Organization

Conductor

Simon Rattle

Singer

Christiane Oelze

Soloist

Magdalena Kožená

Camilla Nylund

John Relyea

Gerald Finley

Pianist

Emanuel Ax

Orchestra

Berliner Philharmoniker

Sir Simon Rattle conducts a Mozart Gala at the 2005 New Year’s Eve Concert

Berlin

Germany

Berliner Philharmonie

On New Year’s Eve 2005, the Berliner Philharmoniker anticipated the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth with an exhilarating and sparkling Mozart programme. Under the direction of Simon Rattle, it included highlights from Le nozze di Figaro, the Prague Symphony and the Piano Concerto No. 9. In addition to a team of internationally acclaimed vocal soloists, the guests included the American star pianist Emanuel Ax.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts a Mozart Gala at the 2005 New Year’s Eve Concert: Opera Gala Various

Public

Opera Gala

Approved

The 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth fell on 27 January 2006. In order to pre-empt the occasion Sir Simon Rattle had prepared an all-Mozart programme for the New Year’s Eve Concert of the Berliner Philharmoniker on 31 December 2005. He and his orchestra were aided and abetted by a team of internationally acclaimed vocal soloists and by the American star pianist Emanuel Ax.

The programme was framed by the overture and final scene from the both entertaining and complex opera Le nozze di Figaro, a work that was less than a resounding success when performed for the first time in Vienna in May 1786. Not until it was staged in Prague in the November of that year did the opera achieve its breakthrough, prompting Mozart to write to one of his pupils in Vienna, striking a note of pride: “Here they talk of nothing but – Figaro; nothing is played, sung or whistled except – Figaro: no opera is as well attended as – Figaro and nothing but Figaro.”

The D major Symphony K 504 that Mozart also took with him to Prague was likewise enthusiastically received in the city and continues to be known as his Prague Symphony. Sir Simon Rattle’s performance of its opening movement at his New Year’s Eve Concert in 2005 was particularly admired by the press. According to the Berliner Zeitung, “Rattle brings out the element of inchoate formlessness and unfathomability that lies at the origin of this movement, bringing off an artistic feat that goes far beyond the merely interesting.” There is no doubt that this concert was a worthy start to a year in which the entire world was to recall and honour the genius from Salzburg.

English

Sir Simon Rattle conducts a Mozart Gala at the 2005 New Year’s Eve Concert by Various, From (2005/2005), Conductor Simon Rattle, Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Programme, About & Synopsis

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