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New production of “Ascanio in Alba” - Mannheim Mozart week 2004
New production of “Ascanio in Alba” - Mannheim Mozart week 2004 After becoming the GMD of the National Theater Mannheim, Adam Fischer’s aim was to revive the Mozart tradition. He started the Mannheim Mozart week to celebrate the anniversary of Mozart’s death since 2001. The latest opening was a new production of “Ascanio in Alba”. This was originally premiered in October 1771 in Milan. The 15 year-old Mozart wrote this piece to celebrate the wedding of the prince Ferdinand, son of Maria Teresia. It is the story about goddesses, heroes, and fairies. The director David Hermann and stage designer Christof Hetzer made a very abstract production. Instead of playing the long recitatives in Italian, they added the role of two “Voyagers” who explain the story in German. This idea was very effective because audiences are not bothered by surtitles and can enjoy the music. Another interesting idea was 3D glasses for the second act. There were strange patterns on the stage. It was too abstract for normal view but with the 3D glasses distributed during the intermission, the abstract pattern became 3 dimensional obstacles between Ascanio and Silvia. With wild bowings of strings and dynamic accents from the woodwind, Adam Fischer and the National Theater Mannheim Orchestra made superb performance of young Mozart. Mezzo-soprano Marie-Belle Sandis sang beautifully the role of Silvia. Iris Kupke was warm colorful coloratura Frauno. Since Kristina Hammerstöm was sick and canceled, the young counter tenor Peter Rehkopf, who had taken part in a Christ Ludwig Master class, sang Ascanio without rehearsal and won warm applause from the audience. During the Mozart week, there were 2 performances of “Ascanio in Alba”. Other
performances by Adam Fischer were “Engführung aus dem Serail”, “Cosi fan tutte”
and the Requiem at the Jesuit church in Mannheim. Go back to Top
“Lucio Silla” at the Netherlands OperaBecause January 2006 is Mozart 250th birthday, many of classical music organizations plan to revive rare works of Mozart in the 2005/2006 season. The Netherlands Opera is among the first to make a new production of an early Opera. The child prodigy Mozart composed “Lucio Silla” which opened the season of Teatro Ducale in Milan in 1772. Adam Fischer had performed this piece with the Danish Radio Sinfonietta in concert performance in the past and already made a CD recording. This time the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra sat in the pit of the National Opera House. The premiere of “Lucio Silla” was December 2nd, which was two days before the
first night of “Ascanio” in Mannheim. There were 10 performances in Amsterdam in
December every 3 or 4 days. Therefore Adam Fischer went back and forth between
Amsterdam and Mannheim. The casts included Jeffrey Francis as Lucio Silla, Mary Dunleavy as Giunia,
and Christine Jepson as Cecilio and Cyndia Sieden as Cinna. Henriette
Bonde-Hasen and Johannes Chum, who has frequently sung with Adam, took an
important role of this production. Go back to Top
Final season as the GMD of Mannheim
Prior to the official theater season opening, Adam conducted the Mannheim School
Orchestra. This was the summer academy for young musicians to study 18th century
music, however, this year the academy was on September and program was Mahler
Symphony No. 6. The original story of this opera is not very realistic from the beginning. For example, the location is Turkey but everything is sung in German. The theater section director of Mannheim, Jens-Daniel Herzog tried to make sense the fantasy story and created a realistic drama. When the curtain rose, the audience saw the exact copy of the apartment building at Turkish section in Mannheim. Osmin is the administrator of the building and Bassa Selim is the owner of the apartment and the travel company on the first floor. Konstanze is employed by Bassa Selim and Blonde works at cafeteria below. Although setting is very interesting, there were a lot of actions during arias and in some case audience could not concentrate to music. Therefore at the curtain call, some called Bravo but others booed loudly. Tomasz Konieczny sang a funny and strong Osmin and got big applause. Iris Kupke beautifully sung aria was a show stopper. Raquela Sheeran (Blonde) and Uwe Ekötter (Pedrillo)’s funny action and duets were interesting. The tenor Charles Reid (Belmonte) sang well but was a little boring when he was not singing. Actor Wilhelm Eilers played Bassa Selim in anguish realistically. The National Theater Mannheim Orchestra led by Adam Fischer played very exciting music. The orchestra’s top level woodwinds section, especially the piccolo player Takashi Ogawa added the amusements to the piece. Go back to Top
Haydntage 2004 „Haydn and Bach“
It started on the 55th birthday of Adam Fischer with the opera “L’infedelta delusa”. The director Hartmut Schörghofer and stage and costume designer Corinna Crome studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and already worked for many productions, for example, Vienna Festwochen. Using a revolving stage, they realized very interesting ideas. All singers sang wonderfully at the premiere and Vienna’s newspaper “Die Presse” quoted Maria Teresa’s famous word “I go to Eszterháza when I want to see best opera.” However, the leading soprano Christiane Boeiger was injured during the third performance because of a revolving stage defect. They had to cancel the second act and the last performance on 16th was changed to concertante style without the stage set. Columbian soprano, Claudia Guarin came less than one hour before the performance and took over the role of Vespina. Adam Fischer explained the story and the rest of singers sang and acted freely on the stage. Of course it wasn’t the perfect ensemble but audience loved it very much. Some said that Haydnsaal is too small for staged opera and concertante may be better.
In addition to the opera performances, Adam Fischer and the Haydn Orchestra gave
two concerts on 15th and 19th. The first concert started with very exciting
“L’isola disabitata” overture, followed by the Surprise Symphony. Since the
episode of surprise is very famous, normal performances don’t surprise people
any more. However, the strong hit of timpani and fortissimo by the orchestra
still made the audience jump in their seats.
The last day of the Haydntage is always the matinee with Adam Fischer and the
Haydn Orchestra. In accordance with the theme “Haydn and Bach”, the first half
was Bach. Adam played harpsichord and other orchestra members stood around him. Following pieces were Cantata No.82 “Ich habe genug” and Aria “An irdische Schätze” with the baritone Florian Boesch. It was very beautiful ensemble with principal players of the Haydn Orchestra, and wonderful soloist.
Contrast to the very catholic first half, after the intermission was cheerful
Haydn’s Symphony No. 92. Influenced by the 18th century style, the strings
players used less vibratos. Adam‘s interpretation is very dynamic and sharp.
After the symphony, the festival concluded by adagio from Farewell Symphony as
usual. Go back to Top
Webern fest with Vienna Philharmonic
Because this concert was part of the Vienna Festival, it was focused on the composer Anton von Webern. The Vienna Festival dedicated the first weekend of June as “Anton von Webern Fest” with several concerts and exhibitions. The concert by Adam and the Vienna Philharmonic was the climax of the weekend. Webern, a student of Sch?nberg is one of very important Viennese style composer, but he is somewhat in the shadow of other Viennese composers. The concert started with the early work “In summer wind”. In the beginning, the brass instruments described languor of hot summer, and then woodwinds and strings played pleasant summer bleeds. Music contains full of colors and described impressions of summer. Following pieces were Schubert 6 German Dances arranged by Webern, Passacaglia opus 1, and after the intermission, six orchestra pieces opus 6. These pieces were not so familiar even for audience in Vienna, so everybody just listened and enjoyed.
The last piece was Gustav Mahler´s Adagio from symphony No. 10. Because Mahler
is one of Adam’s favorite composers, he studied music intensely and even
analyzed a video made by Bernstein. The result was so wonderful that audiences
rewarded him with a standing ovation and a lot of bravo calls. Go back to Top
Herbert von Karajan Pentecost Festival in Baden-Baden
Although the atmosphere was very warm and casual, the quality of music was very high. The concert started with Mozart Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter”. Adam played rather quick dynamic tempo, but the details were still very clear. After the first movement, some audience was already impressed and applauded. In the second movement, the strings used wooden mutes, which created very delicate tones. It created a good contrast. The Finale was very dramatic and the Fuga was just gorgeous. After the intermission, the second piece was Haydn’s Violin Concerto No.1 with the soloist (and concert master) Rainer Honeck. Technically it is not so difficult, therefore musical style is very important. Honeck´s Viennese style matched the orchestra. The whispering tone in the Adagio was so beautiful. The last piece was Adam’s favorite Haydn symphony, No.88. With less string vibrato, it sounded like an authentic interpretation. Emphasizing the second violin and viola section, Adam created very funny music, however, important details were never missed. The audience was very enthusiastic and rewarded the orchestra with big applause and calls of bravo. When Adam started the Figaro overture encore, the delighted audience could not stop applauding. So, the orchestra stopped after a few bars and started again when it became quiet. Since Adam had a Matinee next day at Vienna, he and the orchestra had to
leave Baden-Baden immediately after the performance. They actually omitted a
second encore (“La fedelta premiata” overture), but the enthusiastic audience
was still happy and satisfied. Adam and the Orchestra happily dashed to
Baden-Baden airport and returned safe to Vienna. Go back to Top
Adam Fischer conducted 2 orchestras of Baden-Württemberg
On 25 and 26 of April he appeared in the capital Stuttgart and conducted the Württemberg State Theater Orchestra. This orchestra is normally in the pit of Stuttgart Opera but once in a month it appears at the Liederhalle as a concert orchestra. The program was Janacek symphonic poem “Die Donau”, Dvorak cello concerto, and Haydn symphony No. 104. Over all the orchestra played very well but the Haydn was most impressive. Many German opera orchestras, including Mannheim, do not play Haydn often. They typically sounded heavy German-style Haydn, but the W?rttemberg State Theater Orchestra did everything Adam asked correctly and it really sounded Austrian-style Haydn, like the Haydn Orchestra. The next day Adam moved to Freiburg and started rehearsals with SWR Symphony
Orchestra Baden-Baden & Freiburg. There were several concerts in Germany as well
as in Vienna. The program was once again “Die Donau”, Greig Piano concerto, and
Dvorak symphony No. 5. Unfortunately, the soloist played too romantically and
rather slowly, which did not match Adam’s tempo. The piano concerto was a little
miss-match. However, The Dvorak symphony was energetic and dramatic. The wood-
winds played beautiful solos and the brass were very powerful. The Vienna
critics said, “it is not just hot, but burning”.
Go back to Top
Mannheim "Tristan and Isolde"
The best thing about this performance was of course the Orchestra of National Theater Mannheim conducted by Adam Fischer. A highlight in the second act, the love duet of Tristan and Isolde was so intense and very dramatic. The detail of the score is so clear and woodwind and brass solos were wonderful. The singers couldn't compete with the power of the orchestra, but in general all were very good. 2The concept by the producer, theatre intendant Ulrich Schwab was a "beautiful
still image and don't disturb the music". Unusually for German theatres, the German
text was displayed above. It was almost concert with minimum stage set and costume. Go back to Top
Concert Tour with Junge Deutsche Philharmonie
The main work was Mahler Symphony No. 7, which Adam has played with the Vienna Symphony
and Mannheim in the past. Although the players are young, they have wonderful technique.
All the musicians the best of the teachers in Germany. They played very difficult solo
parts beautifully, however, as an orchestra, they did not have enough experience. The
professional orchestra, for example Mannheim, plays wonderful Mahler not only because of
exciting fortissimo, but also with tense pianissimo, which is a remarkable feature of Adam
Fischer's interpretation. The Junge Deutsche Philharmonie's Mahler was very exciting but
it needs more experience for this matter. However, it must be wonderful experience for
musicians as well as audiences. Go back to Top
Haydn Orchestra concert series 2004
Featuring Adam Fischer's sharp and dynamic interpretation, the Linz Symphony was the best performance. In general, Haydn's concerti are difficult not technically but artistically. Sometimes soloists take it too optimistically and do not practice enough. During the real performance with orchestra, these soloists get nervous and make technical mistakes. That is the worst thing that can happen in Haydn concerti. The soloist of this concerto, the young Korean pianist Seung Yeun Huh played with enthusiasm and will one day be a great name. After the intermission, the orchestra played the final piece, Military Symphony and encore, 4th movement of the London Symphony. One month later, 22nd February, there was the second concert at Budapest Liszt Music Academy. This time the soloist Rainer Honeck performed a wonderful solo with Haydn's violin concerto. The rest of the programme was Schubert Six German Dances (arranged by Webern) and Mozart Jupiter Symphony. The third concert was on 13th March at Budapest. Principal musicians of the Haydn Orchestra, Wolfgang Redik, Rudi Pertorini, Harald Hölt, and Jozsef Vajda played the solo parts of Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante. The second half was Beethoven Symphony No. 7. The final performance of the series was held in Vienna on 15th April. Since it was just before Hungary joins the EU, it was perfect timing to show the orchestra's identity. The first half was Dvorák Slavonic Dances and Janacek, which was not played by the Haydn Orchestra. But second half was their familiar Haydn "Storm" and London Symphony. That was very good performance and won much applause from the audience. (This article is modified based on Adam Fischer's request - 8/24/2004)
Mahler Symphony No. 2 at Mannheim
This symphony requires a large orchestra, chorus, solo soprano and alto. Even a full size opera orchestra needed some additional players. The orchestra started the dynamic first movement and the chorus came on the stage just before the second movement. Recently Adam Fischer has been called "The meister of soft tone". Of course a fortissimo by a large orchestra is very dramatic, but the pianissimo tone following was so beautiful and even more effective. In the finale just before the chorus joined, the musical tension increased so that many of the audience seemed just frozen. The soprano Diana Damrau and alto Renee Morloc sang wonderful solos. Adam Fischer plans to perform all the Mahler symphonies at Mannheim. He has already
conducted most of them but No. 5 and No.9 are still to be heard. Go back to Top
New Year's Concert "The Creation"
Since the National Theater Mannheim Orchestra seldom plays Haydn , it was different
from the Haydn Orchestra. It sounded a little heavy German style and the singers sang as
if in an opera rather than oratorio. Sometimes it was too dramatic. On the other hand the
chorus was wonderful and it was real oratorio singing. Many bravo calls were addressed to
the chorus director. After the performance, there was the regular New Year soup party in the foyer of the National Theater. In the past they cooked Hangover soup with sour cream and vinegar. This year was Hungarian gulyas soup. But it was not Adam Fischer style. Because Adam was so busy, he didn't have time to instruct how to cook. But anyway he served the soup to the audiences. It was a good start to 2004. Go back to Top |
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Content © 1996 -
2008 Adam Fischer & Haydn Orchestra Fan Club
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2004/2005
season is the last season for Adam to be the GMD of Mannheim. Although he has
fewer performances than last few years, he has several important projects. The
exciting season started just after the Haydntage. 
The
annual International Haydntage 2004 took place at Eisenstadt from 9th to 19th of
September. Under the theme “Haydn and Bach” 21 performances including the cello
solo by Mischa Maisky and the staged opera, cerebrated the festival.
In the past Adam conducted the Vienna Philharmonic once at the Salzburg Mozart Week
in his 30s. After much success with world famous orchestras, he appeared at a
special concert with Vienna Philharmonic on June 4th and 6th at the Vienna
Konzerthaus.
Adam Fischer’s city, Mannheim belongs to Baden-W?rttemberg State of Germany. In late
April and early May, he was invited by other two orchestras also in
Baden-Württemberg, and played wonderful Czech music.
The second new production by
Adam Fischer this season was the long-awaited Wagner Tristan und Isolde. Mannheim is
famous for Wagner productions and this was the first Wagner by the current Bayreuth Ring
conductor. All tickets for the premiere went very quickly. The composer's grandson,
Wolfgang Wagner and the president of Baden-W·ttemberg were invited to the premiere.
Since 1974, the state
student orchestra of Germany, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie has given concerts
throughout Europe. The orchestra is formed from the best students from German music
schools. Based in Frankfurt, they have three of intense rehearsal and concert tours each
year. This year Adam Fischer spent three weeks together with the young musicians and
toured Germany and Italy.
The Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra is the "Resident Orchestra" of
the International Haydntage. But the orchestra doesn't have a concert series at
Eisenstadt. Instead, they had a concert series in Budapest and Vienna this year. 
Not only
operas, the Orchestra of the National Theater Mannheim also has a subscription concert
series. It is called "Academy Concerts". Until this season, Adam Fischer
conducts four programs. On 19 and 20 January, Adam conducted Mahler's Symphony
No.2."Resurrection". 
The most popular New Year's Concert is of course played by the
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. But the National Theater Mannheim also has a special
concert on New Year's Day. This year they performed Adam's favorite Haydn. Actually in the
2000/01 season Adam Fischer gave a production of "The Creation". This year's
concert was a revival. 