Jonas Kaufmann will headline the Easter Salzburg Festival.
The festival which was announced on April 13, will be dominated by Italian and Russian music. However the headliner will be the German tenor who will be performing two works.
Kaufmann will make his role debuts in Masagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" and Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci." The singer has dedicated his last few seasons to the Italian repertoire and he will become one of the few tenors to take on both these verismo roles in one night. Other tenors to take on this feat include Placido Domingo, Jose Cura, Salvatore Licitra, Carlo Bergonzi, Franco Corelli and recently Marcelo Alvarez. Kaufmann will take on the role of Turiddu in "Cavalleria Rusticana" with Luidmyla Monastyrska as Santuzza and Stefania Toczyska as Mama Lucia. Meanwhile the German tenor will sing Canio in "Pagliacci" alongside Maria Argesta as Nedda, Dimitri Platanias as Tonio and Alessio Arduini as Silvio. The performances will be conducted by Christian Thielemann while Philipp Stozl will direct the production. The orchestra and chorus will be the Staatskapelle Dresden.
Thielemann will also lead the Staatskapelle Dresden in Shostakovich's Violin Concerto performed by Nikolaj Znaider and the Tchaikovsky Symphony No.6. The conductor will also lead the Verdi Requiem with Kaufmann singing the tenor role. Anita Rachvelishvili will sing the mezzo part while Monastyrska will sing the soprano part. Ildar Abdrazakov will round out the cast.
Thielemann will also conduct Prokofiev's Peter and Wolf.
Meanwhile Daniele Gatti will conduct Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 and Shostakovich's Symphony No.10.
The Salzburg Easter Festival is considered one of the most renowned and most exclusive classical festivals in the world. It was founded in 1967 by Herbert von Karajan with the aim of presenting music of the highest artistic quality. The festival has had exception artistic directors such as the late Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle. In 2013, Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden lead the festival into a new era, continuing to offer a program with opera, orchestral and choral concerts as well as chamber music and youth projects at the highest artistic level. The orechestra and conductor will be in residence until 2017 and they will work together on new opera productions and concert programs specially designed for Salzburg.
The festival which is currently taking place is presenting a new production of Richard Strauss "Arabella" by Floretine Klepper. The current production is starring Renee Fleming, Thomas Hampson, Albert Dohmen, Hanna-Elisabeth Muller, Daniela Fally, and Gabriela Benackova. The current festival will feature Cellist Gautier Capucon, soprano anja Harteros and pianist Maurizio Pollini among others. Additionally it will feature works by Strauss, Mozart, and Rihm. The festival will also hold a memorial concert for the 25th anniversary of Herbert Von Karajan's death.
The 2015 Salzburg Easter Festival is slated to begin on March 28.