Festival

2025 Concerts

Those are not under review.

5.1.2025

Elīna Garanča’s Amneris embodies dignity and formality, celebrating true beauty: Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Met Orchestra’s fantastic full-on New Aida by Michael Mayer. Amartuvshin Enkhbat’s Amonasro was remarkable.

5.2.2025

Nina Stemme, Soprano, and Roland Pöntinen, Piano, at Carnegie Hall

Program

ELGAR Sea Pictures

WEILL/BRECHT "Surabaya Johnny" from Happy End

WEILL/BRECHT "Nannas Lied"

WEILL "Je ne t'aime pas"

WEILL "Youkali"

RICHARD WAGNER Wesendonck Lieder

- Stehe still!

- Der Engel

- Im Treibhaus

- Schmerzen

- Träume

LISZT Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (arr. for voice and piano after Wagner)

Encores:

SIBELIUS "Var det en dröm?," Op. 37, No. 4

WEILL "My Ship" from Lady in the Dark

Nina Stemme (b. 1963, Stockholm) is a world-renowned Swedish dramatic soprano, celebrated as one of the greatest Wagnerian voices of her era. After winning Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition in 1993, she rose to prominence in the world’s leading opera houses—including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Vienna State Opera, and Bayreuth—where her powerful portrayals of roles such as Isolde, Brünnhilde, Elektra, Salome, and Turandot earned her international acclaim. Especially famous for her interpretation of Isolde in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, which she performed over 120 times, Stemme concluded her journey with the role in June 2025 in Philadelphia under Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Honored with awards such as the Laurence Olivier and Gramophone Awards, and named Kammersängerin in Vienna, she continues to shape the operatic stage by moving into less vocally demanding but dramatically rich roles, securing her legacy as one of opera’s most compelling and enduring artists.

5.3.2025

Handel and the Power of Music

Juilliard415 and Lionel Meunier, Director, collaboration, new explosion of Handel Power, with Soloists from the Marcus Institute of Vocal Arts, Page Michels, Soprano, Luna Seongeun Park, Soprano, Shiyu Zhuo, Soprano, Michael John Butler, Tenor, Juilliard Community Chorus, Adrian O. Rodríguez, Choral Director

Program

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685-1759) From Concerto Grosso in A Major, Op. 6,

No. 11, HWV 329 (1739)

HANDEL Cecilia, volgi un sguardo, HWV 89 (1736)

HANDEL Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, HWV 76 (1739)

5.4.2025

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Piano, at Carnegie Hall

Program

J.P. SWEELINCK Echo fantasia in Dorian, SwWV 261

CARTER Night Fantasies

CHOPIN Polonaise-fantaisie in A-flat Major

MOZART Fantasia in C Minor, K. 475

C. P. E. BACH Fantasia in C Major, Wq. 59, No. 6

BEETHOVEN Fantasia in G Minor, Op. 77

IVES The Celestial Railroad

Encore:

VITALY GODZIATSKY Fractured Surfaces

Pierre-Laurent Aimard (born 1957) is a French pianist renowned for his interpretations of both contemporary and classical repertoire. A student of the Paris Conservatoire, he launched his career at 17 as a founding member of Pierre Boulez’s Ensemble Intercontemporain. Aimard has been closely associated with composers such as György Ligeti and Olivier Messiaen, championing their works with intellectual clarity and expressive depth. Equally respected for his performances of Bach, Beethoven, and other classical masters, he is admired for combining precision with imagination. As a soloist, Aimard appears with leading orchestras and festivals worldwide, while also serving as a dedicated teacher and mentor.

5.15.2025

Antony and Cleopatra at Met Opera

Conductor, John Adams, and Production, Elkhanah Pulitzer

Thanks Chirle!

5.28.2025

Evgeny Kissin and Friends: The Shostakovich Sonatas at Carnegie Hall

Evgeny Kissin, Piano, Gidon Kremer, Violin, Maxim Rysanov, Viola, Gautier Capuçon, Cello

Program

ALL-SHOSTAKOVICH PROGRAM

Cello Sonata

Violin Sonata

Viola Sonata

6.8.2025

Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Conductor, at the Philadelphia Orchestra at Marian Anderson Hall. Nina Stemme’s last Isolde.

Casts,

Stuart Skelton Tenor (Tristan, a Breton nobleman, adopted heir of King Marke)

Nina Stemme Soprano (Isolde, an Irish princess betrothed to King Marke)

Karen Cargill Mezzo-Soprano (Brangäne, Isolde’s maid)

Brian Mulligan Baritone (Kurwenal, Tristan’s friend)

Tareq Nazmi Bass (King Marke, King of Cornwall)

Freddie Ballentine Tenor (Melot, a courtier)

Jonghyun Park Tenor (A Sailor’s Voice/A Shepherd)

Nathan Schludecker Baritone (A Steersman)

Tenors and Basses of the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir (Sailors, knights, and esquires)

Donald Palumbo Director

With its portrayals of unbridled passion and cold-hearted revenge, Wagner’s opera scandalized audiences at its 1865 premiere, but this masterwork became one of the most influential scores ever written, inspiring generations of composers. In this rare concert performance, you’ll hear every detail and nuance of this richly harmonic score, as Yannick leads the Orchestra and a cast of some of the world’s great singers.

The cast includes two top opera stars known for their characterizations of romantic leads. Soprano Nina Stemme has inhabited the role of Isolde, capturing the fury and longing of a trapped woman; The Telegraph calls her a “magnificent performer,” “without question… today’s greatest dramatic soprano.” Tenor Stuart Skelton is world-renowned for his portrayal of Tristan, the seafaring adventurer caught in an impossible love triangle, winning reviews like this one from The Independent: “Stuart Skelton’s superbly mellifluous, heroic tenor is ample reason by itself to see the show.”

6.12.2025

The Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music Director and Conductor

Elza van den Heever, Soprano

*The concertmaster, David Chen’s last

Program

ALL-R. STRAUSS PROGRAM

Der Rosenkavalier Suite

"Zueignung," Op. 10, No. 1

"Wiegenlied," Op. 41, No. 1

"Allerseelen," Op. 10, No. 8

"Cäcilie," Op. 27, No. 2