Giordano: Andrea Chénier (DVD) – Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros

Composer: Umberto Giordano
Artists: Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros, George Petean, Rachael Wilson, Helena Zubanovich, Larissa Diadkova, Andrea Borghini, Johannes Kammler, Christian Rieger, Tim Kuypers, Ulrich Reß, Kevin Conners, Callum Thorpe, Alexander Milev, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Bayerischer Staatsopernchor
Conductor: Marco Armiliato
Director: Philipp Stölzl
Video Format: NTSC 16:9
Audio Format: Stereo & DTS 5.1
Region: All Regions
Language: Italian
Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Japanese, Korean
Number of Discs: 1
Studio: Bayerische Staatsoper
Release Date: August 18, 2023
Run Time: 95 minutes

First performed in 1896, Andrea Chénier is rightly regarded as one of the key works of verismo. With this melodrama about the historical poet André Chénier during the upheavals of the French Revolution, composer Umberto Giordano created an undisputed masterpiece, an emotionally charged work in which a great love that triumphs over class differences and social discord finds fulfilment only in death. 

Previously unseen at Munich’s Nationaltheater, Giordano’s opera entered the repertory in 2017 in a production by Philipp Stölzl, who was making his debut with the Bayerische Staatsoper. Stölzl is a household name in the German-speaking world both as a filmmaker and as a director of plays and operas. Both before and since then he has demonstrated his imaginative, detailed and powerfully expressive approach to direction. 

The cast is a spectacular one. Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros have been seen as the operatic dream couple since they appeared together in Lohengrin in 2009. This is the fourth time that they have worked together on a new production in Munich. A fortunate set of circumstances meant that it was possible to record two revivals later that same year. Like the first night, all were completely sold out.

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