July 7th, 2019 - Ways to Nirvana

A guest of the most prestigious institutions in France and abroad since its creation in 2005, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie performs at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Opéra Garnier, and the Opéra Comique, and at international festivals (Festival d’art lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence, Festival international d’opéra baroque de Beaune, BBC Proms). It appears across Europe, at La Fenice (Venice), Bozar (Brussels), the Barbican Centre (London), the Musikfest Bremen, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Cologne Philharmonie, and the Dortmund Konzerthaus.

The musicians of Le Cercle de l’Harmonie were trained in the leading conservatoires dedicated to performance on period instruments, such as those of The Hague, Basel, and Paris. They are for the most part heirs to the performing revolution initiated in the middle of the twentieth century by the great theorists Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt.

Le Cercle de l’Harmonie also welcomes musicians from all backgrounds, representative of a recent shift affecting the musical world, trained in modern techniques and convinced of the necessity of using period instruments to defend a certain type of repertory, that championed by Le Cercle de l’Harmonie.

Jérémie Rhorer and the musicians are united in the certainty that it is by using the instruments for which composers wrote and conceived their works that we will be able to rediscover their authenticity and their spirit. They defend the intimate relationship between text and musical texture.

Alongside the greatest masterpieces of Mozart and Haydn, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie has devoted itself to the French repertory, and particularly that of the pivotal era stretching from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries, from Gluck to Wagner by way of Berlioz.

The discography of Jérémie Rhorer and Le Cercle de l’Harmonie expands year on year: Mozart arias sung by Diana Damrau, Mozart’s Symphonies nos. 25, 26, and 29, arias by J. C. Bach sung by Philippe Jaroussky on Virgin Classics; Cherubini’s Lodoïska, a programme of symphonic and concertante music by Reber, Berlioz and Liszt, and a Beethoven disc including the First Symphony and Violin Romance in F on Ambroisie-Naïve; Die Entführung aus dem Serail, La clemenza di Tito and Don Giovanni on the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées/Alpha Classics label.

Le Cercle de l’Harmonie enjoys the support of the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, and is sponsored by the Caisse des Dépôts and Montpensier Finance.

Jérémie Rhorer, 45, is one of the most exciting and versatile conductors of his generation. He continues in the tradition of artist-innovator as the founder and Music Director of Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, leading the exploration of the repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries using period instruments and original tuning. As a conductor, Rhorer is an equally acclaimed interpreter of the works of Mozart as well as modern works. A winner of the Prix Pierre Cardin, Jérémie Rhorer is also a well-respected composer.

Jérémie Rhorer has conducted some of the most distinguished international orchestras, including the Montréal Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Czech Philharmonic. In-demand as an opera conductor, Rhorer has led productions at the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, La Monnaie in Brussells, the Teatro Real in Madrid, and the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Rhorer has also guest conducted at some of Europe’s most prestigious international festivals, such as Aix-en-Provence, Glyndebourne, Edinburgh, the BBC Proms, the Salzburg Festival, and the Spoleto Festival. With Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, he has led pioneering new interpretations of standard operatic works, most recently conducting performances of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia using period instrumentsat the Edinburgh International Festival and Musikfest Bremen in the summer 2018.

Rhorer has forged a close relationship with the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, where he has conducted a wide range of standard, rarely-performed, and contemporary operas. Following his debut there in 2013 with Spontini’s La vestale, Rhorer gave a celebrated interpretation of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites directed by Olivier Ply, which received a BBC Music Magazine Award 2016 for its DVD recording. Rhorer also led the Théâtre des Champs-Elysée’s Mozart series over several seasons, conducting Le Cercle de l’Harmonie in La clemenza di Tito (December 2014), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (September 2015), and Don Giovanni (December 2016). Live recordings of La clemenza di Tito and Die Entführung aus dem Serail were both released on CD by Alpha Classics. In November and December 2018, Rhorer returned to Théâtre des Champs-Elysées to conduct Le Cercle de l’Harmonie in a new production of Verdi’s La traviata directed by Deborah Warner using Verdi’s original 432 Hz tuning. In March 2019, Rhorer will return to conduct Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos directed by Katie Mitchell.

Highlights of Rhorer’s Fall 2018 season included appearances with the Orchesta della Svizzera Italiana and Kammerorchester Basel in September, and conducting the London Philharmonic in Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Poulenc’s Orff’s Carmina Burana in October. His season continues in 2019conducting the Teatro la Fenice Orchestra, Brucknerorchester Linz, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and on tour in Germany and Austria with the Russian National Orchestra. 

Wegener’s ability cannot be disputed. The placement of her voice is flawless, she has the complete range of ambitious tone colour, superb timbre that still remains smooth even at a high volume, and perfect legato. Neue Zürcher Zeitung

Sarah Wegener approaches every role with intensity, as if it were chamber music. She enthrals listeners with the richness and warmth of her voice, for example in performances of Mahler’s 8^th Symphony under Eliahu Inbal in Hamburg and Kent Nagano in Montreal, as well as in her War and Peace programme shaped around works by Handel and Purcell, which she recently presented at the SWR Schwetzingen Festival. Her “marvellously radiant voice, as powerful as it is rich in colour” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) marks her out as a Lieder singer of the highest order, as shown on her highly-praised current CD Into the Deepest Sea. On the opera stage, she made successful debuts at the Royal Opera House in London and the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Georg Friedrich Haas’ Morgen und Abend.

Her remarkable versatility has ensured long-standing collaborations with her musical partners, such as the conductors Kent Nagano, Emilio Pomàrico, Peter Rundel, Tonu Kaljuste, Heinz Holliger and Frieder Bernius. Concerts and recitals have taken her to the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, the RuhrTriennale and the Handel Festival Halle, as well as the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Tonhalle Zürich, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Philharmonie Köln, the Casa da Música Porto and the Bozar in Brussels. She has sung leading opera roles at the Wiener Festwochen, the Theater Bonn and the Staatstheater Saarbrücken.

Highly regarded as a performer of both classical and romantic repertoire, as well as contemporary compositions, Sarah Wegener recently sang Dvořak’s Stabat Mater and Haydn’s Sieben letzte Worte (Philippe Herreweghe, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Collegium Vocale Gent), Hans Werner Henze’s Floß der Medusa (Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Cornelius Meister) and, in a sensational concert in Graz, Strauss‘ Vier letzte Lieder. She has given the premiere of numerous works by Georg Friedrich Haas, including the opera Bluthaus, for which she was chosen as Singer of the Year in 2010 by Opernwelt magazine. With the NDR Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Hengelbrock she performed Dunkle Saiten by Jörg Widmann, who also dedicated the solo part in his work Labyrinth III to her; a recording of the work with the WDR Symphony Orchestra was released in summer 2018.

Sarah Wegener’s discography includes recordings of Korngold’s Die stumme Serenade, Schubert’s Lazarus and Mozart’s C minor Mass as well as Fauré’s Pélleas et Mélisande and Rossini’s Petite Messe solennelle.Into the Deepest Sea, her first Lieder recording with the pianist Götz Payer, was released in November 2017 on CAvi-music.

The 2017/18 season was crowned by Sarah Wegner’s debut at the Salzburg Festival under the direction of Kent Nagano, performing Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. This season, she will return to the Musikkollegium Winterthur, followed by a performance of Schoenberg’s Six Orchestral Songs with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie in Saarbrücken. Now a regular guest with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, she will return to the orchestra to perform Handel’s Messiah, as well as performing Mozart’s Requiem in February with the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart. With Le Concert Lorrain she will take Handel’s Brockes Passion on tour, and she will make her second appearance at the Elbphilharmonie with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra under Kent Nagano, where Mahler’s 2^nd Symphony and Ligeti’s Requiem will be on the programme.

Following her double bass studies, the British-German soprano studied singing with Prof. Jaeger-Böhm in Stuttgart and took part in masterclasses with Dame Gwyneth Jones and Renée Morloc.

This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorised by the artist management.

http://sarah-wegener.com

Born in Roding, Germany, Katja Stuber studied at the Academy for Music and Theatre in Munich with Christian Gerhaher and graduated in 2008 with honours. She attended oratorio and lied seminars in Munich taught by Christoph Hammer, Juliane Banse and Helmut Deutsch. In Saarbrücken, she completed her master classes with Ruth Ziesak in April 2011, likewise with honours. She currently works with Margreet Honig in Amsterdam.

In the 2009/2010 season, Katja Stuber was an ensemble member of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich and returned for guest roles in following years. From 2014 to 2017, she was an ensemble member in the Staatstheater Darmstadt and made guest appearances at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden and Staatstheater in Bonn as well.

In summer 2011, the soprano celebrated her much anticipated debut at the Bayreuth Festival (role: A young shepherd) in a new production of Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser under the musical direction of Thomas Hengelbrock. She sang the same role at the 2012-2014 festivals under Christian Thielemann and Axel Kober. At the Salzburg Festival, she was the soprano soloist in Mozart's Requiem and sang the part of Belinda in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

As a concert soloist, Katja Stuber has performed with orchestras like the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Bach-Collegium Munich, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, Concerto Köln, the Balthasar Neumann-Ensemble, the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, the NDR Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
She has also sung under renowned conductors such as Daniel Harding, Peter Dijkstra, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Thomas Hengelbrock, Giovanni Antonini, Konrad Junghänel, Philippe Herreweghe, Herbert Blomstedt and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.

Katja Stuber can be heard in opera and concert recordings on labels such as SONY, Oehms-Classic, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and Naxos. Her first solo CD, "Lachen und Weinen", with songs by Schubert, Hindemith and Weill, together with the pianist Boris Kuznetsov, was released in March 2016 (www.cec-music.de). The soprano is a scholarship recipient of the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now organisation, the German Stage Association (Deutsche Bühnenverein) and the German Music Council (Deutsche Musikrat).

Since the 2017/2018 semester, Katja Stuber has held a position as full-time lecturer in voice at the Academy for Church Music and Music Education in Regensburg.

German tenor Werner Güra, born in Munich, received his musical training at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and comple¬ted his vocal studies with Profes¬sor Kurt Widmer. Furthermore he was coached by Nicolai Gedda, Professor Margreet Honig, Amsterdam, and Professor Wessela Zlateva, Vienna.

After guesting at the opera houses of Frankfurt and Basel he joined in 1995 the ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden where he sang the important Mozart and Rossini parts of his Fach. Daniel Barenboim invited Werner Güra for various productions at the Staatsoper Berlin. He continued as guest in Dresden and furthermore sang his highly acclaimed Mozart roles Tamino, Ferrando and Don Ottavio at Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova, Opera of Lille, La Monnaie Brussels and the Opéra National de Paris, at the Innsbruck Festival für Alte Musik and in Baden-Baden.

At this stage of his career, Werner Güra concentrates his activities to vocal-symphonic and oratoria works. He sang on the important European concert stages such as Konzerthaus and Musikverein Wien, Royal Festival Hall London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie Berlin, Philharmonie Paris and worked with many orchestras including Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the German,  Dutch, Spanish, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Gulbenkian Orchestra Lissabon, with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Michel Corboz, Sir Colin Davis, Adam Fischer, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Thomas Hengelbrock, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Marek Janowski, Armin Jordan, Philippe Jordan, Ton Koopman, Fabio Luisi, Kurt Masur, John Nelson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Roger Norrington, Trevor Pinnock, Helmuth Rilling, Sir András Schiff, Ralf Weikert, Thomas Zehetmair, David Zinman. The tenor enjoys frequent co-operation with Nikolaus Harnoncourt under whose baton he appeared at Wiener Musikverein, Styriarte Festival, Philharmonie München, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and on tour in Japan.

After a long period of only concert appearances Werner Güra decided to participate in Opera Zurich’s new production of “Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria” in May/June 2014.

Highlights of the season 2017/18 were recitals in Versailles, Ittingen and Paris as well as concerts with works by Bach and Schumann in Helsinki, Mendelssohn´s LOBGESANG in Hamburg, Haydn´s SEASONS with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Haydn´s CREATION and Händel´s MESSIAH with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck, a tour in Germany with Haydn´s CREATION, Bach´s MASS IN B MINOR at the Vienna Musikverein and his ST. MATTHEW PASSION in Rotterdam. Further highlights included Berlioz´ REQUIEM in Hannover, Beethoven´s IX SYMPHONY and Bach Cantatas in Hamburg.

Season 2018/19 sees Schubert´s MASS IN E-FLAT MAJOR at the Vienna Musikverein with Riccardo Mut, Britten´s WAR REQUIEM with the Vienna Symphony and Philppe Jordan, Bach´s MAGNIFICAT and cantatas in Vienna and Linz with Concentus Musicus Wien and Stefan Gottfried, Bach´s CHRISTMAS ORATORIO at the Vienna Konzerthaus with the Vienna Symphony and Philippe Jordan, Haydn´s CREATION in Eisenstadt, Beethoven´s 9th SYMPHONY in Munich, Mendelssohn´s DIE ERSTE WALPURGISNACHT in Brussels and Antwerp, Bach´s ST. JOHN PASSION with Akamus in Brescia, Munich and Berlin, followed by Schubert´s MASS IN E-FLAT MAJOR with The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst, Bach´s ST. MATTHEW PASSION with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Juanjo Mena as well as Beethoven´s 9th SYMPHONY with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Manfred Honeck.

In recital, Werner Güra appears at the Berlin Konzerthaus, La Monnaie in Brussels, Pierre Boulez Hall in Berlin, London Wigmore Hall and in Geneva.

Recordings include Fidelio (Jaquino) with Daniel Barenboim for Decca; under the label of Harmonia Mundi Werner Güra recorded Telemann's Orpheus, Schu¬mann's Der Rose Pilger-fahrt, Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium and Matthäus Passion (arias), and with René Jacobs Der hochmütige, gestürzte und wieder erhabene Croesus (Edison 2002), Così fan tutte and Haydn’s Jahreszeiten. For Sony/BMG he recorded Haydn’s Orlando Paladino and Die Jahreszeiten as well as Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium, and. Unitel Classica launched on DVD Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, all of these under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt. The recently launched CD of Bach’s St Matthew Passion conducted by René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi) features Werner Güra as Evangelist for which he received high international acclaim.

Werner Güra is also much appreciated as Lied interpreter and gives recitals amongst others in the London Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Lincoln Center New York, Musikverein Wien, at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. In autumn 2000 appeared Werner Güra's first solo recording for Harmonia Mundi: Schubert - Die schöne Müllerin, to be followed by Schumann: Dichterliebe, Liederkreis and Hugo Wolf’s Mörike Lieder, all with pianist Jan Schultsz. Latest releases, also by Harmonia Mundi and with pianist Christoph Berner, are Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden, featuring songs by Clara & Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, Schubert’s Schwanengesang, Winterreise, and Mozart Lieder. All these solo CDs received the Diapason d’or and were elected Editor’s Choice in Gramophone. For his Winterreise Werner Güra received the BBC Music Magazine Award “Vocal” 2011. For his latest Schubert-CD Willkommen und Abschied he was awarded the prestigious German ECHO-Klassik prize 2012.Latest release: Beethoven “Lieder & Bagatellen”.

Werner Güra teaches since 2009 at the Music Academy Zürich.

Sascha Emanuel Kramer was born in Zurich. In his childhood he got singing and acting lessons and was a soloist of the Zurich Boys' Choir. While studying law at the University of Zurich (MLaw, magna cum laude) Kramer got taught by Prof. Jakob Stämpfli. Since 2012 he is working together with the renowned Prof. Jane Thorner-Mengedoht. In 2015 he as well finished his studies at the Zurich University of the Arts with distinction. 

Sascha Emanuel Kramer already made his début at the Salzburger Festspiele in 2013, when he was part of the Young Singers Project (“Akademie Meistersinger”), singing the role of an apprentice (inMeistersinger von Nürnberg). In 2014 he performed in several Suisse theaters, singing the tenor part in Mozart’s opera “Il Re Pastore”. He is also a keen recitalist, who has already performed in the Tonhalle of Zurich (UA 2014: “Corona”, Matthew Aucoin). In 2015 Sascha Emanuel Kramer sang Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the ensemble Spira Mirabilis in different theaters in Italy. In 2015 the promising Swiss tenor sang Beethoven's 9th Symphony in such splendid venues as the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Kulturkasino in Bern and in the Stadtcasino in Basel.

In 2015/2016 Sascha Emanuel Kramer was part of the prestigious “Accademia Teatro alla Scala“, where he got many valuable musical suggestions by famous maestros, such as Renato Bruson, Luciana Serra, Luciana D’Intino and Vincenzo Scalera. He also made his debut at the renowned Teatro alla Scala singing the role of a Soldier (in Wozzeck), Tierhändler (in Rosenkavalier) and Monostatos in a new production of the Magic Flute, put on stage by Peter Stein.

From 2016 to 2018 Sascha Emanuel Kramer was part of the International Opera Studio of the illustrious „Staatsoper Hamburg“. During this time, he sang several important roles such as Tamino (in "Erzittre, feiger Bösewicht!), Malcolm (Macbeth), Borsa (Rigoletto), Flute (Midsummer Night's Dream), Andres (Wozzeck) and Jaquino (Fidelio).

As a much sought-after Tamino of the youngest generation, he already sang new productions of the „Magic Flute“ in several important theatres such as the „Staatsoper Hamburg“, the „Opera de Toulon“ and at the „Greek National Opera“ in Athens.

In 2018/2019 he will sing again Tamino (Grand Theatre Shanghai), followed by several concerts with the Klangforum Wien and a new production of Fidelio at the Teatro Communale di Bologna singing Jaquino. At the „Biennale di Venezia“ 2018 he will sing a world premiere as Dalí in „El sueño de Dalí en una noche de Picasso“.

Despite his young career, Sascha Emanuel Kramer has already sung under the baton of distinguished conductors such as Adam Fischer, Daniele Gatti, Zubin Mehta, Ingo Metzmacher and Kent Nagano, working with stage directors such as Achim Freyer, Stefan Herheim, Harry Kupfer, Vera Nemirova and Peter Stein. 

Sascha Emanuel Kramer is laureate of the “Prof. Armin Weltner Stiftung” as well as awardee of the “sic itur ad astra foundation“.

Croatian bass-baritone, Krešimir Stražanac, was born 1983 in Croatia.

He studied voice with Dunja Vejzović and art song interpretation with Cornelis Witthoefft at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart and privately with Jane Thorner Mengedoht and Hanns-Friedrich Kunz.

After the studies, Mr. Stražanac joined the Zürich Opera roster as an ensemble member. He appeared as Baron Tusenbach in the opera house premiere of Péter Eötvös's Three Sisters, Ping in Turandot, Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Fernando in Fidelio and Dr. David Livesey in the world premiere of Frank Schwemmer's Die Schatzinsel under the batons of such conductors as Nello Santi, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Peter Schneider, Franz Welser-Möst, Carlo Rizzi, Bernard Haitink and Placido Domingo. In 2017 he had his debut at the Bavarian State Opera Munich with the role of Pietro Fléville in the new production of Umberto Giordanos Andrea Chénier.

The bass-baritone won the International Cantilena Competition in Bayreuth (Opera/Operetta Division) and the International La Voce Competition of Bavarian Radio and Television (Art Song Category) as well as the International Hugo Wolf Competition in the composer's birthplace (Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia). He earned further prizes at the International Paula Salomon Lindberg Competition in Berlin and the Opera Competition of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.

Mr. Stražanac has an extensive oratorio and concert repertoire, including J.S. Bach's and Telemann's Bass Cantatas, the Passions, B-minor Mass (BWV 232) and Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248), Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Haydn's The Creation, the Brahms and Mozart Requiems, Mendelssohn's Elijah and St. Paul, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater, Franck's Les Béatitudes, Bruckner's Te Deum, and many additional works spanning early Baroque to contemporary music.

During the 2015-2016 season the bass-baritone made debuts with the following ensembles: Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (Schoenberg's Survivor from Warsaw and Brahms's Requiem) led by Jonathan Nott; the WDR Symphony Orchestra, performing Bach's Cantatas (BWV 43, BWV 140, BWV 127, BWV 11, BWV 92) and Christmas Oratorio for three special concerts at Cologne's Philharmonic Hall; Concerto Köln and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bach's St. John Passion); Collegium 1704 (Händel's Messiah); La Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias (Brahms's Requiem); the Staatskapelle Halle (Franz Schmidt's The Book with Seven Seals); the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (Schubert's Mass in A-flat Major); the Staatsorchester Stuttgart (St. John Passion, under the baton of Manfred Honeck); the Gächinger Kantorei (Bach's Magnificat and Cantata BWV 63); the Collegium Vocale Gent - Orchestre du Champs-Elysées, conducted by their founder, Philippe Herreweghe (Brahms's Vier ernste Gesänge, Op. 121 and Requiem); the Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra (Robert Schumann's Paradies und die Peri); the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (St. John Passion); and the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln (Brahms's Requiem).

Mr. Stražanac also returned to perform with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (a Mendelssohn Program) and the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Bach's St. Matthew Passion). In March 2017 the bass-baritone had his debut with the BRSO performing Bach's St. John Passion with Herbert Blomstedt on the podium (Munich, Herkulessaal).

Planned for the 2017-2018 season are debuts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders (Beethoven's Ninth Symphony);the Orchestre of Klangverwaltung (Haydns Creation with Enoch zu Guttenberg), the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Bach's B-minor Mass); the Gewandhaus Orchestra (Bach's St. John Passion); Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música (Mozart's Requiem); and the Oslo Philharmonic (St. John Passion).

It should be noted, moreover, that Mr. Stražanac frequently performs vocal recitals (art songs and operatic arias). Venues for these events have included Grand Théâtre de Dijon, Venice Casino, Bayreuth Stadthalle (Municipal Auditorium), Zagreb's HGZ (Croatian Music Institute) and Lisinski Concert Hall, and the Klagenfurt Konzerthaus. The cities of Lienz, Périgueux, Stuttgart, Ljubljana (Slovenian Philharmonic), and Dubrovnik (Summer Festival) have also hosted the bass-baritone in recital. Additionally, the artist has completed several recital tours of Japan.

On CD/DVD/Blu-ray Krešimir Stražanac is featured in complete recordings of Carmen (Welser-Möst, Decca), Fidelio (Haitink, BBC Opus Arte) and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (van Zweden, Quattro Live). A CD as well as a DVD of Bach's St. John Passion semi-staged was issued in January 2016 (Bavarian Radio Orchestra/Concerto Köln, BR Klassik). Awaiting imminent release are recordings of Mendelssohn's Psalms with the Munich Radio Orchestra (directed by Howard Arman) and Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Gächinger Kantorei (conducted by Hans Christoph Rademann).

Talent, a love of music and a willingness to work with the utmost dedication and perseverance – even to the smallest musical detail. That’s the secret of the Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy’s success. It was a success story right from the start when it was founded in 2007 as part of AUDI AG’s commitment to culture. The international awards and unanimous praise it has received from the music and media world alike gives testimony to the quality of this exceptional choir, which has become a fixed part of the annual Audi Summer Concerts. The some 70 young singers are also enthralling audiences outside the region with appearances in Munich, the Berlin Cathedral, Passau and even the Vatican. In 2010, the choir released its first CD, which was recorded with the Bavarian State Orchestra under the direction of Kent Nagano. At about the same time, the choir won its first international music award: a Gold Certificate for exceptional artistic achievement. The Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy was also an award winner during the 2011 “365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas” competition. The jury of experts praised the Audi young musicians’ program as an outstanding example of the sustainability, courage, commitment and creativity of the people of Germany. In 2012 the Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy was on a celebrated concert tour in Taiwan and Singapore. Further they toured to the Emilia Romagna and the Ravello Festival in September 2013.

Together with a team of music and voice teachers, the choir’s director and professor of choral conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Martin Steidler, inspires his group to give its very best. In addition to extensive choir rehearsals, each singer receives individual voice lessons and music instruction. Applications are open to talented young people between the ages of 16 and 27. Currently, the choir is composed of singers from across Germany as well as from neighboring countries.

At the „Vorsprung-Festival“, which Kent Nagano designed as the artistic director from 2014-2016 as part of the Audi Summer Concerts, the Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy received a predominant role. Under the direction of the renowned conductor the choir performed works by Mahler, Dvorak and Haydn. the Youth Choir celebrated its premiere as an opera choir at the “Vorsprung-Festival”. The choir excelled together with renowned soloists like Christoph Prégardien or Marina Rebeka at the production “Idomeneo”, Mozart`s favorite opera.

The cooperation with Kent Nagano continued once again very successfully with the project „La passione“ of the Hamburg State Opera in 2016: "Nagano could also rely on the perfectly attuned Audi Youth Choir who could muster the required drama at all times almost effortlessly." (Spiegel Online) "Pretty fabulous " (Die Welt) and (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) "impressive ripe," were some of the attributes with which the youth choir has been described by the successful performances.

In January 2017 a big and important event came up: The Youth Choir sang at the opening celebration of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, another cooperation with Kent Nagano. The world premiere of ARCHE by Jörg Widmann turned out to be a huge success, celebrating the choir as “precise and with extraordinary presence” (Abendzeitung). Following an invitation by Maestro Kent Nagano the choir appeared on stage of Maison symphonique in Montreal in December 2017. The young singers performed J.S. Bach’s Magnificat and C. Saint-Säens’ Christmas oratorio.

In summer / autumn 2017 the choir presented an extraordinary program combining a cappella works with percussion music performed by award-winning percussionist Simone Rubino. The program was presented in

July 2017 at the Audi Summer Concerts and on November 3rd at the festival Euro Young Classic in Passau. Parts of the program will also be produced as CD.

The successful collaboration with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (2013: Bach – Christmas oratorio, 2014: Bach – St. Matthews Passion, 2016: Bach – Mass in B minor, 2018: St. John’s Passion) was continued in 2018 with two performances of “The creation” by J.Haydn for celebrating its 10th anniversary – this piece was performed in the very first concert of the choir on July 20th 2008.

In June 2018 the choir performed with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 under the baton of Kent Nagano. The concerts took place in Philharmonie Berlin and Gasteig Munich. The choir also saw its second appearance at the Elbphilharmonie in October 2018 with the 4th Symphony of Ch. Ives together with Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg and Kent Nagano.

In Spring 2019 the choir will perform Mozart’s Requiem with Duisburg Philharmonic orchestra under the direction of Christoph Prégardien and furthermore travel to Helsinki for two performances of Bach’s St. Matthewspassion with Helsinki Baroque Orchestra.

For more information: www.audi-jugendchorakademie.de