WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART – Overture to and Guglielmo’s aria Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo from the opera Così fan tutte (Women Are Like That), K. 588; Fandango scene and Count’s aria Hai già vinta la causa! From the opera Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), K. 492
CHARLES GOUNOD – Ballet music Les Troyens and Danse de Phryné from the opera Faust
JULES MASSENET – Hérode’s aria Ce breuvage pourrait... Vision fugitive from the opera Hérodiade
GIUSEPPE VERDI – Ballet music from the 1st and the 3rd act from the opera Macbeth; Rodrigo’s death scene from the opera Don Carlos
FRANZ LEHÁR – Concert waltz Gold und Silber (Gold and Silver), Op. 79; Danilo’s aria O Vaterland du machst bei Tag from the operetta Die lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow)
LEONARD BERNSTEIN – Orchestral piece Times Square and Gabey’s song Lonely Town from the musical On the Town
COLE PORTER – Petruchio’s song Where is the Life that Late I Led from the musical Kiss Me Kate; songs In the Still of the Night and Begin the Beguine
The last concert of the 28th Vilnius Festival sees the return of Thomas Hampson, who conquered the hearts of Lithuanian audience in Vilnius Festival 2022 when he performed Gustav Mahler’s music with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. The Metropolitan Opera Guild has lauded Hampson as the “Met Mastersinger”. His career as a soloist includes nearly 100 operatic roles in opera houses around the world, and his discography comprises nearly 200 albums, which have been nominated for or won prestigious awards such as the Grammy, the Edison or the Grand Prix du Disque. In 2009, the singer received the Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award from the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.; he was appointed the New York Philharmonic’s first-ever Artist-in-Residence. In 2010, he was honoured with a Living Legend Award by the Library of Congress for his work as a special advisor to the study and performance of music by American composers. Furthermore, he was awarded the famed Concertgebouw Prize.
This time in Lithuania, the American baritone, who has collaborated with such legends of the music world as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Leonard Bernstein, Daniel Barenboim, and many others, is organising a spectacular musical fiesta, as evidenced by the extraordinarily colourful programme of his concert. It is a dazzling orchestral and vocal parade, from the lively melodies of Mozart’s operas Cosìfan tutte (Women Are Like That) and Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), the ballet numbers from Gounod’s Faust, the tragic and contemplative harmonies of Verdi’s Don Carlo to the witty melodies of Lehár, and the twentieth-century souvenirs embodied in Porter’s light-hearted songs and Bernstein’s admiration for New York. And who better to convey the sonorous portrait of this city that never sleeps than one of the most prominent American baritones, Thomas Hampson?
The festival organisers:
Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, PI “Vilniaus festivaliai”, Vilnius City Municipality
