Salzburger Festspiele 2021

​In August 2021, the Monteverdi Choir joined forces with the Camerata Salzburg as John Eliot Gardiner led them in two concerts at the Salzburger Festspiele.

​Programme 1 (Thursday 19 August):
Robert Schumann
Requiem für Mignon, Op. 98b
Nachtlied, Op. 108
Manfred — Dramatic poem in three parts by Lord Byron, Op. 115

Programme 2 (Saturday 21 August):
Felix Mendelssohn
Die erste Walpurgisnacht, Op. 60
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21 / Op. 61

“The Monteverdi Choir exuded irrepressible power with a crystal clear German diction and a splendid transparency of singing.”
Karl Harb – Salzburger Nachrichten

As part of the Salzburger Festspiele’s 2021 summer festival, the Monteverdi Choir and John Eliot Gardiner performed alongside the Camerata Salzburg and a cast of soloists and narrators in two concerts of early Romantic German music at the Haus für Mozart. The first programme consisted of music exclusively by Robert Schumann, including the composer’s musical version of Lord Byron’s poem Manfred, which featured the German actor Jens Harzer as the narrator. The second programme, dedicated to the music of Felix Mendelssohn, saw the Monteverdi Choir exploring the pagan rituals of Druids in Die erste Walpurgisnacht, and turning into fairies for the famous incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a work they recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra in 2016 to critical acclaim.

Image © SF Marco Borrelli