Music director Michalis Economou will conduct the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra in ‘15 Greatest Hits of Classical Music’ at Katara Cultural Village Opera House today and tomorrow (February 4 and 5, 2012), at 7.30pm.
The Philharmonic’s audience selected the pieces to be heard through surveys conducted at Opera House performances as well as on the Web.
Soprano Felicitas Fuchs and bass Dmitri Kavrakos will sing operatic arias by Puccini, Rossini and Verdi, among others.
The programme also includes orchestral works by Bizet, Elgar and Tchaikovsky.
The concerts include such popular music as Tchaikovsky‘s Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker Suite, the Jewel Song from Gounod’s Faust and La Calunnia from Rossini’s Barber of Seville.
Puccini’s aria from Gianni Schicchi, O mio babbino caro (Oh, my dearest papa) is among the most famous excerpts in all of opera. Johann Strauss‘ charming and thrilling Overture to Die Fledermaus will open the performances.
Kavrakos is one of opera’s most sought-after basses. He appears regularly on the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, La Scala Milan, Teatro Comunale in Florence, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Bologna, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Genova, and Cologne.
A busy concert artist, he has performed with symphony orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Montreal, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Paris.
German Soprano Fuchs has appeared on numerous occasions with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, including Magic Flute, Hansel and Gretel, as well as Mozart arias under the baton of James Gaffigan.
She also joined the Philharmonic at the Unesco Hall in Paris. She was the winner of the 2006 La Voce Lied-Competition, held by the Bavarian Broadcasting Association in Bad Kissingen.
A versatile concert artist and committed recitalist, Fuchs has performed at renowned places such as Philharmonie Warschau, Herkulessaal München, Osaka, South Africa and Singapore.
Kurt Meister, executive director of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, said: “Our audience selected its favourite operatic music and they’ll also hear a favourite soprano. I have no doubt that Dmitri Kavrakos will become a favourite in Doha as well.”
The next performance of the Qatar Philharmonic will be a chamber performance of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi, on February 8.
Music director Michalis Economou will conduct that concert as well as the full orchestra on February 11 in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.
Gulf Times
Follow us on our social media channels:
@ILQlive
@ILQlive
@ILoveQtr
ILoveQatar