Embark the successful Operetta Boat to enjoy a unique Copenhagen summertime adventure including bel canto and buffoonery.
On board and in glad-rags are opera singers Lisbeth Kjærulff and Joachim Knop, together with pianist and conferencier Jacob Beck. Beck is known as the cheerful pianist from the Danish island Funen.  With these highly skilled entertainers on board we are granted a hilarious and unpretentious operetta experience.
The programme is a blend of Danish and international arias from both very famous and less known operettas. Realistically, it is no round-the-world sail to float through the canals of Copenhagen – but then again.
The cruise takes us on a great journey from Vienna over China and all the way to Texas...  

The performance is in Danish

CAST:
Lisbeth Kjærulff, Jacob Beck, Joachim Knop.

Germany’s leading orchestra l'arte del mondo is in first row internationally amongst consorts specialized in early music. The orchestra has a general focus on the untested, and has many world premieres and rediscoveries of older works behind them.
On this summer evening in the Church of Holmen though, we can lean back and enjoy a more well-known repertoire. We are lead around Vivaldi, Händel, Bach, Salieri and Mozart by the 14 musicians, under the direction of Werner Ehrhardt. Besides being a renowned conductor, known for his endless curiousity and with many awards home and dry, Ehrhardt is also founder and artistic director of Orchester l’arte del mondo and Concerto Köln.
The beautiful soprano arias are performed this evening by Copenhagen Opera Festival’s Young Opera Talent 2013. A wonderful evening with enchanting music is ahead.

CAST:
“Årets unge operatalent”, l’arte del mondo, Werner Ehrhardt.

Danes have a pronounced taste for singing. The seeds of this charming inclination were arguably sown in the late 1700 when the German composer Johann Abraham Peter Schultz revivified Danish music life with his catchy and emotional melodies whilst serving in Copenhagen as Court Music Director.

While Peter’s Wedding deals with a rather heavy subject - the abolition of slavery – it has a rather idyllic tone. The lightness of the opera seduced the Danish people and made it an immense succes. 230 years after its first performance at Copenhagen’s Royal Theatre it returns to the city with an international cast of 16 singers and the German orchestra l’arte del mondo – a world class consort, under the direction of conductor Werner Ehrhardt.

This ambitious project was enabled via collaboration with Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci and Bayer Kultur. The dialogue has been translated to Danish by Knud Romer. Romer will narrate the performance, and the opera is sung in Danish. Thanks to collaboration with The Danish Chamber of Commerce. Peter’s Wedding is performed in perfect settings in the beautiful hall of Copenhagen’s old Stock Exchange building.

CAST:
Tobias Westmann, Eva-Lotta Ohlsson, Johan Rydh, Manos Kia, Martin Gerke, Svenja Kruse, Reiner Goldberg, Ulrike Andersen, Bernhard Hansky, Werner Ehrhardt, l’arte del mondo.

Tivoli’s music director Henrik Engelbrecht talks (in Danish) about tenors through the centuries. In between he will play sound and video clips with Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, Jussi Björling, Luciano Pavarotti and many others.
From Caruso’s fusion of manly power and lyrical sweetnes, to Pavarotti’s brilliantly beautiful tone, these impressive voices sounds again in Tivoli’s concert hall.
The perfect scene is set when Engelbrecht gives us a fascinating insight into the tenor’s world. 

CAST:
Henrik Engelbrecht.

This puppet theatre version of the classic tale about Little Red Riding Hood takes the children on an fanciful music journey. Along the road we pass through a prominent selection of opera arias and duets. The Magic Flute, Carmen, The Ring of the Nibelung and many other operas have found their way into the charming, vivid and fun puppet show. 

The show is in Danish

CAST:
Egnsteater Undergrunden.

In the heydays of radio opera in the late 1930’ies many outrageous short operas were born. Not least the charming and comic ’The Old Maid and the Thief’, which became a winner amongst the people. NBC’s commision with the young composer Gian Carlo Menotti resulted in a distorted fable about unflagging moral concepts and malicious female intrigue. It stirs up hidden feelings and longings in an old maid, her housemaid and their neighbour – a true busybody – when a vagabond with a hidden agenda passes by.
The Royal Opera has created the performance especially for Copenhagen Opera Festival and The Worker’s Museum.
The four soloist are some of Denmark’s leading singers: Elisabeth Halling, Sine Bundgaard, Sofie Elkjær Jensen and Thomas Storm.
The performance is staged in a world of Harlequin romance novels and ’Desperate Housewifes’. 

CAST:
Sofie Elkjær Jensen, Sine Bundgaard, Elisabeth Halling, Thomas Storm, Leif Greibe, Det Kongelige Teater.

Parents always have two children. When the light child is tugged into her warm bed, the dark child has to stay outside in the cold. Her rage awakens the demons of the night; She wants to kill the light child...
An actress, a singer, and a musician perform this stirring drama. A combination of lyrical text and the co-creating forces of the music takes both children and their adults on a journey.
The Darkchild deals with the fact that we all contain both light and dark sides. 

The performance is sung in Danish

CAST:
Ingeborg Fangel Mo, Maria Mondrup, Frode Andersen.

Enjoy this spectacular melange of beautiful opera arias and classic bingo.
The game is played as the tradition prescribes. But the prizes are somewhat exceptional. Winning gives you the privilege to choose a favorite aria, which is then immediately performed.
The evening is hosted by the very likeable Keld and Hilda Heick – for many decades a popular couple in Danish entertainment business. Pianist Ulrich Stærk provides the musical base for the two prominent singers of the event: Denmark’s leading tenor Peter Lodahl and Copenhagen Opera Festival’s Young Opera Talent 2013.
If you happen to win the evening’s main prize you’ll carry off an ’aria to go’, which means you are due for an opera treat – whenever and whereever it suits you. Top off a proposal, hen or stag night, wedding, company event, birthday etc. with a breath-taking performance

The show is in Danish

CAST:
Peter Lodahl, Ulrich Stærk.

Opera classics served with great a strong sense of humour by the consort Stand-up Opera, that seem to have found a formula that works: Dramatic music’s grand stories communicated in a laid back atmosphere and with self-deprication, making even the most persisten opera sceptic surrender.

Four singers, a pianist, and a conferencier present a spectacular blend of famed and beloved opera hits, musical acts, and the like.
This evening will surprise you and touch you. Be prepared for giggles in a hip comedy setting.

CAST:
Hetna Regitze Bruun, Christian Damsgaard, Henning von Schulman, Markus Syperek.

Alike the beautiful young nymphs that lend this opera its title, Puccini masters the art of seduction; Le Villi captivated its audience from the first. At the opening night in Milan in 1894, the finale was repeated several times before the crowds calmed.
The material of the opera is quite enchanting; According to Slavic tradition, the villies were dangerous spirits of nature, living in the woods and rivers. They were said to be dancing in the moonlight, and their overwhelming beauty could make men behave foolishly.

The opera is a guest performance by Malmø Opera from Sweden. They bring along a world-class trio of soloists: the Swedish stellar baritone Karl-Magnus Fredriksson along with two of Sweden’s leading singers, soprano Maria Fontosh and tenor
Arturo Chacón-Cruz. In this rendition of Puccini’s Le Villi we encounter Anna and Roberto at their engagement celebration. Roberto leaves the feast for a short while, and is bewitched by another woman. He is seduced and forgets about Anna, who then dies of her heart ache. In such a situation, the villies’ task is to forse the heartbreaker to dance till he dies.

CAST:
Maria Fontosh, Karl-Magnus Frederiksson, Malmö Opera, Ralf Kircher.

The Royal Danish Academy of Music educates singers on the highest artistic level. The graduating students from Denmark’s oldest music academy stand at the starting-line of their career.
At this afternoon concert these ablaze talents give us a taste of their abilities in the sunshiny spotlight.

CAST:
Alexa Vogel, Tong Wang, Maria Bordas, Nana Bugge Rasmussen, John Andert, Thomas Sigh.

At this concert we are up for a treat: The sublime voice of soprano Elsebeth Dreisig in a selection of Verdi og Puccini’s great classics. Famed for her beautiful note and an impressive superiority it is no wonder that Dreisig is a sought-after singer both within and beyond the Danish borders. With pianist Henrik Metz at her side, this queen of Danish opera will perform the most beloved opera arias at the festival’s main stage in the heart of Copenhagen.
The concert programme parallels the music on Dreisig and Metz’ new CD, which is launched at the concert. We will also welcome a secret guest, by whom noone will be disappointed. We look forward to the revelation and to this summer evening with a glass of chilled wine and a fabulous operatic hit parade.

CAST:
Elsebeth Dreisig, Henrik Metz.

The Danish composer Emil Reesen got a massive hit with this operetta about the brilliant Italian castrato Farinelli. We follow him around on an amazing journey from a nunnery over a pirate ship to a king’s castle. With his enchanting song he wins the battles at the fields of love of morals. The story is loaded with complications and it is told in a merry tone and through songs that have become great Danish classics.
The operetta is presented in its entirety in Tivoli’s concert hall.

CAST:
Sofie Elkjær Jensen, Stina Schmidt, Adam Frandsen, Simon Duus, Jesper Nordin, Tivolis Symfoniorkester.

The Home Opera consort is visiting from Berlin, where they enjoy great success creating flamboyant opera events in private settings. During the opera festival they will transform two Copenhagen homes to concert halls. Tickets to these remarkable concerts are bought up-front, but the place of the event will only be revealed 24 hours prior.
The concert programme offers splendours from the hands of Mozart, Bellini, Donizetti, Strauss, Nielsen, Porter and Gershwin. The consort consists of young and ambitious singers from Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Russia. Likely, they are all coming sought-after soloists.
Their engagement with Home Opera fulfills a vision, as they believe opera can be an intimate and intense experience, not tied to the concert halls.

CAST:
Hetna Regitze Bruun, Oleg Loza, Steffen Bruun, Markus Syperek.

At this event, the music is let out of its genre folds. You’ll experience vocal expressions from different music worlds blend and drift into the night. The concert is stage-managed and tied together by Denmark’s most multi-faceted DJ, Katrine Ring.
In a stirring and organic concert performance, Ring’s electronic universe is penetrated by overtone singing, bulgarian womens choir, jazz vocal and rap.

CAST:
Katrine Ring, Vokalselskabet GLAS, Regína Unnur Ólafsdóttir, Laila Skovmand, Ali Sufi.

In this rendition of the classic Rossini opera we are set in the 1940’ies and Figaro is working as a stylist at a theatre. Rosina is the next big star of the theatre, and her manager Bartolo sneakily plans on marrying her in order to finance his own retirement in a pleasant manner. His helper, the filthy Basilio, is the theatre’s music director. When least expected, the movie star Almaviva makes his entrance.

Skånske Operan unfolds the magic music beautifully and energetic in an interpretation of the opera, that is both innovative and true to its starting point. Skånske Operan creates opera of the highest quality for the people. Since 1993 they have successfully reached out to a younger and wider audience.
Let Rosina, Figaro, and the other characters get under your skin, while you relish the beautiful arias – and perhaps a glass of wine - in the open Copenhagen summer air.

CAST:
Tor Lind, Astrid Robillard, Helena Mangusson, William Baker, Johan Wikström, Anders Nyström, Sebastian Duran, Skånska Operan.

Under construction

CAST:
Thomas Storm.

We’ll round off Copenhagen Opera Festival 2013 with a grandiose concert in the heart of Copenhagen. A wide range of the festival’s soloists will gather with Malmö Symphony Orchestra to perform highlights from the festival week.
The open air concert - with music of Rossini, Puccini, Mozart, Schultz, Händel and more - will be transmitted by Danish National TV.

The happiness of the young courting couple is threatened by a jealous cyclop. This nerve wrecking love drama unfolds in a passionate performance. Concerto Copenhagen will bring the tones from 1708 into our modern hearts.
Concerto Copenhagen – also known as CoCo - has established itself globally as an innovative baroque orchestra. It is the leading consort in Scandinavia in the realm of early music. The orchestra and the singers will be vitalising Aci, Galatea e Polifemo under the direction of Italian Alfredo Bernardini –one of today’s most colourful and renowned baroque conductors.
The Italian touch on this performance is generally very strong; The opera was written during Händel’s stay in Italy, the set designer of the performance is Italian Deda Cristina Colonna, and the opera is sung in Italian (English subtitles).

CAST:
Deborah York, Sonia Prina, João Fernandes, Concerto Copenhagen, Alfredo Bernardini.

Festival director Michael Bojesen invites everyone with an interest in singing to join forces at a huge busker inspired event on Saturday August 3rd. It kicks off at 10.00 am with traditional Danish morning song at the festival’s main stage. With their vocal chords heated, soloists and choirs of all sizes swarm out into the streets of inner Copenhagen. The event ends off in a massive choir’s concert at the main stage at 13.00 pm. Naturally, the festival director himself will captain the singing crowd of professionals and amateurs from all of Denmark.

Michael Bojesen is also on the spot at the daily morning song from August 1st till August 4th. Join us at 10.00 am at the main stage and start off your day with fresh, wholesome vocal chord gymnastics.

Near Torvehallerne you’ll find Singers' Corner – the place where you are invited to step onto the podium and show off your singing skills.

CAST:
Michael Bojesen.