Dietrich
Henschel

La Monnaie Ensemble

The baritone Dietrich Henschel, who has been our guest every season since 2007, does not shy away from a challenge. As a lieder singer and conductor he develops projects of his own that breathe new life into the recital and concert genre. On the occasion of our production of Il prigoniero, he focuses on Luigi Dallapiccola, a composer who made human freedom and subjection into one of his main themes: ‘In a totalitarian regime, the individual is powerless. Only by means of music would I be able to express my anger.’ This joint project by Dietrich Henschel and musicians of the La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra introduces us to Dallapiccola as an outstanding composer of small-scale vocal and instrumental works. By adding some famous ‘numbers’ by Johann Strauss and works by Hans Werner Henze – known at La Monnaie for Phaedra and other works – Henschel has cooked up a programme that takes us on a grand tour of Naples, Florence, Greece, and Vienna.

Programme

• Johann Strauss Jr. – Ouverture de Fledermaus (version Brett Dean)
• Luigi Dallapiccola – Cinque Canti per baritono e otto strumenti su poesie greche, (1956)
• Hans Werner Henze – Kammermusik 05 (premiere sinfonie), (1958)
• Luigi Dallapiccola – Piccola musica notturna, (1953–1954)
• Hans Werner Henze – Fünf neapolitanische Lieder, (1956)
• Johann Strauss Jr. – An der Schönen blauen Donau, Arrangement Dietrich Henschel