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"Mannheim's Opera Magic" - Adam Fischer's debut as music director at the National Theater Mannheim

Adam Fischer is the music director of the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra and principal conductor of the Danish Radio Sinfonietta. In addition, he was inaugurated into the position of Opera Director at National Theater Mannheim, starting from October 1st, 2000. As a GMD of one of the most important theaters in Germany, he is responsible for any artistic issues, such as production planning, cast selection etc. At the same time, as the chief conductor of the Mannheim Academy Orchestra, which is the alias of National Theater Orchestra, he will conduct several orchestral concerts, organized by the orchestra itself.

"Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda" is a Baroque Opera performed by only two singers, Tancredi and Clorinda, and the narrator Testo. The production by Philipp Himmelmann is simple with an almost empty stage. Both singers sang from two chairs set on the both side of the stage. Out from the orchestra pit, the ensemble with a harpsichord played on the stage between the two chairs.

The program after the intermission was Adam's favorite Bartók, "Bluebeard's castle". Composed 300 years after Monteverdi, however, it has the same theme of love and conflict between man and woman. Just as for "Tancredi e Clorinda", the stage set was very much abstract. Two chairs again on both sides of the stage for Judit and Bluebeard. At the center of the stage, the ensemble was replaced by the seven doors. Just like the barrier of Bluebeard's heart, the more Judit opens the doors; the more the stage floor inclined and became higher. At the last scene was very dramatic that the floor stood vertical and became a high wall.

Mannheim's favorite bass, Mihail Mihaylov expressed the emotion of Bluebeard very well. Andrea Sz?to sang Judit beautifully. Most importantly, the music by Adam Fischer and National Theater Mannheim Orchestra described the visual scenes like treasure room, beautiful secret garden or bloody weapon room without any special effect or stage set. The local newspaper, "Mannheimer Morgen" praised the performance as "Mannheimer Operawunder" (Mannheim's Opera Magic).

Immediately after the debut performance, Adam conducted Haydn's "The Creation" which received a favourable criticism, too. As well as opera, his Mahler symphony performance as Academy Orchestra was very successful.
This season, he will conducts several Wagner Ring cycles and "Don Giovanni" in a new production. He will also take the entire opera and orchestra to the Budapest Spring Festival with "Tristan and Isolde".

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Guest Conducting at Tanglewood Festival

Recent appearances in the USA by Adam were with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and at the Mostly Mozart Festival. In addition, he conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra last summer at the Tanglewood Festival. Due to the cancellation of the original conductor, Bernard Haitink, Adam returned to the summer festival in West Massachusetts on August 18, 2000, after an absence of fifteen years.

Many of the orchestras in the USA move to summer resorts and perform weekend concerts. The Tanglewood Festival by the Boston Symphony is one of most popular of such festivals. The performer includes top class musicians such as GMD Saiji Ozawa, Itzhak Perlman, and Andre Previn.

Adam started the concert with Kod?y's "Dances of Galanta", which he had played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic three months earlier. Like the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony proved its technical aptitude. In addition, the orchestra sounded richer in some sections. The next piece was Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. With the powerful pianistic performance and the authentic Hungarian accent delivered by the Boston Symphony, the piece was very successful.

The main pice in this concert was Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. It was the program of Haintink. Although Tchaikovsky is not really in Adam's repertoire, it remained in the program at the request of the orchestra. In the scherzo, Adam separated each instruments very clearly and they sounded very beautiful. The finale was very powerful and won much applause. Tchaikovsky may not be Adam's favorite piece, but as a fan, I wish he sometimes played such a wonderful performance.

It rained just before the concert and it was very chilly for an open-air concert, however, audience enjoyed the powerful performance very much. .

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Successful Opera, "The unforeseen encounter"

September is the season for the Internationale Haydntage at Eisenstadt in Austria, close to the border with Hungary. As usual, Adam Fischer and his Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra played a central role in the festival. A new production of the opera "The unforeseen Encounter" ("L'incontro improvviso") was performed three times at Hannover, Germany prior to the opening of the festival. Although the Haydnsaal of the Esterhazy Palace does not have special theater equipment, simple but effective ideas and high quality music attracted a lot of attention in the big city of Hannover, as well as at Eisenstadt.

Synopsis: The unfortunate prince Ali of Balsora was driven from his country by a ruthless brother. He sought refuge in Persia and fell in love with the princess Rezia. Since her father, the king, had promised her in marriage to another, they fled. Their ship was captured by pirates and the unfortunate couple were separated. After two years of searching, Ali, almost dead of despair arrived at Cairo, where, unknown to him, Rezia had been sold to the Sultan and now she is his favorite slave.

ACT I: While Ali's servant Osmin is walking in Cairo, the fraudulent begging dervish Calendar approaches him. Osmin declares he has no money or food, Calendar who has a horde of gold and expensive goods, invites him to join his group. Meanwhile Rezia, who enjoys a privileged position, caught a sight of Ali from the window of the seraglio. In order to test his consistency, she asks her maid Balkis to tempt him. The desperate Ali wandering the city meets his servant and the Calendar begging on the street. Calendar turns out to be a fugitive from Balsora, recognizes his former prince and offers to help him. Then Balkis appears and tells them that an unnamed lady was attracted by Ali and invites them into the house. Ali refuses but Balkis insists. In the house there is plenty of food and wine.

ACT II: The even more beautiful slave Dardane appears and asks for Ali's love. When he again refuses because his heart belongs to another, she laughs and explains that she herself is also sent from a person worthy of his love. Then Rezia enters and two lovers embrace. Rizia tells of her adventures and her decision to escape with him. After Osmin and the Calendar arrange everything for the journey, and they are eating a final meal, it is reported that the Sultan has unexpectedly returned, having heard the news of escape. Everybody panics and hides in the secret house of the Calendar.

ACT III: All hold their breath for a while but the Sultan's guards find their hiding place. Osmin suggests Ali disguises himself as a famous French painter and the women as lady dervishes. Ali attempts but it is too obvious all are arrested. The officer reads the Sultan's death warrant. All seems lost. Rezia stands besides Ali and asks to die with him. Then the officer hands him another  letter pardoning the lovers because of their constancy. It also reveals that the traitor is the Calendar and demands his death for his treachery.
All are brought to before the noble Sultan, who gives his blessing. At their pleading, he also shows his clemency by commuting the sentence on the Calendar
to one of exile. Everybody praises Sultan who restores happiness to all.

The young generation cast was very international. The French tenor Laurent Koehl as Prince Ali, Steven Cole from USA, who has sung with the Boston Symphony and Seiji Ozawa, as Osmin. Soprano Eteri Lamoris who studied in Moscow sang Rezia. Dardane was the mezzo-soprano Luisa-Islam-Ali-Zade. Only one singer from Austria, Anna Maria Pammer sang Balkis. The Calendar was played by a baritone Ivan Ludlow from London. The three sopranos were very impressive. The cadenza of the trio "Mi sembra un sogno" in act I, was a wonderful harmony. The arias are also beautiful and in general, the three sopranos are the center of the opera.

British producer Laurence Dale's stage was white based and rather sober in  act I, however, the second half was very spectacular using colorful lights and background paintings. For example, in Rezia's aria "Or vicina a the, mio cuore", they created the scene of lovers on the deck of the boat in the beautiful dusk.
Opera conductor, Adam Fischer and his Haydn Orchestra contributed a lot to the   success of the opera. They started the overture in a quick tempo, and sometimes
dynamically, sometimes humorously accompanied.

Adam's daughter Golda and her friend from university, Richard Lewis took part in the production as lighting crews. She is going to make her debut as an opera
producer next February, with "Fledermaus" by Edinburgh University Opera Company.
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Abschlussmatinee Real "Farewell" symphony

The festival was full of events, such as the successful opera, chamber music recitals, orchestral concerts, masses, a symposium on Haydn's keyboard music and came to the finale with Abschlussmatinee with the Haydn Orchestra. The all Haydn program was symphony No. 38 "the echo", Double concerto, and symphony No. 94 "Surprise". This year, Adam switched second violin and viola in the two symphonies. Positioning the second violins opposite the first violins was very effective in symphony No. 38, where the second violins played the melody and then the first violins answered as an echo.

The Hungarian violinist born in Helsinki Réka Szilvay and the Viennese pianist Chiristoph Berner were the soloists in Haydn's rarely played double concerto. With high quality accompanying by Haydn Orchestra, Berner played aggressively while Szilvay was in contrast. The popular "Surprise" symphony was in general a elegant interpretation, however, it was full of new ideas. For example, the third movement was quicker than on the CD recording .

The first encore this year was the fourth movement of symphony No. 88. Following tradition, Adam saying the word of farewell and the orchestra played the last movement of the "Farewell" symphony leaving the platform one by one. Some of the audience were in tears at the end of the festival for another year.
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Vienna State Opera "Fidelio"

Adam Fischer started his professional career as a repetiteur at the Vienna State Opera. Since his official debut on September 13, 1980 with "Othello", he has conducted more than 150 performances including several new productions like Ponchielli "La Gioconda", Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda", and regular performances such as "Cavarellia " & "Pagliacci", "Bartered Bride". So far this season, he conducted Beethoven's masterpiece "Fidelio" on September 16 and 20.

He made his Bavarian State Opera debut with "Fidelio" replacing Karl Böhm, and it is one of his popular works. The young German Soprano Evelyn Herlitzius made her Vienna State Opera debut and got a lot of attention from the Viennese. The stage set designed by Otto Schenk reminds one of the dark concentration camps during World War II. That made it very moving especially when the inmates come out to the garden.

Of course, the real hero was the Vienna State Opera Orchestra conducted by Adam Fischer. When Leonore jumped in front of Don Pizarro to save Florestan, the music was so dramatic and nobody can take eyes away from the stage. Then later, Leonore overture No. 3, that is performed just before finale in act II with curtain down, was far more exciting than it is performed in a concert. The overture itself won a bravo call many times. Adam Fischer himself was also excited and he broke 2 buttons in one performance. After the performance, all performers won a storm of applause.

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Truely Viennese style Haydn by LA Philharmonic

Although the focal point of Adam Fischer' activity is in Europe, such as Germany, Switzerland, Austria, he never forget USA. Following last year's Hollywood bowl, he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in May.

Three concerts are held on the weekend of May 19, at the home of Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The program was the combination of Haydn, Kodaly and R. Strauss. The concerts started with Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante. Associate Principal players of Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra took the role of four soloists. Unfortunately, they were not used to solo and very nervous. The solo ensemble had some mistakes and was not perfect, however, local fans were very happy to hear their own orchestra's players. All soloists were happy and especially the cellist, Daniel Rothmuller who dressed up with a red tie, a red handkerchief, and even a pair of red sox. The second piece was R. Strauss's symphonic poem, "Don Juan". Los Angeles Philharmonic is very good at late romantic pieces. In this piece, musicians showed their virtuoso technique and attracted the audience.

The highlight of the concert was Haydn Symphony No. 88. This is one of Adam's favorite pieces and he always tries out some idea not written in the score. This time, for instance, instead of regular pizzicato, string section hit the string with wooden side of the bow in the 4th movement. That created very funny sound. The very lively performance won a big applause. Of course some of instrument, such as Timpani and Oboe, are different, neither the venue is too big for Haydn, however, it sounded like a real Viennese style. It was hard to believe that the American orchestra was playing. The finale was Kodaly's "Dances of Galanta". This ethnic piece of Hungarian Dance Czardas contains very difficult solo. The orchestra played very well and excited audience gave the storm of applause and standing ovation. Regardless of the short 2 days rehearsal, the performance was wonderful and very successful. Of course it is because Adam's splendid ability but not only that, the Los Angeles Philharmonic proved the high repetition.

During the series of the concerts, the fan club member in Los Angeles, Mr. Rick Gordon and his friends came to see the performance. After the concert, they visited the conductor's room and we held a small gathering of Fans and Adam Fischer. On the other hand, Adam Fischer himself had a chance to meet an old friend Mitsuko Uchida, and Placido Domingo, stayed in Los Angeles at that time. It was a short but successful stay for Adam.

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"La cenerentola" with Cecilia Bartoli

Since Adam Fischer plays Bel Canto Opera and classical pieces very often, he frequently performed with famous diva Cecilia Bartoli in the past. In this season, they met at tow productions in Zurich; Haydn's "L'anima del filosofo' (another title of "Orfeo") and Rossini's "La cenerentola". I had a chance to see Bartoli's signature role, "La cenerentola" on March 26.

Zurich Opera production by the director Cesare Lieve, has high reputation and even New York Metropolitan Opera, had imported in 1987. Since the modern costume Cinderella story has full of humorous small tricks, it is suitable for small Zurich Opera rather than huge MET. The other casts were; Prince Don Ramiro - Roberto Sacca, His Valet - Oliver Widmer, Don Magnifico - Carlos Chauson, Clorinda - Elena Mosuc, Tisbe - Irene Friedli, Don Ramirio's Teacher Alidoro - Laszlo Polgar.

Bartoli's performance was wonderful. The finale "Non piu mesta accanto al fuoco" is one of her important concert repertoires, that she sang twice at the encore at the concert with Haydn Orchestra in '98. She was very confident and showed the high technique. Full house audience answered with a big applause.
In 2000/2001 season, Adam and Cecilia will perform "La Cenerentola" by Jean-Pierre Ponnele together at the Barvarian State Opera in November.

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The traditional "Abschlussmatinee" was full of fun.

The concert event of the festival was the Matinee conducted by Adam Fischer. The program was a Haydn violin concerto with the young violinist Lidia Baich, and two symphonies related to the clock: No. 68 and No. 101. Orchestra players, who had played intensely with two guest conductors, were relaxed that day. Adam changed tempo frequently to what was written in the score, and created c a relaxed atmosphere. It was very difficult for the audience to suppress their laughter when two bassoons started moving like pendulum at the beginning of "Clock" movement. The performance should satisfy even Papa Haydn, was concluded with the Adagio of Farewell symphony.

Next Haydntage is scheduled September 7-19; the program includes Haydn's Opera "L'incontro improvviso". Also, Japanese TV, NHK is planning to live broadcast to Japan the final matinee.

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Two Concerts with Guest Conductors

In the past history of the Haydn Orchestra, there were very few concerts conducted by a guest conductor. For the first time in the Haydn Festival, the orchestra invited two guest conductors, both from England.

Maestro Richard Hicox is well known as the conductor of City of London Sinfonia, and has a wide variety of repertoire from Baroque to contemporary music. He performed Haydn's masterpiece oratorio "The Creation" with the Haydn Orchestra. Instead of forcing his own style, Hickox tried to add his own flavor to the Haydn Orchestra's performance. It was very effective when there are limited rehearsals. The orchestra was nervous about the guest conductor at first; however, they got used to the situation after the soloists and choir joined. Unfortunately, the soprano got sick and Cornelia Hosp substituted at the last minute for the final rehearsal, though the rehearsal was very smooth in general.

The concert of September 15 was a wonderful performance, far better than the rehearsal. Since Hickox has much experience of choral conducting, he knew how to handle the choir and soloists. The balance between the choir and the orchestra was very good and the Haydn orchestra accompanied the choir beautifully. Compare to the performance with Adam Fischer, the orchestra sounded a little nervous, but the performance with the first guest conductor was a big success.

Another guest conductor, Trevor Pinnock has been a regular guest of the Haydntage with his own English Concert and is very good at Baroque and classical music. Throughout his rehearsals, Maestro Pinnock asked the orchestra very basic thing; listening to each other and playing as chamber music. For example, he said to the orchestra "Oboe, this is your tune. Feel free to express yourself. Other instruments, please follow the oboe no matter what he does." Sometimes he left the podium in the middle of a piece and let the orchestra play without the conductor, making sure they can play ensemble by themselves.

The program building was somewhat questionable. Especially, Mozart Prague symphony was played at Haydnsaal about 3 months ago with Adam Fischer. Not only the orchestra but some of the audience remembered it very well. Even for professional musicians, playing the same piece with completely different style is not so easy. Since the Haydn Orchestra had not got used to the different interpretation, they struggled with Pinnock's very fast tempos.

Although the intimate relationship with Adam Fischer is wonderful for the Haydn Orchestra, as a side effect, there is a tendency to rely oerhaps too much on the conductor. Maestro Pinnock pointed out these problems and presented the task to the musicians.

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Opera "Armida"

Ever since 1994, the Haydn Festival has organised its own opera production. This year it was Haydn's last opera for the Esterhazy family, "Armida". The tragic opera was composed in 1783 and is the sad love story of Armida, the niece of Saracen King Idreno, and the crusading knight Rinaldo. Because of her beauty and her magic spell, Rinaldo had fallen in love with Armida. When his friend Ubaldo reminds him of the duty of crusader, Rinaldo is confused by the Christian faith and his conflicting feelings. Finally, Ubaldo wins and Rinaldo returns to the crusader's camp. Rinaldo breaks through the enchanted forest and cuts down the myrtle protected by nymphs, Zelmina, the daughter of the Sultan of Egypt, and Armida, and then the forest magically vanishes. Without facing Rinaldo, Armida swears vengeance and follows the crusaders into battle.

The most impressive singer in this performance was Johannes Chum playing the role of Rinaldo. With beautiful high tone and volume, he expressed his anguish because of his love for Armida and his duty to his faith. With three tenors and two sopranos, the only principal role with a lowervoice was taken by the Dutch Bass Julian Hartman who played a significant role in the performance.

The director was Michael Schilhan who also directed last year's "L'isola disabitata". Using simple curtains and light effects, sometimes he portrayed the castle of Idoreno, then it turned into Armida's enchanted forest without a break. However, it was a little strange that three tenors playing crusading knights were in 20th century military uniform. Also that led to the audience confusing some of the singers roles.

As usual, Adam Fischer and Haydn Orchestra accompanied wonderfully to support Of the singers. Regular visitors to the Haydn Festival praised cello player Res* Pertorini very much for his accompanied Recitatives

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Mostly Mozart Festival '99

Just after the summer vacation, Adam Fischer visited Hot New York and performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival. It was his 4th appearance to the festival since 1997. He conducted two concerts on August 3 and 4 at Avery Fisher Hall. The opening was the overture to Cimarosa's Opera "Il matrimonio segreto". It is a rather unknown piece in the USA but quick tempo and dynamic performance got the audience's attention. Following Cimarosa, next was Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 with the German pianist Lars Vogt. The winner of the second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Competition, Vogt gave a moving account of the slow movement and the beautiful Mozart melody.

After the intermission, soprano Ruth Ann Swenson made her debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival with "Exsultate, jubilate". She is one of top coloratura soprano in USA, and had performed with Adam Fischer at the Metropolitan Opera in 1996 as Rosina in "Il barbiere di Siviglia". With her high technique of coloratura, she sang this Mozart solo cantata dramatically and with great beauty of tone. Her cadenza was very a high point of the evening.

The finale was Mozart's symphony No. 41 "Jupiter". It is a very important repertoire for Adam. In the past, he conducted several time with different orchestra, including Haydn Orchestra. His dynamic interpretation that has many accents and crescendos not in the original score moved the orchestra musicians and they played very energetic Mozart.

Following Hollywood Bowl in July, another appearance of major American music festival made the fans in USA very happy.

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Magnificent!! All Mozart Program

The concert on July 8 was Adam's favorite, all Mozart programs. A combination of 2 G-minor symphonies and a G-major violin concerto was very popular with the American audience, which loves Mozart. All the box seats were sold out and already were enjoying the party more than one hour before the performance. Even the bench seats were about 60~70% full.

After the traditional national anthem played with a Mozart size orchestra with no percussion; symphony No. 25 started. The first movement of this symphony is particularly well known in Hollywood because of the movie "Amadeus".. Even members of the audience enjoying good California wine turned quiet and listened to the sad minor movement very seriously.

The second piece was the ever-popular Violin Concerto No. 3 with Russian violinist Julian Rachlin. He is a young musician active in Europe. Appearing on the stage in a fashionable tuxedo with red handkerchief in his pocket, Rachlin played very elegant Mozart. It was, however, rather Russian style and different from Viennese style which Adam Fischer tried to play.

There were some accidents during the second half. After the intermission, Adam appeared on the stage to play Symphony No. 40, but he could not start the music because of noise. That was the alarm of a car parked near the Bowl. Audiences get used to this kind of incident that happens frequently at Hollywood Bowl. Seeing the conductor at a loss on the podium, some of the audience started laughing and ruined the atmosphere of tragic symphony. After waiting more than 10 seconds, the alarm stopped and the famous minor symphony started. Accidents continued when Orchestra was playing the quiet second movement. First, the car alarm sounded again for a while and then a baby in the auditorium cried. Regardless of those happenings, Adam Fischer and the LA Philharmonic never lost their concentration and performed wonderful Mozart.

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Energetic Performance - Hollywood Bowl 87th Season Opening

Opening Concert programs on July 6 were, Kodály "Háry János" suite, Bruch Violin Concerto, and Richard Strauss's Symphonic Poem, "Also sprach Zarathustra". As soon as Maestro Fischer appeared on the stage, the orchestra stood up. The snare drum roll led the national anthem of America, "Start Spangled Banner". The whole audience stood up and sang cheerfully. The first experience of America's national anthem for Hungarian maestro Adam Fischer was a little bit slow but satisfactory.
Next "Háry János" was already familiar to the LA Philharmonic because it was played last January. Beautiful viola solo and ethnic instrument cimbalom recreated the Hungarian countryside. Just after the powerful ending of the 5th movement "Intermezzo", some people mistook it for the ending, so applause and spotlight interrupted the performance. It, however, was a wonderful performance to open the summer season. Hungarians living in Southern California were very satisfied with the opening.
The second piece was Bruch violin concert featuring young violinist Sarah Chang. In a beautiful pink dress, she showed a wonderful technique with the virtuoso piece as if she had decades of experience. It was very difficult to believe that she is still a high school girl.
After the intermission, the orchestra played R. Strauss. This piece is new repertoire for Adam, and the first time he has conducted it since the Bournmouth Symphony last year. When the introduction, used in "Space Odessy 2001" started, the audience in Hollywood got very excited. The wonderful players of the LA Philharmonic played this virtuoso piece most impressively.

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Nelson Mass in London

A few days after the Haydntage finished (September 23), Adam was in London conducting the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and The Philharmonia Chorus with distinguished soloists in a charity performance of Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Farewell Sym-phony.  Adam had worked with the Philharmonia Chorus before at the Istanbul Festival when they were accompanied by the Haydn Orchestra.  The original plan had been to bring the orchestra this time too, but the generous sponsor, Champagne Jacquesson & Fils, could not afford this too.  The soprano Emma Kirkby and bass Michael George gave particularly good accounts of their parts.  Tired as he was Adam later played Happy Birthday on the piano at a party for the wife of the main sponsor.  (Article by Robert Avery)

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Final Matinee celebrating the 10th anniversary

The final matinee on September 20 started with the overture “L’incontro improvvisio”.  Opera conductor Adam emphasized the percussion and created the atmosphere of the beginning of an ex-citing performance.
Following the quick tempo Symphony No.10 and the intermis-sion, the program was Lyrenkonzert with oboe, flute, 6 other musi-cians and Adam Fischer on harpsichord.  Compared to the big symphony, it was a different, very chamber music performance by the Haydn Orchestra.

After the final Symphony No. 98 and the first encore of the fi-nale from the Surprise Symphony, the Mayor of Eisenstadt and Festival Intendant Dr. Reicher went up on stage and presented a golden plate to Adam Fischer, cerebrating the 10th anniversary of Internationale Haydntage.  Then, the traditional Adagio from Farewell Symphony concluded the festival.

As well as the Haydn Orchestra, there were many other inter-esting concerts too.  The local newspaper critics enthused and said, “Haydn beats Mozart (the Salzburg Festival) this year.”

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Voice of an Angel – Cecilia Bartoli Concert

This year’s most attractive concert, Cecilia Bartoli, “Arien Abend” was held on the19th.
Starting with Haydn’s March with a strong timpani solo, the program was very interesting, including Bartoli singing “Scena di Berenice” and Susanna’s Aria from “Il nozze di Figaro”, the Haydn orchestra playing the overture of “Il mondo della luna” and “Don Giovanni”.  After the intermission, Adam Fischer played the piano obbligato beautifully with orchestra and Cecilia singing “Ch’io in scordi di te”.

The acoustics of the Haydnsaal was perfect for  Cecilia Bartoli and it sounded as if we were hearing the voice of an angel.  Even after the 2 prepared encores (Cherbino's aria from “Figaro”, and Cenerentola's finale) no one stopped clapping. So Cenerentola sang again.

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Oratorio “Die Jahreszeiten”

Even between the opera performance, Adam Fischer and Haydn Orchestra never rested.  Following the 200th anniversary of “Die Schöpfung” in May, they gave the Oratorio “Die Jahreszeiten“ on September 16. It was played at the Haydntage ’93 very success-fully in Adam Fischer’s energetic interpretation.  This time also held the attention of the audience from the introduction of “Spring” to the end of “Winter”.

Particularly, in the chorus of Autumn, “Hörte das laute Getön”, 8 horns located on the balconies imitated hunting horns.  All the audiences were absorbed in the exciting performance.

In this performance, the son of Adam Fischer, Aron who became 18 years old the day before played the triangle.  It was the first time father and son performed together.  By the way, thanks to Adam Fischer and orchestra, the author played the tambourine.

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Haydn Opera “L’isola Disabitata”

This year’s Haydntage started on September 9 with a recital by soprano Edita Gruverova.  That day happened to be Adam Fischer’s 49th birthday.  There was a special performance of “Happy Birthday Adam”. The next day was the premiere of a new production of the opera, “L’isola Disabitata” with Adam Fischer and the Haydn Orchestra.

Story: After a shipwreck, Costanza and her little sister Silvia are separated from Costanza’s husband, Gernando, and left alone on a desert island.  Thirteen years later, Costanza determines to end her life and is inscribing her unhappy story on a stone.  Silvia comes with joy that she has found her pet fawn.  A ship came and Ger-nando and his friend Enrico came on shore.  Silvia sees them and wonders who they are because she has never seen a man in her life.  Gernando discovers the inscription on the stone and despairs that Costanza is dead.  Enrico does not believe it because the inscrip-tion is not complete, and searches further.  Enrico meets Silvia and mistakes her for an elf, then he falls in love with her.  Hearing the news that Costanza is still alive, Enrico tries to fetch Gernando.  Wandering the island, disappointed Gernando finally sees Costanza and the four of them rejoice.

The stage set production by Michael Schilhan was effective and very convincing.  In the short overture, it expressed the back-ground of the story and the scene of shipwreck.   The four singers did good job, Gabriele Reinholtz expressed the sadness of Costanza, and Romana Noack’s cute Silvia was very impressive.

Adam Fischer and the Haydn Orchestra played well and contrib-uted to the success of the Opera.  In the finale, four soloists of or-chestra, Wolfgang Redik (violin), Reszo Pertorini (cello), Imre Kovács (flute), and Jozsef Vajda (bassoon) went up on stage play-ing beautiful solos with singers.  That was a marvelous ending with a harmony of music and act.
False fire alarms halted the performance on the day of the pre-miere.  The production was also broadcast on the Internet.

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