BRITTEN: WAR REQUIEM

Das SWR Symphonieorchester hat in der Liederhalle Stuttgart und im Konzerthaus Freiburg sein künstlerisches Zuhause. Im September 2016 aus der Zusammenführung des Radio-Sinfonieorchesters Stuttgart des SWR und des SWR Sinfonieorchesters Baden-Baden und Freiburg hervorgegangen, zählen Interpretationsansätze aus der historisch informierten Aufführungspraxis, das klassisch-romantische Kernrepertoire sowie Musik der Gegenwart gleichermaßen zu seinem künstlerischen Profil. Seit der Saison 2018/2019 steht Teodor Currentzis als Chefdirigent an der Spitze des SWR Symphonieorchesters, zur Saison 2025/2026 übernimmt diese Position François-Xavier Roth.

Annual fixtures in the SWR Symphonieorchester’s concert calendar include SWR’s own concert series in Stuttgart, Freiburg and Mannheim as well as performances at the Donaueschingen Music Festival and the Schwetzingen SWR Festival. Since 2020, the SWR Symphonieorchester has been the resident orchestra of the Baden-Baden Whitsun Festival. Invitations regularly take the orchestra to the Salzburg Festival, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Dortmund, Essen, Vienna, Edinburgh, London, Barcelona, Madrid and Warsaw.

Internationally sought-after conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Peter Eötvös, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Roger Norrington, Jakub Hrůša, Eliahu Inbal, Ingo Metzmacher, Kent Nagano, Michael Sanderling, Pablo Heras-Casado, Jonathan Nott, Dima Slobodeniouk and David Zinman have worked with the SWR Symphonieorchester . Among the top-class soloists are Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Antoine Tamestit, Gil Shaham, Nicolas Altstaedt, Vadym Kholodenko and Martin Grubinger as artists in residence, as well as many other renowned guests, including Hilary Hahn, Sabine Meyer, Julia Fischer, Yulianna Avdeeva, Renaud Capuçon, Anna Vinnitskaya, Janine Jansen, Mischa Maisky, Vilde Frang and Fazıl Say.

With its extensive music education programme, SWR Symphonieorchester reaches around 15,000 children, young people and adults in the SWR broadcasting area every year. Numerous live broadcasts and concert recordings for SWR2 and the web portal SWRClassic.de enable many music lovers all over the world to take part in the concerts of the SWR Symphonieorchester.

Teodor Currentzis is principal conductor of the SWR Symphonieorchester, founder and artistic director of the orchestra and choir musicAeterna. For the Greek-born Currentzis, Russia became his adopted home since the early 1990s, when he began his conducting studies at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory with Ilya Musin. From 2004 to 2010, Currentzis was chief conductor of the Novosibirsk Opera House and Ballet; from 2011 to 2019, he served as artistic director of the Perm Opera and Ballet. Since 2012, Teodor Currentzis has curated the Diaghilev Festival in Perm.

As principal conductor of the SWR Symphonieorchester, Teodor Currentzis focuses primarily on the symphonic œuvre of Gustav Mahler and Russian symphonic music, but also frequently on contemporary compositions, including works by Lachenmann, Schnittke, Crumb, Scelsi, Zender, Kourliandski and Nikodijevic.

With the SWR Symphonieorchester and musicAeterna, Teodor Currentzis regularly embarks on extensive tours with concerts at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Milan’s La Scala and the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid. He is also a welcome guest at the Salzburg Festival, the Ruhrtriennale, the Lucerne Festival, the Klarafestival in Brussels and the Festival in Aix-en-Provence.

Teodor Currentzis also works with the most famous theatre directors, including Robert Wilson, Romeo Castellucci and Peter Sellars. Many of his CDs released by Sony Classical have won international awards. The web portal SWRClassic.de features numerous concert recordings that Teodor Currentzis has made together with the SWR Symphonieorchester. In addition to symphonies by Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich, there are also high-quality studio productions made under pandemic conditions, such as Hans Zender’s Schuberts Winterreise and Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde.

The soprano Irina Lungu was born in Moldova. She completed her studies at the Voronezh Conservatory. She was a member of the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala from 2003 to 2005. In the 2003/2004 season, she made her debut on the La Scala stage in the role of Anaï in Rossini's Moïse et Pharaon under the direction of Riccardo Muti. Numerous other appearances at Italy's most famous opera house followed, including two productions of La traviata, in which she sang the title role under the baton of Lorin Maazel and Daniele Gatti respectively. In the 2023/2024 season, Irina Lungu's calendar includes roles such as Fiorilla in Il turco in Italia at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and at the Zurich Opera House. She will also perform Amelia in Simon Boccanegra at La Scala in Milan and at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. She will also take part in performances of La Bohème at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and Il Corsaro at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. At La Scala she will portray Nedda in a new production of Pagliacci and at the Teatro Bellini in Catania she will appear in the world premiere of La Lupa and Il Berretto a Sonagli by Marco Tutino. Irina Lungu recently made her debut in the roles of Maria Boccanegra in Simon Boccanegra at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. She has also appeared as Mimì in La Bohème, Violetta in La traviata and Gilda in Rigoletto at the Staatsoper Berlin. Further appearances include Rigoletto at the Paris Opera, Il turco in Italia at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Falstaff at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and La traviata at the Sydney Opera House. Other highlights of her career so far have been La traviata at the Opéra in Paris, the Vienna State Opera, the Arena di Verona, in Venice, Turin, Rome, Madrid, Berlin, Hamburg, Zurich, Moscow, Tokyo and Seoul, Rigoletto and La Bohème (Musetta) at the Metropolitan Opera New York, "La Bohème" (Musetta) and Faust at the Royal Opera House Convent Garden in London; Idomeneo (Elettra), Don Giovanni (Donna Anna), Don Pasquale and La Bohème (Mimi) at the Vienna State Opera, Faust in Madrid, Il viaggio a Reims (Corinna) in Barcelona and Sydney, Turandot (Liù) in Munich, Manon in Bilbao as well as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Micaela in Carmen at the Arena di Verona.

Vocal flexibility and consistency combined with an almost magnetic stage presence have earned tenor Allan Clayton international acclaim. His broad repertoire ranges from the Baroque period to the present day. A welcome guest at leading opera houses around the world, he has sung the title role of Brett Dean's Hamlet at the US premiere at the Metropolitan Opera and Peter Grimes at the Teatro Real Madrid and London's Royal Opera Covent Garden. He has a particularly close working relationship with director Barrie Kosky and the Komische Oper Berlin, where he most recently appeared in Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, as Tamino in The Magic Flute and in the title role of Bernstein's Candide. He has also interpreted David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Covent Garden and the Bavarian State Opera as well as Ferdinand in Purcell's Miranda at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Clayton has appeared many times at the BBC Proms since his first debut in 2028, including Vaughan Williams' Pastoral Symphony, Britten's War Requiem and Berlioz' L'enfance du Christ. Here he also took on the title roles in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and Handel's Samson. At London's Barbican Hall, he sang Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius and Britten's Spring Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Mark Elder and Sir Simon Rattle respectively, as well as Mendelssohn's Elijah with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo. Last season, he performed Schubert's Winterreise at the Barbican Center in a dramatic production that incorporated the work of Australian painter Fred Williams. Clayton is a regular guest at London's Wigmore Hall and gives recitals worldwide. His song repertoire includes cycles such as Schubert's Winterreise and Die schöne Müllerin, Vaughan Williams' On Wenlock Edge as well as songs by Strauss, Wolf, Duparc and Tippett. Several composers have written song cycles specifically for his voice, including Mark-Anthony Turnage's Refugee and Josephine Stephenson's Une saison en enfer. A champion of contemporary music, he has performed in world premieres of George Benjamin's Written on Skin, Jonathan Dove's The Adventures of Pinocchio and Gerald Barry's Alice's Adventures Underground.

Matthias Goerne wird rund um den Globus für seine Opern- und Konzertdarbietungen gefeiert und ist regelmäßiger Gast bei renommiertesten Festivals und Konzertsälen. Legendäre Dirigenten wie Claudio Abbado (†), Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Manfred Honeck, Mariss Jansons (†), Paavo Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Seiji Ozawa (†), Antonio Pappano, Kirill Petrenko, Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen und Franz Welser-Möst zählen zu seinen musikalischen Partnern. Matthias Goerne ist auf den wichtigsten Opernbühnen der Welt aufgetreten, darunter die Metropolitan Opera in New York, das Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; das Teatro Real in Madrid; die Pariser Nationaloper; die Bayerische Staatsoper und die Wiener Staatsoper. Seine Rollen reichen von Amfortas, Marke, Wolfram, Wotan, Orest und Jochanaan bis zu den Titelrollen in Béla Bartóks Herzog Blaubarts Burg und Alban Bergs Wozzeck. Goernes künstlerisches Schaffen wurde auf zahlreichen Aufnahmen dokumentiert, von denen viele renommierte Auszeichnungen erhielten, darunter fünf Grammy-Nominierungen, den BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award 2017 sowie den Diapason d’Or arte. In den letzten beiden Jahren hat er drei Alben bei der Deutschen Grammophon veröffentlicht: Beethoven-Lieder mit Jan Lisiecki, Wagner-, Strauss- und Pfitzner-Lieder mit Seong-Jin Cho sowie das kürzlich von Limelight zum Vocal Recording of the Year gekürte Album LIEDER mit Daniil Trifonov. Anfang 2023 erschien sein neuestes Album Schubert revisited, das Bearbeitungen für Gesang und Orchester zu Gehör bringt. Der gebürtige Weimarer studierte bei Hans-Joachim Beyer in Leipzig, später bei Elisabeth Schwarzkopf und Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. In der Saison 2023/2024 gibt bzw. gab Matthias Goerne sein Debüt als Boris Godunov in Toulouse und Paris sowie eine Reihe von Liederabenden mit Evgeny Kissin in Europa und den USA. An der Casa da Musica in Porto, der Kölner Philharmonie und in der Elbphilharmonie Hamburg wird er Jörg Widmanns Schumannliebe uraufführen.

The ecumenical boys' choir collegium iuvenum Stuttgart, which is based at Stuttgart Cathedral Singing School, is independent of any denomination or institution and was founded in 1989. The aim of its musical work is to pass on the centuries-old culture of sacred choral music and to bring the 1000-year-old tradition of famous boys' choirs into the 21st century. A particular strength of the choir lies in its broad repertoire, which includes works of sacred choral music from the Renaissance to modern times. The choir is organized in the form of a choir school, but is not a boarding school choir. The boys begin their musical careers at the age of around five with early musical education. The boys then go through various choir stages until they reach the touring and concert choir, in which they actively sing until they change voices. After changing voices, many singers return to sing in the men's choir and remain with the choir as active singers until the age of around 25. In addition to sound musical training, the choir's leaders place great importance on the singers developing a love of making music together. The choir is supported by collegium iuvenum Stuttgart e.V., a publicly recognized provider of independent youth welfare and extracurricular youth education. Thanks to the extraordinary commitment of many active and former choir members, parents and friends as well as the support of the state capital Stuttgart and the state of Baden-Württemberg, the boys' choir collegium iuvenum Stuttgart has achieved a high musical and artistic standard and can compete with top European choirs. With its excellent musical quality, the boys' choir collegium iuvenum Stuttgart helps to shape the cultural life of the Stuttgart region and is also regularly present nationwide and internationally on annual concert tours. The young choristers have performed in France, Spain, Finland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Norway, Poland, Italy, Canada, Argentina and the USA. Sebastian Kunz has been Artistic Director of the boys' choir collegium iuvenum Stuttgart since May 2022.

The London Symphony Chorus (LCO) was founded in 1966 to complement the work of the London Symphony Orchestra. Since then, it has performed with numerous top international orchestras: first and foremost with the London Symphony Orchestra, but also with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics. In the current season, concerts have included Mendelssohn's Elijah under the direction of Sir Antonio Pappano, Janáček's Jenůfa with Sir Simon Rattle and Bruckner's Te Deum with Nathalie Stutzmann at programme. The repertoire of recent seasons includes Shostakovich's 13. Symphony Babi Yar with Gianandrea Noseda, Schubert's Mass in A flat major, Ravel's Daphnis and Chloé with François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles, the Dante project with Thomas Adès and Koen Kessels at the Royal Opera House, Dallapiccola's Il Prigionero with Sir Antonio Pappano, a programme with works by Szymanowski, Janáček and Brahms conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, Howard Goodall's Never to Forget, the world premiere of Julian Anderson's Exiles and Errollyn Warren's After Winter with Simon Halsey at the Spitalfields Festival. Tours have taken the London Symphony Chorus to numerous European countries, as well as on intercontinental tours. Recent concert tours have included performances in Paris, Baden-Baden and Luxembourg with Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra as well as in Monte Carlo and Aix-en-Provence with Kazuki Yamada and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo programme. In the Oscar-nominated film adaptation of Leonard Bernstein's biography, starring Bradly Cooper and Carey Mulligan, the LCO sang the choral parts in works by Mahler and Bernstein. In 2023, the Chorus was delighted to appoint Mariana Rosas as its new Chorus Master and Simon Halsey as Chorus Master Emeritus. The London Symphony Chorus is an independent charity run by its members. It is committed to artistic excellence, equality and diversity, and the vocal development of its members. It actively participates in London's musical life, commissioning and performing new works.

The SWR Radio Choir is one of the top international ensembles among professional choirs. Founded almost 75 years ago, the ensemble is still dedicated to the exemplary performance and further development of vocal music with passion and the highest level of vocal competence. The ensemble has premiered over 250 new choral works, including works by Ondřej Adámek, Mark Andre, Nikolaus Brass, Adriana Hölszky, Heinz Holliger, Maurizio Kagel, Hanspeter Kyburz, Isabel Mundry, Enno Poppe, Rebecca Saunders, Martin Smolka, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Wolfgang Rihm, Samir Odeh-Tamimi and Vito Žuraj. In addition to contemporary music, the SWR Vokalensemble is primarily dedicated to challenging choral works from the romantic and classical modern periods. The chief conductors Marinus Voorberg, Klaus Martin Ziegler and Rupert Huber have had a decisive influence on SWR Vokalensemble in the past. Marcus Creed was the ensemble's Artistic Director from 2003 to 2020. With him, over 30 CDs were produced, including works by György Kurtág, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Elliott Carter, Charles Ives, Paul Hindemith, Luigi Nono, Wolfgang Rihm and Kaija Saariaho, as well as a highly acclaimed collection of modern choral works from America, Russia, Japan and numerous European countries. The SWR Vokalensemble has received numerous awards for its chamber music interpretation culture, stylistically confident interpretations and the high repertoire value of its recordings, including the German Record Critics' Award of the Year, the ECHO Klassik, the Diapason d'Or, the Choc de la Musique and the Grand Prix du Disque. Yuval Weinberg took over as chief conductor of the SWR Vokalensemble at the start of the 2020/2021 season.