08.08.2024

GEORG NIGL at the Salzburg Festival

The programme opens with Luigi Dallapiccola's opera Il Prigioniero - a deeply moving work that impresses with its musical complexity, emotional intensity and profound themes. Written during and after the Second World War, the opera reflects Dallapiccola's own experiences with totalitarian regimes and his rejection of tyranny and oppression. Georg Nigl sings the role of the Prisoner - the central character whose suffering and hope form the core of the opera and whose fate is a powerful statement about human nature and the indefatigable spirit of resistance. The piece is performed together with the Bavarian Radio Choir and the RSO Vienna under the direction of Maxime Pascal. Find out more here.

Arnold Schönberg's "Fifteen Poems from 'The Book of Hanging Gardens' based on texts by Stefan George" is about unfulfilled love, longing, nature and transcendence. The texts are highly emotional and imbued with a dark, melancholy mood. Described by "Der Tagesspiegel" in his performance as Lenz in Wolfgang Rihm's opera of the same name at the 2022 Salzburg Festival as "a psychological masterpiece. His ability to fathom the character's deep emotional abysses is remarkable and makes the performance an unforgettable experience.", The piece is a perfect match for Georg Nigl.

These will be followed in mid-August by "Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte" op. 41, a work that could not be more topical. In his ode, Schönberg incorporates musical quotations from the Marsellaise, from Beethoven's Third Symphony and from "Wellington's Victory". With this melodrama, Arnold Schönberg is not composing a paean to Napoleon, but an explosive declaration of humanity and... his only overtly political work! Schönberg wants the narrator to declaim like Winston Churchill. Schönberg had heard him on the radio and was impressed by Churchill's powerful words and his sharp, rumbling and rhythmic tone. Ideal for Georg Nigl!

With the "Nachtmusiken" - a self-conceived serenade cycle that took place in the intimate setting of the Stefan Zweig Centre together with clavichordist Alexander Gergelyfi and actor Ulrich Noethen - Georg Nigl provided a highlight of the Salzburg Festival in the summer of 2023. Following its great success, this cycle will be continued at the Salzburg Festival in 2024 - again with Alexander Gergelyfi on Mozart's original clavichord and this time with August Diehl, one of Germany's most successful actors.