Anna Netrebko

Concert performance of P. I. Tchaikovsky’s opera Iolanta

Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra
Slovenian Chamber Choir
Emmanuel Villaume – conductor

Operatic superstar Anna Netrebko makes her first and long awaited appearance in Prague with a concert performance of Tchaikovsky´s Iolanta. One of Anna Netrebko´s most treasured roles, she first debuted it under the baton of Valery Gergiev during a co-production between the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, to then perform it again in 2011 during the Salzburg Festival. The overwhelming success and public demand led to a European tour of this masterpiece. She is joined by the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and French conductor, Emmanuel Villaume.

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Anna Netrebko is no longer just the darling of the opera world: she is enchanting audiences around the globe while continuing to cultivate the respect and admiration of opera’s most devoted and demanding fans. Her beautiful, dark, and distinctive voice, together with her elegant and alluring stage presence, have prompted critics to hail the Russian soprano as “Audrey Hepburn with a voice,” and “a singer who simply has it all: a voice of astounding purity, precision, and scope, extensive dynamic and tonal range, imagination, insight, and wit – all combined with a dazzling charisma that makes it all but impossible to look away when she is performing.”

Since her triumphant Salzburg Festival debut in 2002 as Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Anna Netrebko has gone on to appear with nearly all of the world’s great opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Paris Opera, the Zurich Opera, the Berlin State Opera, and Munich’s Bavarian State Opera. She also frequently returns to the Kirov Opera at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg (where she made her stage debut as Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro) to collaborate with her longtime mentor, conductor Valery Gergiev.

Anna Netrebko made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2002 as Natasha in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, a role she has also sung at London’s Covent Garden, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, and Madrid’s Teatro Real. Ms. Netrebko’s other signature roles include Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème; Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata and Gilda in his Rigoletto; Giulietta in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Elvira in his I puritani, and Amina in his La sonnambula; Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Susanna in his Le nozze di Figaro; Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Adina in his L’elisir d’amore, and the title roles in his Lucia di Lammermoor and Anna Bolena; Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette; the title roles in Massenet’s Manon and Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta.

An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist, Anna Netrebko boasts an extensive discography that includes solo albums, complete opera recordings, and DVDs. Her solo discs as well as her full-length opera recordings La traviata, Le nozze di Figaro, La bohème, and I Capuleti e i Montecchi have all been bestsellers. Her recording Duets, with her frequent stage partner, tenor Rolando Villazón, claimed the top spot on the Billboard classical chart shortly after its release in the U.S., and in Europe Duets set a record for the best debut ever for a classical album, climbing to the top of the pop charts in several countries.

Further confirming her status as “the reigning new diva of the early 21st century,” in 2007 Anna Netrebko became the first opera singer ever to be named to the TIME 100 list – Time magazine’s list of the most influential people in the world. Ms. Netrebko has been profiled in numerous glossy magazines, including Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Town & Country, to name but a few. She has also been featured on television shows such as ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, CBS’s 60 Minutes, and Germany’s Wetten, dass...?, and documentaries on her have been televised in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Russia, and Switzerland.

Anna Netrebko’s other honors and awards include Grammy nominations for her recordings Violetta and Russian Album, Musical America’s 2008 “Musician of the Year,” Germany’s prestigious Bambi Award, the U.K.’s Classical BRIT Awards for “Singer of the Year” and “Female Artist of the Year,” and seven German Echo Klassik awards. In 2005, she was awarded the Russian State Prize – the country’s highest award in the field of arts and literature – by President Vladimir Putin, and in 2008 the President bestowed on her the title of “People’s Artist of Russia.”

Cast

Iolanta	Anna Netrebko
Count Vaudemont	Sergey Skorokhodov
Robert	Lucas Meacham
Rene	Vitalij Kowaljow
Bertrand	Luka Debevec Mayer
Ibn Hakia	Vladislav Sulimsky
Almeric	JunHo You
Laura	Nuška Rojko
Marta	Monika Bohinec
Brigitta	Theresa Plut