21C MEDIA GROUP

Already in this young season, René Pape has given a star turn as Philip II in Verdi’s Don Carlos at the Vienna State Opera and made his recital debut at La Scala in Milan. The German singer – “the world’s most charismatic bass,” according to Opera News – is currently reprising his acclaimed Wotan at the Berlin State Opera in a production of Die Walküre conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Next up, Pape returns to the U.S. for starry concerts celebrating the centennial of celebrated conductor Sir Georg Solti’s birth. The singer joins soprano Angela Gheorghiu, conductor Valery Gergiev and the World Orchestra for Peace to sing works by Mozart and Verdi at Carnegie Hall (Oct 19) and Chicago Symphony Center (Oct 21). Pape’s winter is full of his signature Wagner roles. He returns to La Scala to portray King Heinrich in Wagner’s Lohengrin, joining friend Jonas Kaufmann and frequent musical partner Barenboim (Dec 7-27). In 2013, to help mark the bicentennial of Wagner’s birth, Pape sings his great Gurnemanz in the new François Girard production of Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera, led by Daniele Gatti (Feb 15-March 8).
 
Pape’s 2011 Deutsche Grammophon album Wagner offers a preview of the marvels the singer can produce as Wotan in Die Walküre, King Heinrich in Lohengrin and Gurnemanz in Parsifal. That recording also sees the bass once again working with fellow Wagnerian master Daniel Barenboim, who conducts the Berlin Staatskapelle. The disc was featured as an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, where Arnold Whittall’s review summed up Pape’s appeal: “It's not often we hear this music so gorgeously intoned. … When it comes to sheer vocal refinement and the purest Wagnerian gravitas, René Pape is hard to beat.” Wagner won the singer his second ECHO Klassik award, the German equivalent of a Grammy, for Opera Recording of the Year. And WQXR, New York's classical station, declared the album to be “a must for any Wagnerite.”
 
 
René Pape: upcoming engagements
 
Oct 19
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall
Solti Centennial Concert (Works by Mozart & Verdi)
World Orchestra for Peace; Valery Gergiev, conductor
 
Oct 21
Chicago, IL
Symphony Center
Solti Centennial Concert (Works by Mozart & Verdi)
World Orchestra for Peace; Valery Gergiev, conductor
 
Oct 28; Nov 1, 4, 7, & 10
Berlin, Germany
Berlin State Opera
Verdi: Don Carlos (Philip II)
Massimo Zanetti, conductor
 
Nov 9
Berlin, Germany
Berlin State Opera
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Sarastro)
Alexander Soddy, conductor
 
Dec 7, 11, 14, 18, 21, & 27
Milan, Italy
Teatro alla Scala
Wagner: Lohengrin (King Heinrich)
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
 
Dec 29
Berlin, Germany
Berlin State Opera
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Sarastro)
Julien Salemkour, conductor
 
Dec 31; Jan 1
Berlin, Germany
Staatskapelle Berlin
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
 
Feb 15, 18, 21, & 27; March 2, 5, & 8
New York, NY
Metropolitan Opera
Wagner: Parsifal (Gurnemanz)
Daniele Gatti, conductor
 
 
www.renepape.com
 
www.facebook.com/pages/Rene-Pape/44768385394

 

Published: October 15, 2012

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