New Year's Eve Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden

Internationally renowned conductor Tugan Sokhiev shares his time between symphony and opera, with orchestras from all over the world. He was the Musical Director of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse (ONCT) from 2008 to 2022 and of the prestigious Bolshoi Theater in Moscow from 2014 to 2022.

Being one of the last students of legendary teacher Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Tugan Sokhiev is eager to share his expertise and thus has initiated a Conducting Academy in Toulouse. His interest in French-Russian relationships in classical music has led him to become Toulouse’s Franco-Russian festival artistic director. The Bolshoi Orchestra often plays at this festival and at the Philharmonie de Paris under his baton.

As a guest conductor, Tugan Sokhiev regularly conducts the most prominent orchestras in the world: Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Vienna, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, New York, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Symphony Orchestra of the Finnish Radio, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, where he was appointed Principal Conductor between 2012 and 2017.

Tugan

Sokhiev has a rich and varied discography, including recordings  with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse on Naïve Classique (Tchaikovsky’s Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, Mussorgsky/Ravel’s »Pictures at an Exhibition«, Rachmaninov’s »Symphonic Dances«, Prokofiev’s »Peter and the Wolf«, and Stravinsky’s »The Rite of Spring« and »The Firebird«) and on Warner Classics (Shostakovitch Eighth Symphony). His recordings of Prokofiev’s »Ivan the Terrible«, Fifth Symphony and Scythian Suite with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester have been released on Sony Classical. He is currently collaborating with EuroArts on a series of DVD’s. Under the same label, he appears with the Capitole de Toulouse in a recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Vadim Gluzman.

The 2021/2022 season includes engagements with the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Staatskappelle at the Salzburg Easter Festival and the Munich, Berlin and New York Philharmonic orchestras. In October 2021, he will lead the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on their tour of Russia, Korea and Japan.

South African soprano Golda Schultz is internationally hailed as one of today’s most talented and versatile artists, as at home in leading operatic roles as she is as featured soloist with the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors. Unanimously praised for her “warmth of tone and sensitivity of phrasing”, Schultz trained at New York’s Juilliard School and Bayerische Staatsoper’s Opernstudio and found immediate success on both sides of the Atlantic through early operatic appearances like Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) at Salzburger

Festspiele, Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at the Metropolitan Opera and Wiener Staatsoper. Operatic highlights of past seasons include Micaëla (Carmen) at Opéra National de Paris and Lyric Opera of Chicago, Contessa and Liù at Wiener Staatsoper, Agathe (Der Freischütz) at Bayerische Staatsoper and the role of Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito) at the Salzburger Festspiele.

Berlin-born Czech mezzo-soprano Štěpánka Pučálková has been an ensemble member of the Semperoper Dresden since the 18/19 season.

She studied voice at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg with Univ. Prof. Elisabeth Wilke KS. In 2012 she completed her master’s degree in opera and musical theater with Josef Wallnig and Eike Gramss. At the same time she received the Lilli Lehmann Medal from the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg.

She has worked conductors such as Christian Thielemann, Danielle Gatti, Wladimir Jurowski, Lorenzo Viotti, Christiina Poska, Plácido Domingo, Alan Gilbert, Antonio Fogliani, Friedrich Haider, Marco Guidarini, Leo Hussein, Roland Böer, Martin Leginus and directors such as Peter Konwitschny, Vera Nemirova,

Stefan Herheim, J. Köpplinger, Mariusz Trélinski, Jiří Heřman, Eike Gramss, Immo Karaman a Keith Warner.

At the Semperoper Dresden she already sang the role of Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma, the page Urbain in Meyerbeer’s opera Les Huguenots, Lola in Cavaleria Rusticana, Sesto Pompeo in Giulio Caesarw, Mercédes in Carmen, 2. Solo voice in the opera of A. Schönberg Moses und Aron, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Muse/Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hofmann, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Olga in Eugene Onegin. She made her debut at the Volksoper Wien in January 2020 as Carmen.

Born in Nizhni Novgorod, Igor Levit moved to Germany with his family at the age of eight. He completed his piano studies in Hannover with the highest score in the history of the institute. His teachers included Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Matti Raekallio, Bernd Goetzke, Lajos Rovatkay and Hans Leygraf. Igor Levit was the youngest participant in the 2005 International Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv, where he won silver, the special prize for chamber music, the audience prize and the special prize for the best performance of contemporary pieces. In spring 2019 he was appointed professor for piano at his alma mater, the University of Music, Theatre and Media Hanover. Igor Levit is the Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Academy and of the Festival »Standpunkte« at the Heidelberg Spring Festival. For his political commitment Igor Levit has been awarded the 5th International Beethoven Prize in 2019 followed by the award of the “Statue B” of the International Auschwitz Committee in January 2020. In October 2020 Igor Levit was recognized with the Oder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In Berlin, where he makes his home, Igor Levit is playing on a Steinway D Grand Piano kindly given to him by the Trustees of Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells. With an alert and critical mind, he places his art in the context of social events and understands it as inseparably linked to them. The New York Times describes Igor Levit as one of the »most important artists of his generation«. Igor Levit is Musical America’s »Recording Artist of the Year 2020« and the 2018 Gilmore Artist. In November 2020 he was nominated for a Grammy in the category »Best Classical Instrumental Solo«.

As a recitalist Igor Levit regularly performs at the world’s most renowned concert halls and festivals. He is regular soloist with the world’s leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. Performing with the Vienna Philharmonic at their iconic Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn in June 2021, Igor Levit’s upcoming schedule includes concerts in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris and Tokyo. In spring 2021 Igor Levit and the Lucerne Festival announced a multi-year collaboration for a new piano festival curated by Igor Levit starting in 2023. An exclusive recording artist for Sony Classical, Igor Levit’s 2019 highly-acclaimed first recording of the 32 Beethoven-Sonatas was awarded the Gramophone »Artist of the Year« Award as well as the Opus Klassik in autumn 2020. His next album »Encounter« followed in September 2020. Recorded during the lockdown in spring 2020 it is a deeply personal album marked by a desire for human encounter and togetherness. The program includes rarely played arrangements of Bach and Brahms by Ferruccio Busoni and Max Reger, as well as Palais de Mari – Morton Feldman’s final work for piano. Igor Levit’s next release is a double album featuring Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues Op. 87 and Ronald Stevenson’s Passacaglia on DSCH. The artwork has been specially created for this album by the internationally renowned artist and graphic designer Christoph Niemann, who regularly illustrates for the New Yorker and The New York Times.