René Pape Announces Upcoming Performances

By: May. 10, 2012
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After performances in Franz Schmidt's oratorio The Book With Seven Seals under Fabio Luisi in Vienna (May 13-14), René Pape will sing in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony under Daniel Barenboim at Milan's La Scala, in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI (June 1).

The bass will then star as King Philip II in Verdi's Don Carlos, led by Franz Welser-Möst at the Vienna State Opera (June 16-29). The German singer has embodied the role of King Philip to universal critical praise; after his portrayal at the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Times said Pape "so dominated the performance that Verdi's Don Carlos might have been renamed 'The Tragedy of King Philip.'" In July, Pape will take part in another performance of Beethoven's Ninth with Barenboim, this time closing the Summer Olympics in London with a Proms concert at the Royal Albert Hall (July 27).

A performance of Beethoven's Ninth with Pape has long been a hot ticket item; the La Scala concert for the Pope and the Olympic finale at the Proms both promise to be stirring events. Of one such Beethoven Ninth, The Times of London exclaimed: "René Pape's resounding bass jolted us with the most thrilling 'O Freunde' I have heard in the concert hall. He seemed to inspire his colleagues." Pape's run of European summer festivals also involves a Wagner concert with Paavo Järvi in Verbier (August 2) and Mahler's Eighth Symphony under Claudio Abbado in Lucerne (August 8-11). Pape returns to La Scala with Barenboim for a performance of Verdi's Requiem (August 27), which they will reprise at the Lucerne Festival (August 29).

Reviewing a performance of Verdi's Requiem at the L.A. Opera under Plácido Domingo, the Los Angeles Times declared: "René Pape is everyone's favorite bass. … The most elegant figure onstage, the German singer was also the most fearless. His greatness in opera is his capacity to make every word he sings speak. 'Mors, mors stupebit,' he sings of how death will be astounded before God, after the stupendous trumpet outbursts of the 'Dies Irae' (Day of Wrath). The notes go low. Pape's calm certainty bespoke a cool but serious game of chess with death, as if straight out of Bergman's Seventh Seal."

The June production of Don Carlos at the Vienna State Opera is sure to be another moving experience, as Pape explores the humanity of King Philip. The New Yorker summed up the emotional impact of his Met portrayal: "Once again, the German bass René Pape is striking awe into Metropolitan Opera audiences with his portrayal of a suffering king. … His voice has become a juggernaut. It has all the required basso weight and baritonal ring, and it is also amazingly rich in feeling: you hear the King's unfulfilled longings, his self-doubt, his cold resolve. Listen for how Pape rips away another layer of illusion each time he repeats the phrase 'She does not love me' in the Study Scene, or for how he adds a tinge of political insanity to the line 'Death, in my hands, becomes fecund'."

Pape's starry summer caps a season that has involved a number of standout performances as Méphistophélès in Faust at the Met – one of which will be presented on an upcoming telecast of PBS's Great Performances (check local listings.) The New York Times described his singing as "vocally stentorian" and his devilishly theatrical portrayal as "all suavity and calculation." Pape's Deutsche Grammophon solo album Wagner Arias has also earned wide acclaim; WQXR New York described it as "a must for any Wagnerite," while Gramophone magazine said: "When it comes to sheer vocal refinement and the purest Wagnerian gravitas, René Pape is hard to beat." The recording won Pape his second ECHO Klassik award, the German equivalent of a Grammy, for Opera Recording of the Year.

René Pape: upcoming engagements

May 13, 14
Vienna: Musikverein, Großer Saal
Vienna Symphony; Fabio Luisi, conductor
Franz Schmidt: The Book With Seven Seals

June 1
Milan: Teatro alla Scala
With FilarMonica Della Scala and Daniel Barenboim; in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
June 16, 19, 22, 26, 29
Vienna: Staatsoper
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor; Daniele Abbado, director
Verdi: Don Carlos (King Philip II)

July 27
London: Royal Albert Hall
Proms
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

August 2
Verbier, Switzerland: Verbier Festival
Verbier Festival Orchestra; Paavo Järvi, conductor
Wagner Concert
August 8, 10, 11
Lucerne, Switzerland: Lucerne Festival
Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Chorus, et al; Claudio Abbado, conductor
Mahler: Symphony No. 8 "Symphony of a Thousand"
August 27
Milan: Teatro alla Scala
FilarMonica Della Scala; Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Verdi: Requiem

August 29
Lucerne, Switzerland: Lucerne Festival
FilarMonica Della Scala; Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Verdi: Requiem



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