I am very much looking forward to starting the new season with you and once again celebrating opera, dance and music in complete safety.
This year we are opening the season both at the National Theater and at other venues in the city and in the Free State of Bavaria. Together with our new General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski, the Bavarian State Ballet, the Bavarian State Orchestra and numerous artists and employees of the theater, we look forward to meeting you at such diverse venues as Karlsplatz in Ansbach, the Brunnenhof, the Cuvilliés Theater and the National Theater. It is a central concern of mine that we as the Bavarian State Opera reach out to people in Munich, in Bavaria and throughout the world - in ever new and creative ways.
We want to arouse the curiosity of an ever-widening audience for our fantastic work, for our diverse concerts, operas and ballets.
A city is a highly dynamic entity, and so is a theater. Both are constantly evolving, preserving traditions and responding to new impulses. I feel it is an important and inspiring task to keep looking for new points of contact and opportunities for encounters.
And so, after the concert in Ansbach with Piotr Beczala, we will open our doors and offer a wide range of different events and formats throughout the day. In addition to one act operas and jazz on the main stage, the Brunnenhof will become a fairground where you can talk to members of the house, look behind the scenes and listen to bands. Ballet can be experienced in the Cuvilliés Theater and the Prinzregententheater. On the second weekend of our September festival, major opera productions with soloists such as Anja Harteros, Anja Kampe and Piotr Beczala follow in the National Theater with "Der fliegende Holländer" and "La forza del destino". Christian Gerhaher can be heard with Isabelle Faust in a chamber concert.
Please note:
Due to an illness Jonas Kaufmann was forced to cancel his performance at this concert. We wish him a quick recovery. Fortunately, we were able to secure Piotr Beczala, who will take over this evening with great pleasure. There are no changes to the program.