Bayerisches Staatsorchester & Staatsoper Makes US Debut At Carnegie Hall

German Maestro Kirill Petrenko leads the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and Staatsoper in their United States debut performances at Carnegie Hall over two consecutive evenings this March. Making a rare New York City appearance, Mr. Petrenko steps onto the Carnegie Hall stage for the first time as General Music Director of the Bayeriche Staatsoper and its orchestra. On Wednesday, March 28 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Mr. Petrenko and the Staatsorchester present Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony, and are joined by violinist Julia Fischer and cellist Daniel Müller-Schott for Brahms's Double Concerto in A Minor.

As part of the seventh annual Carnegie Hall Live broadcast and digital series, the March 28 performance will be broadcast live on WQXR 105.9 FM in New York and streamed online at wqxr.org and carnegiehall.org/wqxr. Produced by WQXR and Carnegie Hall, and hosted by WQXR's Jeff Spurgeon, select Carnegie Hall Live broadcasts throughout the season feature live web chats, including Twitter commentary from the broadcast team backstage and in the control room, connecting national and international fans to the music and to each other.

The following evening on Thursday, March 29 at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage the orchestra is joined by members of the Bayerische Staatsoper and Choir of the Bayerische Staatsoper for a concert performance of Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss-a composer with close ties to the company, having served as Hofkapellmeister in the late 1800s as well has having his operas Capriccio and Friedenstag premiered by the company. The cast includes notable sopranos Adrianne Pieczonka and Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, mezzo-soprano Angela Brower, tenor Lawrence Brownlee, baritone Markus Eiche, and bass Peter Rose.

Kirill Petrenko was born in Omsk, Russia where he studied piano at the College of Music. At age 11, he gave his first public performance as a pianist with the Omsk Symphony Orchestra. In 1990, his family (his father a violinist and his mother a musicologist) relocated to Vorarlberg where his father worked as an orchestra musician and music teacher. Mr. Petrenko first continued his studies in Feldkirch before moving to Vienna to study conducting at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts.

Throughout his career, Mr, Petrenko has conducted leading orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, WDR Cologne Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Philharmonic and NDR Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Opern-und Museumsorchester, Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Turin, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also conducted concerts at the Bregenz and Salzburg festivals. From 2013 to 2015, he led the new production of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen during the Bayreuth Festival.

Since September 2013, Kirill Petrenko has been General Music Director at the Bayerische Staatsoper-a position he holds until the end of the 2019-2020 season. Since 2013, he has taken to the rostrum for premieres of Die Frau ohne Schatten, La clemenza di Tito, Die Soldaten, Lucia di Lammermoor, Lulu, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsenk District, Tannhäuser and Il trittico as well as the world premiere of Miroslav Srnka's South Pole and a revival of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, among other works. In June 2015, Kirill Petrenko was named future Chief Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and will take the helm in autumn 2019.

The Bayerisches Staatsorchester emerged from one of the oldest orchestras in Germany. Its origins can be traced back to the year 1523, when the composer Ludwig Senfl took over the direction of the Munich Kantorei. After over 100 years in which the orchestra's repertoire was comprised mainly of church music, the first opera performance took place in Munich: Maccioni's L'Arpa festante, performed in the Residence in 1653. In 1778, Mannheim's Elector Karl brought 33 of Mannheim's court musicians with him to Munich; in 1778, these Mannheim musicians were united with 32 selected members of the Munich Court Orchestra. In 1811 the Musical Academy, made up of members of the Court Orchestra, was founded.

In 1865, the Court Orchestra Director Hans von Bülow conducted the premiere of Tristan and Isolde; in 1868, that of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. There followed premieres of das Rheingold and Die Walküre, conducted by Franz Wüllner, in 1869 and 1870. Hermann Levi was the General Music Director from 1872 to 1896. Since then, the most important artists of their time have served as heads of the orchestra, from Richard Strauss, Felix Mottl, through Bruno Walter, Hans Knappertsbusch, and Clemes Keauss, to Georg Solti, Ferenc Fricsay, Joseph Keilberth, and Wolfgang Sawallisch. Zubin Mehta was head conductor and Bavarian General Music Director beginning in 1998 and his tenure was followed by Kent Nagano in 2006. Starting with the 2013-2014 season, Kirill Petrenko has been the Bavarian General Music Director.

The Bayerische Staatsoper is one of the world's leading opera houses with a cultural history of over 350 years. Thanks to a court tradition, opera found a home in Munich in 1653; since then its music-historical and socio-political development has continued in a way unparalleled anywhere else, worldwide.

The Bayerische Staatsoper, with approximately 600,000 people attending its over 400 performances each year, makes a major contribution to Munich's reputation as one of the great international cultural capitals. In the course of a single season, over 30 operas from four centuries are performed along with ballets, concerts, and song recitals, making the programs of the Bayerische Staatsoper one of the most richly varied of all the international opera houses.

Tickets, priced $41-$145, are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office on 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.

For Carnegie Hall Corporation presentations taking place in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, a limited number of seats, priced at $10, will be available day-of-concert beginning at 11:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sunday until one hour before the performance or until supply lasts. The exceptions are Carnegie Hall Family Concerts and gala events. These $10 tickets are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Carnegie Hall Box Office only. There is a two-ticket limit per customer.

In addition, for all Carnegie Hall presentations in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, a limited number of partial view (seats with obstructed or limited sight lines or restricted leg room) will be sold for 50% of the full price. For more information on this and other discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts. Artists, programs, and prices are subject to change.

Photo Credit: Wilfried Hösl

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