July 20, 2024, 20:00
Great Hall
Gala Concert. Most Beautiful Opera Arias
Artists:
Aleksandrs Antoņenko, tenor
Inga Kalna, soprano
Dorothee Bienert (Germany), mezzo-soprano
Vittorio De Campo (Italy), bass
Jūrmala Festival Orchestra
Conductor Andriy Yurkevych (Ukraine)
Jūrmala Festival will close on 20 July with a Gala Concert featuring the most beautiful operatic arias. The concert will feature tenor Aleksandrs Antoņenko, soprano Inga Kalna, German mezzo-soprano Dorothee Bienert, and Italian bass Vittorio De Campo, with Andriy Yurkevych from Ukraine at the conductor’s chair.
The world-renowned Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antoņenko has been an Honorary Artist of Jūrmala Festival since its inception in 2015, while the performance of Inga Kalna, the owner of an outstanding soprano voice that is in demand in Europe, is always a welcome event in Latvia. The promising German mezzo-soprano Dorothee Bienert has already given several concerts in Latvia, entertaining audiences in several programmes, while the winner of the Audience Award at the 2022 Belvedere Singing Competition, Italian bass Vittorio De Campo, is currently singing leading roles in opera theatres in Italy and around the world. Andriy Yurkevych is an opera conductor with an international career – he has conducted performances at renowned theatres such as the Vienna State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and La Monnaie Royal Opera in Belgium.
The gala concert will feature a selection of arias and duets from well-known and lesser-known Italian bel canto, romantic and verismo operas, as well as extracts from the sparkling operettas of Johann Strauss and Franz Lehár. We will hear dramatic arias from the operas of Giuseppe Verdi – Don Carlos, and Luisa Miller, and virtuoso coloratura pieces from the operas of Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti. Giacomo Puccini, the verismo composer of moving melodies, will be represented by excerpts from his beloved operas La Boheme, Turandot, Madama Butterfly and Manon Lescaut. The programme includes arias from operas by Amilcare Ponchielli and Francesco Cilea, as well as the celebration of life and elegance of the waltz with excerpts from Johann Strauss’s The Bat and Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow.
Approximate duration: 2 hours 30 minutes
Aleksandrs Antoņenko
TenorThe most prominent Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antoņenko has conquered the world's most famous opera-theatres and concert halls over the last ten years, performing nearly 30 roles for tenors. Since 2004, he has become the most internationally renowned Latvian tenor, who has successfully debuted in Berlin's operas, Dresden Semperoper, Oslo and Stockholm Royal Opera, Geneva, Paris, Rome and Munich Opera Houses, Vienna State Opera, London Covent Garden and New York's Metropolitan Opera House. Led by conductor Riccardo Mutti, Antoņenko’s debut as Otello in the prestigious Salzburg Festival in 2008 was a tremendous success. A year later, he successfully debuted at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, where A. Antonenko now returns regularly, playing the leading tenor roles.
Jūrmala festival orchestra
Andriy Yurkevych
ConductorAndriy Yurkevych (Ukraine) is the music director of the Prague Opera, which is part of the Czech National Theatre. Born in Zboriv (Ukraine), graduated in Orchestral Conducting in 1999 at the Lyssenko Musical Academy of Lviv (Ukraine), department Orchestral Conducting, under the guidance of Yuriy Lutsiv. Since 1996 he has been resident conductor at the National Opera Krushelnytska in Lviv where he made his debut in several operas and ballets. In 2002 Andriy Yurkevych moves to Italy and since that time he continues his career abroad. Sometimes he returns to Ukraine for special creative projects.
Inga Kalna
SopranoInga Kalna is a bright interpreter of baroque, classicism and, in recent years, romantic repertoire, which is in demand in Europe. Her soprano is rich and colorful, her coloratura technique is amazing, her sense of style is precise and competent. As a freelance artist, Inga Kalna performs at Hamburg State Opera, Vienna State Opera, Paris National Opera, Brussels La Monnaie, Milan La Scala, Salzburg Festival and other prestigious concert venues and festivals. Inga Kalna's repertoire includes the lyrical soprano parts, chamber music and extended works of almost all operas by the most prominent Western European composers, including the sacred works of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Berlioz, Verdi and Mahler's Fourth Symphony.
Dorothee Bienert
Mezzo-sopranoBorn in Oldenburg, she has been a permanent member of the ensemble at the Landestheater Detmold since the 21/22 season.
Vittorio De Campo
BassVittorio De Campo studied opera singing while completing his economics studies at the Università degli Studi Milano-Bicocca. He made his debut on the opera stage in 2017 as “Sciarrone” in Tosca at the Puccini Torre del Lago Festival and in the following years worked there with artists such as director Giancarlo del Monaco and fellow singers such as Maria Guleghina and Jose Cura. In 2020 he appeared in a concert at the Auditorio Nacional de Musica in Madrid. The following year he sang Beethoven's 9th Symphony there and in the Teatro Real as well as in Zaragoza.