Jonathan Tetelman’s Tribute to Puccini to one of the best-loved Italian opera composers The Great Puccini includes both favourite arias and rarities, with extracts from Il tabarro, La bohème, La fanciulla del West, La rondine, Le villi, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Tosca and Turandot Music videos for “Nessun dorma”, “E lucevan le stelle” and “Donna non vidi mai” will accompany the album “The guy’s a total star” The New York Times Jonathan Tetelman’s debut album for Deutsche Grammophon, Arias, was met with rave reviews on its release last summer, and won the singer a 2023 “Young Talent of the Year” Opus Klassik award. The Chilean-American tenor has now chosen to follow this successwith a tribute to Puccini, the centenary of whose death falls in 2024. The Great Puccinipresents extracts from nine operas, including such well-known arias as “Nessun dorma”, “Che gelida manina” and “E lucevan le stelle”, as well as numbers from less familiar operas such as Le villi and La rondine. The album was recorded earlier this year in Prague with the PKF – Prague Philharmonia, conducted by Carlo Rizzi, and features notable guest appearances from sopranos Vida Miknevičiūtė (Giorgetta in Il tabarro) and Federica Lombardi (Mimì in La bohème). The Great Puccini will be issued in all formats on 29 September 2023. Jonathan Tetelman has established himself on the world operatic stage in a wide range of roles, but a recent focus on Puccini has seen him triumph as Rodolfo, Cavaradossi and Pinkerton, all of whom feature on his new album. His love of the composer dates back to the moment when, as a child, he heard Pavarotti sing “Nessun dorma”. He trained as a baritone but then took some time away from the classical world and worked as a DJ on the New York club scene. On returning to his vocal studies he transformed himself into a tenor and, at 26, sang his first Puccini role (Rodolfo), since when he has never looked back. The Great Puccini also takes in works that are on Tetelman’s future schedule. “There are a few new roles on my immediate horizon,” he notes. “Luigi in Il tabarro, Ruggero in La rondine, Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut and Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West. Further down the road lies Calaf from Turandot, and hopefully one day Roberto in Le villi…” What draws him in every time is the complex nature of Puccini’s characters, and the demands this places on the singer. “I think it’s a lot about acting with the voice, not just with the body,” he says. That means finding a way of communicating the meaning of the words even to those who do not understand the language and, as he observes, “only certain composers give you that opportunity”. His new album opens with Des Grieux’s “Donna non vidi mai”, a challenge for any tenor. Tetelman’s passionate interpretation will whet listeners’ appetite for his stage debut in the role. Among the other “hits” on The Great Puccini are “Nessun dorma”, which the tenor refers to as “the big one” – “the gateway to understanding and feeling the emotions of opera”, and both “Recondita armonia” and “E lucevan le stelle” from Tosca. From the less frequently performed operas there are two arias from La fanciulla del West and Roberto’s nostalgic romanza “Torna ai felici dì” from Puccini’s first stage work, the opera-ballet Le villi. And, offering tantalising glimpses of two imminent debuts, The Great Puccini also includes Ruggero’s aria praising the delights of Paris from La rondine (Tetelman will make both his role and house debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera next spring), and an ensemble number from Il tabarro (he plays Luigi for the first time at the Deutsche Oper this autumn). Three music videos made on location in Tuscany will be released in August and September. “E lucevan le stelle” (18 August), filmed at the Villa Puccini in Torre del Lago; “Nessun dorma” (8 September), whose backdrop is the Carrara marble quarries; and “Donna non vidi mai” (29 September), shot in Puccini’s birthplace, Lucca, and the nearby coastal town of Pietrasanta. Jonathan Tetelman – forthcoming engagements: 2023 Jul/Aug – Salzburg Festival: Macbeth 29 Aug – Ljubljana Festival: Opera Gala, with Ludovic Tézier 8 Sep – Shenzhen Concert Hall: Gala Concert Sep/Oct – Deutsche Oper Berlin: Madama Butterfly· Il trittico Nov – Festspielhaus Baden-Baden: Werther 30 Nov – Konzerthaus Berlin: Gala Concert 10 Dec – Theater Dortmund: La bohème 2024 4 & 5 Jan – Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon: New Year’s Concerts 7 Jan – Festspielhaus Baden-Baden: Opera Gala, with Elīna Garanča 11 Jan – Borusan Music House, Istanbul: Opera Gala, with Marina Rebeka 23 Jan – Dvořák Hall, Rudolfinum, Prague: Puccini Gala, with Sylvia D’Eramo Feb – Teatro Massimo, Palermo: Madama Butterfly Mar/Apr – Metropolitan Opera, New York: La rondine Apr/May – Metropolitan Opera, New York: Madama Butterfly | Waves: Music by Rameau · Ravel · Alkan traverses 200 years of French keyboard music “Liu’s awesomely effortless virtuosity consistently oozes charisma and insouciance” Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com, reviewing Chopin Victory at the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition in October 2021 turned Bruce Liu into a worldwide sensation. Deutsche Grammophon’s live album of his competition recordings was released to rave reviews the following month, and the Canadian-Chinese pianist became an exclusive DG artist in March 2022. He released a series of Rameau and Chopin singles in 2022, and an acclaimed interpretation of J.S. Bach’s French Suite No. 5 in April this year (“[a] carefully conceived and superbly played reading” ClassicalMusic.com). As a result, he has already amassed over 25 million streams across all platforms.Liu has now recorded his much-anticipated debut studio album, its repertoire spanning two centuries of French keyboard music and including two works new to the DG catalogue. Waves: Music by Rameau · Ravel · Alkan, featuring liner notes by Gramophone editor James Jolly, comes out digitally, on CD and vinyl (2 LPs), and as a signed limited-edition deluxe version on 3 November 2023. Three singles with performance videos will be released in advance of the album: the Gavotte from Rameau’s Suite in A minor on 18 August – coinciding with Liu’s Hollywood Bowl debut; “Une barque sur l’océan” from Ravel’s Miroirs on 22 September; and the Menuets from Rameau’s Suite in G major on 20 October. Since winning the Chopin Competition Bruce Liu has become renowned for his breathtaking, charismatic live performances. Recording an entire studio album therefore posed a different challenge, but one he has relished. “For me, it’s in a studio that you can really make your own puzzle,” he explains. “It’s like making a piece of art, putting everything together.” The Paris-born pianist has taken a historical approach to his repertoire choices, focusing on three French composers who played a part in the evolution of keyboard music between the 18th and early 20th centuries. From the extensive output of Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) he plays excerpts from the Pièces de clavessin and Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin, including programmatic works such as La poule and Les sauvages, as well as dance movements. Rameau was of course writing before the invention of the piano, and Liu has spent time studying with harpsichordists to refine the subtleties of his interpretations. A celebrity in his own day, virtuoso pianist Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-88) wrote almost exclusively for his own instrument. Liu discovered his fiendishly difficult music when he was a student and was keen to introduce it to a wider audience. Both the exuberant Le festin d’Ésope and the peaceful Barcarolle are new additions to DG’s catalogue. From the 20th century, Liu has chosen Miroirs by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). Several of the suite’s five movements reflect the nature theme that runs through this album, whose title picks up both on this – notably Alkan’s Barcarolle and Ravel’s “Une barque sur l’océan” – and on Liu’s spontaneous style: “The sea is always changing,” he notes. “And my approach to the music I play is never fixed.” Live audiences can enjoy the instinctive music-making captured on Waves at venues around the globe, with Miroirs and music by Rameau forming part of this exciting pianist’s recital repertoire for the 2023-24 season. Bruce Liu – forthcoming engagements: 18/19 Aug – Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles (Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1) 25 Aug – Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw 16 Sep – Place des Arts, Montreal (Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2) 17 Sep – Église Sainte-Suzanne, Montreal (Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2) 23/24 Sep – Anneliese Brost Musikforum Ruhr, Bochum (Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5) 29 Sep – Helsinki Music Centre (Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5) 30 Sep – Finnish National Opera, Helsinki (Rameau, Beethoven, Chopin, Kapustin) 04 Oct – Tonhalle, Zürich (Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1) 15 Oct – Kitakyushu Soleil Hall (Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1) 16/18 Oct – Suntory Hall, Tokyo (Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1/Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2) 19 Oct – Civic Cultural Center MUSE, Tokorozawa (Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1) 20 Oct – Fuji City Cultural Center, Fuji (Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1) 21 Oct – Symphony Hall, Osaka (Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2) 27 Oct – Symphony Hall, Shanghai (Chopin, Ravel, Liszt) 23/24 Nov – Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall, Singapur (Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1) 28 Nov – Philharmonie de Paris (J.S. Bach, Chopin, Kapustin, Rameau) 1 Dec – Philharmonic, Szczecin (Rameau, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel) 3 Dec – Alte Oper, Frankfurt (Rameau, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel) 7 Dec – Concertgebouw, Amsterdam (Rameau, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel) 10 Dec – Philharmonie, Essen (Rameau, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel) |
Jonathan Tetelman and Bruce Liu announces debut albums.
