Die tote Stadt

Music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Libretto by Paul Schott
Conducted by Andris Nelsons
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with Boston Lyric Opera

Symphony Hall
Thursday, January 30, 2025 | 7:30pm
Saturday, February 1, 2025 | 8:00pm

Andris Nelsons, conductor
Christine Goerke, soprano (Marietta)
Elisa Sunshine, soprano (Juliette)
Amber Monroe, mezzo-soprano (Lucienne)
Karen Cargill, mezzo-soprano (Brigitte)
David Butt Philip, tenor (Paul)
Joshua Sanders, tenor (Victorin)
Neal Ferreira, tenor (Gaston)
Terrence Chin-Loy, tenor (Graf Albert)
Elliot Madore, baritone (Frank/Fritz)
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
     James Burton, conductor
Boston Lyric Opera Chorus
     Brett Hodgdon, Chorus Director
Boys of the St. Paul’s Choir School
     Brandon Straub, Music Director
     

Sung in German with English supertitles.
Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes (including intermission)

Presented in collaboration with Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) at Symphony Hall, Erich Korngold’s Die tote Stadt (“The Dead City”) is an incredibly tender work, embodying the twilight of the Romantic era. Korngold, a remarkable prodigy who later became one of Hollywood’s most important composers, began the opera when he was only 19 and completed it at age 23. It opened simultaneously in December 1920 in Cologne and Hamburg and became one of the biggest operatic successes of the era. The opera’s theme of struggling with the memory of a lost loved one undoubtedly resonated with audiences still traumatized by the recent catastrophe of World War I.

Soprano Christine Goerke leads a cast that includes BLO Jane & Steven Akin Emerging Artist alumnus tenor Neal Ferreira and baritone Elliot Madore, seen recently in BLO’s production of Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice. Andris Nelsons conducts.

Please note that tenor Brandon Jovanovich has had to withdraw from these performances of Die tote Stadt due to illness. We are very fortunate that David Butt Philip is able to sing the role of Paul in his place.