For immediate release
15 Oct 2024
Branded “perfect, one of the finest lieder singers around”, world-leading soprano Juliane Banse has enthralled audiences around the world throughout her luminous career with her “versatility, dramatic intelligence and an appealing lightness of touch” (BBC Music Magazine). She returns to Hong Kong after seven years away to appear in two spectacular programmes: on 2 Nov (Sat), she will join hands with Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Music Director Christoph Poppen in a concert centred around beloved lieder by Richard Strauss and Mahler, including the timeless Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen; on 30 Oct (Wed), she will present an intimate evening of songs and chamber music with selected musicians of the orchestra and local star pianist Colleen Lee, delivering an exquisite programme of Mahler, Respighi, Chausson and more.
Mahler and Richard Strauss – On Love and Death
2 Nov 2024 (Sat) 8pm
Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall
HKS Recital Series: An Evening of Songs + Chamber Music with Juliane Banse
30 Oct 2024 (Wed) 8pm
Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall
Tickets are now on sale; enjoy a 20% discount when you purchase standard tickets to both performances!
One of the most distinguished and versatile sopranos to have ever graced the international stage, Juliane Banse’s rise to stardom came at the age of 20 when she took on the role of Pamina in The Magic Flute at the Komische Oper Berlin. She has since enjoyed close working relationships with such monumental conductors and prestigious companies as Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera New York etc, and was twice-awarded the ECHO Klassik for her recorded albums. Her cross-genre project Winterreise, where she appears both as singer and dancer, has received wide critical acclaim.
In her return visit to Hong Kong, Banse will join hands with Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Music Director Christoph Poppen to showcase her authoritative interpretation of Mahler’s timeless Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen, as well as a collection of exquisite lieder by Richard Strauss composed for his wife including Die Georgine, Das Rosenband, Ruhe, Meine Seele, Allerseelen, Zueignung and Cäcilie. The concert will culminate in Richard Strauss’ transcendent Tod und Verklärung, an emotionally profound tone poem contemplating what lies beyond death.
Banse will also appear in “An Evening of Songs + Chamber Music with Juliane Banse”, a chamber concert in collaboration with selected musicians from Hong Kong Sinfonietta and local star pianist Colleen Lee. A captivating programme of Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder, Respighi’s Il Tramonto (The Sunset), Chausson’s Chanson Perpétuelle, as well as the world première of James Cuddeford’s Ave Maria: Four Songs for Voice & Violin is in store; together with great instrumental chamber works by Richard Strauss and Mahler, it promises to be an intimate evening to remember.
Additionally, Banse will be appearing at the Goethe-Institut on 29 Oct (Tue) at 6:30pm for a casual meet and chat session over drinks (free admission), where she will share her artistic and personal journey to becoming one of the most versatile and well-respected figures in the arts today.
Hong Kong Sinfonietta
Mahler and Richard Strauss – On Love and Death
2 Nov 2024 (Saturday) | 8pm
Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall
$520, $380, $220
Music Director/Conductor: Christoph Poppen
Soprano: Juliane Banse
Programme
Mozart – Idomeneo Overture, K366
Ferran Cruixent – Solaria (2015) (Asian première)
Richard Strauss – Die Georgine, Op 10 No 4
Richard Strauss – Das Rosenband, Op 36 No 1
Richard Strauss – Ruhe, Meine Seele, Op 27 No 1
Richard Strauss – Allerseelen, Op 10 No 8
Richard Strauss – Zueignung, Op 10 No 1
Richard Strauss – Cäcilie, Op 27 No 2)
Mahler – Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen
Richard Strauss – Tod und Verklärung, Op 24
HKS Recital Series:
An Evening of Songs + Chamber Music with Juliane Banse
30 Oct 2024 (Wednesday) | 8pm
Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall
$450, $320, $180
Soprano: Juliane Banse
Piano: Colleen Lee (HKS Artist Associate 2010-2011)
Violin: James Cuddeford, Kim In-sun, Le Hoai-nam
Viola: Chan Tsz-shun Elvis, Lau Sum-yin
Cello: Chang Pei-chieh, Laurent Perrin
Programme
Mahler – Piano Quartet in A minor
Mahler – Rückert-Lieder
Respighi – Il Tramonto (The Sunset)
James Cuddeford – Ave Maria: Four Songs for Voice & Violin (world première)
Richard Strauss – String Sextet from Capriccio, Op 85
Chausson – Chanson Perpétuelle, Op 37
- Half-price tickets available for full-time students, senior citizens, people with disabilities and their minder, and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients
- 10% discount for group bookings of 4 or more standard tickets
- 20% discount when purchasing standard tickets to both performances mentioned above
- Suitable for 6 years old or above
- Tickets at URBTIX
- Tickets online at POPTICKET (no handling fee)
*********************************************************************************
Christoph Poppen Music Director/Conductor
Conductor, soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue, Christoph Poppen has made a name for himself in diverse roles in the international musical world. As Music Director of Hong Kong Sinfonietta from the 2023/2024 season, he works closely with Music Director Emeritus Yip Wing-sie and Associate Conductor Vivian Ip on the artistic development of the orchestra, creating inspiring and innovative programmes which bring music closer to the community. His 2024/2025 season with the orchestra is highlighted by collaborations with such illustrious artists as Juliane Banse, Sayaka Shoji, Sunwook Kim and Pavel Kolesnikov.
As Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s Principal Guest Conductor between 2015-2023, Poppen has presented to the Hong Kong audience a rich repertoire ranging from Austro-German masterpieces to contemporary works, brought the orchestra on tour to Germany and Portugal, and taken up the position of Co-chair of the Hong Kong International Conducting Competition. Away from Hong Kong, he continues his highly successful collaborations with Cologne Chamber Orchestra as Principal Conductor and Israel Chamber Orchestra as Principal Guest Conductor, while being the Artistic Director of the Marvão International Music Festival. Highlights in the 2023/2024 season included bringing the WDR Rundfunkchor Köln to Hong Kong for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, the Asian première of William Kentridge’s Oh, To Believe In Another World, and the continuation of his recorded cycle of the complete Mozart Masses with Cologne Chamber Orchestra for Naxos.
From 1995-2006, Poppen was Artistic Director of Munich Chamber Orchestra, establishing the ensemble’s new profile in a short period of time. His distinctive programmes, often contrasting classical and contemporary styles with numerous commissioned works, were highly successful. In 2006, he was appointed Music Director of Radio Symphony Orchestra Saarbrücken and from 2007-2011, he was Music Director of the newly formed Deutsche Radio Philharmonie. He has appeared with orchestras such as Vienna Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Detroit Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Bamberg Symphony, Camerata Salzburg, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Indianapolis Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic and Singapore Symphony Orchestra. He also has a strong presence in Italy, performing regularly with the country’s leading orchestras and at festivals such as the Venice Biennale, as well as giving masterclasses. As an opera conductor, he has enjoyed acclaimed collaborations with Staatsoper Stuttgart, Oper Frankfurt, Opera Köln, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Aalto-Musiktheater in Essen and the RuhrTriennale.
Founded by Poppen in 2014, the Marvão International Music Festival has grown to become a highly successful and award-winning musical event featuring soloists such as Jörg Widmann, Augustin Hadelich, Javier Perianes and Clara-Jumi Kang. He also founded the International Academy for Music, Arts and Science in Marvão in 2019, and was the Artistic Director of the Classic Revolution Festival in Seoul, South Korea between 2020-2022, for which he curated highly inventive programmes.
As a prize-winning violinist, Poppen co-founded the Cherubini Quartet in 1978. He was appointed Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Hochschule für Musik Detmold, and later at Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where he was President from 1996 to 2000. From 2001 to 2005, he was Artistic Director of the renowned ARD International Music Competition. Since 2003, he has been Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich. Since the 2021/2022 academic year, he has been Chair Professor of Violin at the prestigious Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid.
*********************************************************************************
Juliane Banse Soprano
Few artists of her generation are as successful in so many areas with such a wide range of repertoire as soprano Juliane Banse. Her artistic breakthrough came at the age of 20 as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Komische Oper Berlin in a production by Harry Kupfer, and since then she has built an operatic repertoire including the Feldmarschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, the Countess in Figaro, Fiordiligi in Così Fan Tutte, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito, Genoveva (title role), Leonore in Fidelio, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Arabella (title role), Grete in Der Ferne Klang etc.
Born in southern Germany and raised in Zürich, Banse first took lessons with Paul Steiner, later with Ruth Rohner at the Zürich Opera House, and then completed her studies with Brigitte Fassbaender and Daphne Evangelatos in Munich. She teaches as a professor at the Salzburg Mozarteum and has been the Chair of Voice at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid since 2023. She also gives masterclasses at home and abroad and is a sought-after jury member at international competitions.
In the concert field, Banse performs a wide-ranging repertoire, which has brought her together with renowned conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Chailly, Bernard Haitink, Franz Welser-Möst, Marin Alsop, Zubin Mehta and Manfred Honeck. Manfred Trojahn wrote the chamber music version of Four Women from Shakespeare for her. In 2022, she performed Heinz Holliger’s Dämmerlicht in São Paulo and Puneigä in Geneva. In February 2024, she gave a guest performance at the Cologne Philharmonie with the WDR Rundfunkchor under the direction of Christoph Poppen.
Lied recitals and chamber music have always been an essential part of Banse’s calendar. She brought her much sought-after project Winterreise to the Oxford International Song Festival in 2023, sung and danced by herself (together with dancer István Simon) and accompanied on the piano by Alexander Krichel, choreographed by Andreas Heise.
In the opera field, recent engagements include Zdenka in Strauss’ Arabella at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus in Chicago, the world première of Holliger’s opera Lunea in Zürich, the title roles in the revival of Walter Braunfels’ Jeanne d’Arc in Cologne and in the world première of Holliger’s Snow White at Zürich Opera House, Elsa von Brabant in Wagner’s Lohengrin in Nantes and Angers, as well as leading roles in Willem Jeths’ The Tell-Tale Heart at the Concertgebouw, Grigori Frid’s Diary of Anne Frank at the Theater an der Wien, and Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine at the Staatsoper Berlin and Cologne Opera. In the 2023/2024 season, she was Ellice Staverton in the world première of the chamber play Septembersonate by Manfred Trojahn under the baton of Vitali Alekseenok and directed by Johannes Erath at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.
Banse has recorded numerous award-winning CDs, two of which were awarded the ECHO Klassik: Braunfels’ Jeanne d’Arc with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Manfred Honeck, and Mahler’s Symphony No 8 with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under the baton of David Zinman. Her discography further includes Unanswered Love with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie and Christoph Poppen, Im Arm der Liebe with the Munich Radio Orchestra, Hindemith’s Das Marienleben with Martin Helmchen, Holliger’s Luena with Christian Gerhaher on the ECM label and Hindemith’s Cardillac on BR-Klassik.
*********************************************************************************
With support from
Download Press ReleaseDownload Images:
Media Enquiry
Amanda Mok
Senior Marketing & Development Manager, Hong Kong Sinfonietta
Email: amanda.mok@hksinfonietta.org
Direct Line: +852 3607 2328