certainly not be disappointed. The 2011/2012 Portrait of an Artist Series has been dedicated to Mischa Maisky, and for the first time the individual concerts will be spread over the entire season.

Great orchestras and soloists
The programme of the new Baden-Baden Festspielhaus season offers exceptional concerts featuring famous names all year round. The opening concert of the season on 6th October 2011 promises to be an evening not to be missed: Claudio Abbado will conduct the Lucerne Festival Orchestra performing works including Bruckner’s 5th Symphony. Thomas Hengelbrock will come to Baden-Baden in his capacity as the head of the NDR Symphony Orchestra for the first time (6th November 2011), Christian Thielemann will direct the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (27th April 2012), and Hélène Grimaud will perform as a soloist at a concert with the Milan La Scala Orchestra (1st July 2012). On 19th November 2011 Andris Nelsons will conduct a concert with the Concertgebouworchester Amsterdam.

The “Young Ticket” celebrates its premiere
During the press conference for the new season programme, General manager and Artistic Director Andreas Mölich-Zebhauser introduced the new Festspielhaus “Young Ticket” as a further component of his education programme. Upon presentation of valid identification, students and trainees up to the age of 26 years can purchase tickets for 10 Euros. The “Young Ticket” will be offered online for all performances in the coming season. School classes can continue to order tickets and preparation material free of charge as part of the Education Programme. Children’s music festivals based on “Peter and the Wolf” and “Percussion”, the musical fairytale “The Snow Queen” and meetings with artists for students complete the musical offerings for the young in the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

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