On Thursday, April 1 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, Carnegie Hall presents soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky performing arias and duets from some of Verdi’s greatest operas including Aida, Don Carlo, Ernani, La Forza del Destino, Simon Boccanegra, and Un Ballo in Maschera. In addition, Ms Radvanovsky sings “Song to the Moon” from Dvorák’s Rusalka and Mr. Hvorostovsky joins her for the Closing Duet from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. The two singers will perform with a full orchestra, the National Philharmonic, conducted by Marco Armiliato. The complete program is listed below. The concert is part of Carnegie Hall’s Bravissimo! Opera Gala which offers supporters, in addition to their concert tickets, the option of attending either a pre-concert dinner hosted by acclaimed soprano Martina Arroyo to celebrate mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne ($1,250 per person), or an exclusive post-concert dessert reception / cast party with Sondra Radvanovsky and Dmitri Hvorostovsky ($500 per person). A special VIP package is also available, which includes access to all three events ($1,500 per person). Gala benefit tickets include a tax-deductible contribution, with all proceeds benefitting Carnegie Hall’s artistic and education programming. The Bravissimo! Opera Gala is co-chaired by Fred Iseman and Ann Ziff. All gala benefit tickets are available by calling the Carnegie Hall Special Events office at 212-903-9679 or online at carnegiehall.org/specialevents.
Concert-only tickets, priced at $41, $49, $63, $86, $117, and $129, are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or online at carnegiehall.org.
About the Artists
American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky’s dramatic stage presence and stunning vocal gifts have firmly established her as one of the leading stars on the international stage today. She has sung in every major opera house in the world including Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Paris Opera; Teatro alla Scala; Vienna State Opera; Lyric Opera of Chicago; San Francisco Opera; and numerous others. Her home theater is the Metropolitan Opera, where she trained in the late 1990s. After performances in smaller roles, she came to attention as Antonia in Les contes d'Hoffmann and was noted as a soprano worth watching by critics and public alike. Ms. Radvanovsky opened the 2009–10 season at the San Francisco Opera under the baton of the company’s new music director Nicola Luisotti in Il trovatore. Other recent and upcoming performances include Lina in Stiffelio at the Metropolitan Opera with Plácido Domingo conducting, Elvira in Ernani at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Elisabetta in Don Carlo at the Paris Opera—where she had her earliest European success. She also travels to Vienna to perform Verdi’s Requiem with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi.
Internationally acclaimed Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky was born and studied in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. In 1989, he won the prestigious Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. From the start, audiences were captivated by his cultivated voice, innate sense of musical line, and natural legato. After his Western operatic debut at the Nice Opera in Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, his career took off, with regular engagements at the world’s major opera houses and appearances at renowned international festivals. A celebrated recitalist who is in demand around the globe—from the Far East to the Middle East, from Australia to South America—Mr. Hvorostovsky has appeared at such venues as Wigmore Hall, Queen’s Hall, Carnegie Hall, Teatro alla Scala, Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, and Suntory Hall. He regularly performs in concert with top orchestras like the New York Philharmonic and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. Mr. Hvorostovsky retains a strong musical connection and personal contact with Russia. He became the first opera singer to give a solo performance with orchestra and chorus on Red Square in Moscow in a concert televised in over 25 countries. He has gone on to sing in a number of prestigious concerts in Moscow as a part of his own series, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Friends. In 2005 he gave a historic tour throughout the cities of Russia at the invitation of President Putin, singing to crowds of hundreds of thousands of people to commemorate the soldiers of the Second World War. Mr. Hvorostovsky’s extensive discography spans recitals and complete operas. He has also starred in Don Giovanni Unmasked, an award-winning film (by Rhombus Media) based on the Mozart opera, tackling the dual roles of Don Giovanni and Leporello.
The National Philharmonic, led by Music Director and conductor Piotr Gajewski, is a Montgomery County, MD based orchestra that is a resident partner at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD. The Philharmonic showcases world-renowned guest artists in time-honored symphonic masterpieces conducted by Maestro Gajewski and monumental choral masterworks under National Philharmonic Chorale Artistic Director Stan Engebretson. It boasts a long-standing tradition of reasonably priced tickets and free admission to all young people age 7-17, assuring its place as an accessible and enriching component in Montgomery County and the greater Washington, DC area. In addition, the National Philharmonic also offers exceptional and unique education programs, such as the Summer Strings and Choral Institutes. Students accepted into the Institutes study privately with National Philharmonic musicians, participate in carefully instructed rehearsals, and perform under National Philharmonic Maestros Gajewski and Mr. Engebretson.
From San Francisco Opera debut with La bohème to his collaboration with Luciano Pavarotti in many concert performances, Marco Armiliato has been a frequent guest in the world’s most prestigious opera houses and concert halls. In 1995 he debuted in Italy at the Teatro La Fenice di Venezia with Il barbiere di Siviglia and made his debut at the Wiener Staatsoper with Andrea Chénier. Later that year he conducted two performances of the Three Tenors tour in Melbourne and Madrid, alternating with James Levine, and following that conducted the world tour of the Three Sopranos (recorded by Atlantic Records). That same year also marked the beginning of extensive operatic activity in North America, in particular at the Metropolitan Opera (Il trovatore, La bohème, Stiffelio, Madama Butterfly, Sly, Aida, Turandot, Rigoletto, Cyrano, and a concert with Placido Domingo) and at the San Francisco Opera (La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Turandot, La traviata, Tosca, Aida, La favorita, Il trovatore, and Cavalleria rusticana). Mr. Armiliato also enjoys a continuous and successful collaboration with the Wiener Staatsoper, where he has led such operas as Tosca, Fedora, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La favorita, Jérusalem, Turandot, Andrea Chénier, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, Stiffelio, La traviata, Manon Lescaut, and Carmen.
Program Information
Thursday, April 1 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
SONDRA RADVANOVSKY, Soprano
DMITRI HVOROSTOVSKY, Baritone
National Philharmonic
Marco Armiliato, Conductor
GIUSEPPE VERDI Overture to Luisa Miller
GIUSEPPE VERDI "Ernani, Ernani involami" from Ernani
GIUSEPPE VERDI "Gran' Dio!? Oh de' verd'anni miei" from Ernani
GIUSEPPE VERDI "O patria mia" from Aida
GIUSEPPE VERDI "Morir! Tremenda cosa!" from La Forza del Destino
GIUSEPPE VERDI Overture to Nabucco
GIUSEPPE VERDI "Favella il Doge" from Simon Boccanegra
GIUSEPPE VERDI Overture to I vespri siciliani
GIUSEPPE VERDI "Io morro" from Don Carlo
ANTONÍN DVORÁK "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka
PIETRO MASCAGNI Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana
GIUSEPPE VERDI "A tal colpa è nulla il pianto" from Un Ballo in Maschera
RUGGERO LEONCAVALLO Intermezzo from Pagliacci
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Closing Duet from Eugene Onegin
Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
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Ticket Information |
Image from top of release: Photo by Pavel Antonov