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The Snow Queen

Hans Abrahamsen's The Snow Queen: soprano Barbara Hannigan stars in this award-winning opera inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale.

Hans Abrahamsen: he Snow Queen.
Libretto: Hans Abrahamsen and Henrik Engelbrecht after Hans Christian Andersen.

Barbara Hannigan stars in the English language version premiere of Hans Abrahamsen's award-winning opera. This long-awaited first opera by one of Denmark's leading composers is a multi-faceted exploration of the many layers in Hans Christan Andersen's fairy tale. The story of the snow and ice of winter giving way to spring serves Hans Abrahamsen as a metaphor for the creative process itself and for the place of love and friendship in the world. As one reviewer wrote: 'In a world of snow, he has created a poem out of the fairy tale."
The children, Gerda and Kay, are close friends. They live across an alley from each other and happily chat, play, and tend a rose which is growing in their backyard. The children are content until tragedy strikes: Kay鈥檚 eye and heart are pierced with fragments of a mirror, and the loving boy Kay then vanishes. The Snow Queen has put him under her spell and taken him to her palace of snow and ice. It is up to Gerda to find him and free him.

Gerda....Barbara Hannigan (soprano)
Kay....Rachael Wilson (mezzo soprano)
Grandmother / Old Lady / Finnish Woman..... Katarina Dalayman (soprano)
Snow Queen / Reindeer / Clock..... Peter Rose (bass)
Princess.....Caroline Wettergreen (soprano)
Dean Power, Prince
Forest Crow.....Kevin Conners (tenor)
Castle Crow.....Owen Willetts (counter tenor)
Bavarian State Opera Chorus
Stellario Fagone, chorus director
Bavarian State Orchestra
Cornelius Meister, conductor

Recorded at The Bavarian State Opera, Munich on 28/12/2019

Followed at approx 3.35pm more recent performances from the 麻豆官网首页入口 National Orchestra of Wales including a work inspired by inherent simplicity of an iris flower.

Per N酶rg氓rd: Iris
麻豆官网首页入口 National Orchestra of Wales, Geoffrey Paterson (conductor)

Prokofiev: Sonata for Solo Violin
Webern: Pasacaglia / 12:07
麻豆官网首页入口 National Orchestra of Wales, Thomas Sondergard (conductor)

Nielsen: Clarinet Concerto
Robert Plane (clarinet)
麻豆官网首页入口 National Orchestra of Wales, Thomas Sondergard (conductor)

Photo (c) W.H枚sl

3 hours

Music Played

  • Hans Abrahamsen

    The Snow Queen Prologue and Acts 1 and 2

    Singer: Barbara Hannigan. Singer: Rachael Wilson. Choir: Choir of the Bavarian State Opera. Orchestra: Bavarian State Orchestra. Conductor: Cornelius Meister.
  • Hans Abrahamsen

    The Snow Queen_Act 3

    Singer: Barbara Hannigan. Singer: Rachael Wilson. Choir: Choir of the Bavarian State Opera. Orchestra: Bavarian State Orchestra. Conductor: Cornelius Meister.
  • Robert Schumann

    Kind im Einschlummern (Kinderszenen, Op 15)

    Performer: Martha Argerich.
    • Kinderszenen / Kreisleriana.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 12.
  • Per N酶rg氓rd

    Iris

    Orchestra: 麻豆官网首页入口 National Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Geoffrey Paterson.
  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Violin sonata in D major, Op 115

    Orchestra: 麻豆官网首页入口 National Orchestra of Wales. Director: Lesley Hatfield.
  • Anton Webern

    Passacaglia, Op 1

    Orchestra: 麻豆官网首页入口 National Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Thomas S酶nderg氓rd.
  • Carl Nielsen

    Clarinet concerto, Op 57

    Performer: Robert Plane. Orchestra: 麻豆官网首页入口 National Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Thomas S酶nderg氓rd.

Broadcast

  • Thu 3 Dec 2020 14:00