Europe's summer festivals offer a tremendous range of music in 2002, from
the cutting-edge contemporary works of the Holland Festival to opera
performances in the original Roman theater at Orange, France, and Wagner's own
festival at Bayreuth.
The Salzburg Festival (27 July 27–31 August) has created several themes for the next five summers. One is a renewed emphasis on Mozart as his 250th anniversary in 2006 approaches; on tap this year are Don Giovanni, starring Thomas Hampson and Magdalena Kozená, and Die Zauberflöte with Barbara Bonney and Simon Keenlyside. Salzburg also plans a new production of a Richard Strauss opera each year, starting with Die Liebe der Danaë; a return to 19th-century opera, represented (notwithstanding its actual premiere date of 1926) by Puccini's Turandot; an annual rehabilitation of works by musicians who were exiled during the Nazi regime, starting with Alexander Zemlinsky's last opera, Der König Kandaules; a featured contemporary opera composer — for 2002, Helmut Lachenmann, whose Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern is premiered; and a new dance-theater initiative. Other highlights include Mischa Maisky performing cello sonatas with pianist Martha Argerich, and Plácido Domingo, James Levine and the MET orchestra in a Wagner gala evening.
For the next three years, the Lucerne Festival (14 August–15 September) will be based around the theme of seduction, with the 2002 program focusing on dance, the Orient and man's fascination with the mysterious. Composers in residence include Pierre Boulez and Olga Neuwirth, while Alfred Brendel is this year's artiste étoile. There are five orchestras in residence: the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic.
The Swiss Alps will be alive with the sound of music at the Verbier Festival (19 July–4
August). Kiri Te Kanawa is on the roster for the first time with a song recital;
other newcomers include violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Chick Corea. Returning
festival regulars include James Levine, Kurt Masur, Evgeny Kissin (who performs
Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 and a solo recital), Stephen Kovacevich and Yuri
Bashmet. Levine will also lead the UBS Verbier Festival Youth Orchestra (made up
of 108 young musicians from 29 countries).
This year's Bayreuth Festival (25 July–28 August) features a new staging of Tannhäuser conducted by Christian Thielemann. There is no Tristan und Isolde this year, but Wagner's venerable hall hosts the complete Ring cycle led by Adam Fischer, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg conducted by Christian Thielemann and Lohengrin under Andrew Davis.
The Munich Opera Festival (27 June–31 July) showcases Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel in the title role of Verdi's Falstaff and in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, in which he plays Nick Shadow to Ian Bostridge's Tom Rakewell. Other highlights include a new production of Die Walküre, The Kafka Project (a new commission for voice and cello by Hans Jurgen von Bose) and the presentation of The Queen of Spades and Giulio Cesare on giant screens in front of the Nationaltheater.
The idyllic Norwegian town of Risør is the setting for the Risør Festival of Chamber Music
(25–30 June) under the joint directorship of pianist Leif Ove Andsnes
and violist Lars Anders Tomter. Schubert provides the main focus this year, with
Lieder, solo piano, string quartet and piano trio concerts on the
schedule. The festival maintains its commitment to 20th-century Norwegian music
by featuring works by Nils Henrik Asheim. Artists this year include Andsnes,
Tomter, the Arditti Quartet, Arcadi Volodos, Bo Skovhus and the Risør Festival
Strings.
France's oldest music festival, the Chorégies d'Orange (6 July–3 August) takes place under the stars at the ancient Roman theatre in Orange, in the south of France. Scheduled highlights include Die Zauberflöte with Myung-Whun Chung leading the Choir and Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France and a cast featuring Sumi Jo, Soile Isokoski, René Pape, Jorma Silvasti and Russell Braun; the Mozart Requiem (with soloists Luba Organasova, Magdalena Kozená, Jorma Silvasti and René Pape); a concert of French opera arias sung by Natalie Dessay; and Michel Plasson leading Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna and René Pape in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette.
Also in France, the Aix-en-Provence
Festival (1–27 July) opens with the world premiere of Le Balcon by Peter Eötvös. New
productions include Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (conducted by Daniel
Harding, directed by Peter Brook's daughter Irina Brook, and starring Olga
Guryakova, Daniil Shtoda and Peter Mattei), and
Franz Wittenbrink's A Summer Night's Dream, a pastiche of Mozart concert and
opera arias that tells the story of Shekespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Among other highlights are William Christie leading Il ritorno d'Ulisse in
patria and Daniel
Harding conducting Peter Brook's staging of Don Giovanni, with
Peter Mattei, Gilles Cachemaille, Alexandra Deshorties, Mireille Delunsch, Lisa
Larsson, Mark Padmore and Nathan Berg.
The Rossini Opera Festival, an annual celebration of Rossini, takes place in the Italian town of Pesaro (9–23 August). This year the festival presents a new production of the rare opera L'Equivoco stravagante, as well as new productions of La pietra del paragone and Il turco in Italia and performances of Il mondo delle farse. Pianist Maurizio Pollini will give a recital; as part of the Festival Giovane (Youth Festival) the Accademia Rossiniana will present Il viaggio a Reims.
The contemporary and interdisciplinary Holland Festival (7– 21 June)
includes three works by Cornelis de Bondt: Blood, a music and video
trilogy (including madrigals sung by the Hilliard Ensemble); a piano work called
Grand Hotel and the premiere of Karkas, which, because of its eccentric instrumental
requirements, has taken 20 years to come to the stage. Other new works include
Steve Reich and Beryl Korot's digital video-opera Three Tales. The
festival closes with a performance, relayed from the Het Muziektheater to giant
screens in Amsterdam's Oosterpark, of Turandot
complete with Luciano Berio's new ending.
