Advent Concert of ZDF

Since the 2012/2013 season Christian Thielemann has been Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden. Following engagements at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, in Gelsenkirchen, Karlsruhe, Hanover and Dusseldorf, in 1988 he moved to Nuremberg to occupy the post of Generalmusikdirektor. In 1997 he returned to his hometown of Berlin to direct the Deutsche Oper until 2004, when he became Music Director of the Munich Philharmonic, a post he held until 2011. In addition to his current position in Dresden, Thielemann was Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival from 2013 to 2022. In September 2023, Christian Thielemann was announced as Daniel Barenboim's designated successor. He will take up the position of General Music Director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden from the 2024/2025 season.

In previous seasons Christian Thielemann has contributed greatly to the birthday cele­brations for Wagner, Strauss and Beethoven. At the same time he has explored a wide range of music from Bach to Henze, Rihm and Gubaidulina in Dresden and on tour. In the Semperoper he recently conducted new pro­ductions of »Ariadne auf Naxos«, »Capriccio« and »Aida« while for the Salzburg Easter Festival he interpreted »Die Walküre«, »Tos­ca«, »Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg« and »Lohengrin«.

Christian Thielemann maintains close ties to the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, whose New Year’s Concert he conducted in 2019 and will conduct again in 2024. He was Musical Advisor and Music Director of the Bayreuth Festival, at which he has made his

mark with his interpretations every year since his debut in the summer of 2000. In addition, he has been invited to conduct the leading orchestras of Europe, the United States, Israel and Asia.

As a UNITEL exclusive artist, Christian Thielemann has a comprehensive catalogue of recordings. His most recent projects with the Staatskapelle have been to record the symphonies of Anton Bruckner and Robert Schumann, Arnold Schoenberg’s »Gurre- Lieder« as well as numerous operas.

Christian Thielemann is an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London, honorary professor at Dresden’s Carl Maria von Weber College of Music and holds honorary doctorates from the »Franz Liszt« University of Music in Weimar and the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. In 2003 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In May 2015 he received the Richard Wagner Prize from the Richard Wagner Society of the city of Leipzig, followed by the Prize of the Semperoper Trust in October 2016. In April 2022 he was awarded the Badge of Honor of the Province of Salzburg and in July 2022 he was awarded the Coat of Arms Medal in Gold of the City of Salzburg. 2023 he received honorary membership and the Ring of Honour of the Wiener Staatsoper. In April 2024, he was made an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic.

He is patron of the Richard-Wagner-Stätten in Graupa. His recordings have been showered with awards.

Hanna-Elisabeth Müller studied with Rudolf Piernay with whom she still closely collaborates. The multi award winning soprano later fine-tuned her skills in masterclasses with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Julia Varady, Elly Ameling and Thomas Hampson.

In 2014, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller achieved her international breakthrough at the Salzburg Opera Festival with her sensational debut as Zdenka alongside Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson under the baton of Christian Thielemann and, shortly afterwards, was distinguished by German magazine »Opernwelt« as ›Young Artist of the Year‹. From 2012 to 2017, she was a member of the Bavarian State Opera. At the 2017 Opera Festival, she bid farewell to the ensemble with her celebrated Sophie in Strauss' »Rosenkavalier«, but has maintained close bonds with the house as a guest ever since. She joined the Bavarian State Orchestra on tours to Japan (Pamina), Carnegie Hall New York (Sophie, »Rosenkavalier«) and the Paris Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.

Since then, one house debut followed the other: In 2017 she sang Marzelline in Jürgen Flimm’s »Fidelio« for the first time at the MET in New York. Shortly after, she made both a role and house debut at the Scala in Milan as Donna Anna in Robert Carson’s production of »Don Giovanni«; she has since performed in the same role at the Bavarian State Opera and at the Vienna State Opera. This was followed in 2018 by her debut at the Opera Zurich as Ilia in Mozart’s »Idomeneo«. In early 2020, she returned to the MET in New York, this

time as Susanna in Mozart's »Le nozze di Figaro«. In July 2021, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller closed the season at the Bavarian State Opera with her role debut as Elettra in Mozart´s »Idomeneo« under Constantinos Carydis.

The versatile singer also is a regular guest on the concert stage. This season, her schedule includes concerts with Orchestre de Paris (Mahler´s 2nd Symphony) with Semyon Bychkov and, at Semperoper Dresden under Christian Thielemann, Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Highlights from earlier years include Berg's »Seven Early Songs« with the Berlin Philharmonic under Paavo Järvi or Schumann's »Faustszenen« at Daniel Harding’s inaugural concert at the Orchestre de Paris, not to forget her spectacular last-minute appearance at the opening concerts of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg in 2017.

With her long-term piano partner Juliane Ruf, she made her recital debut at La Scala in Milan and at Wigmore Hall London in 2018. They had already appeared at major recital venues before, including Heidelberger Frühling, Festival RheinVokal, Philharmonie Cologne, Schubertiada Vilabertran, Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid and deSingel Antwerp. In summer 2017, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller released her first solo album »Traumgekrönt« with songs by Strauss, Berg and Schönberg. In February 2020, her new exclusive label Pentatone released her debut album »Reine de Coeur«, presenting works by Schumann, Zemlinsky and Poulenc.

Der aus Luzern stammende Tenor Mauro Peter studierte Gesang an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater München bei Fenna Kügel-Seifried.

2012 gewann er den ersten Preis sowie den Publikumspreis beim Internationalen RobertSchumann-Wettbewerb in Zwickau. Als Liedsänger feierte er 2012 mit Schuberts „Die schöne Müllerin“, begleitet von Helmut Deutsch, sein von Publikum und Presse umjubeltes Debüt bei der Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg. Seither ist er ständiger Gast in Schwarzenberg und Hohenems und auf allen führenden internationalen Konzertpodien und Opernbühnen zu erleben.

Liederabende gibt Mauro Peter regelmäßig im KKL Luzern, an der Wigmore Hall in London, im Musikverein sowie Konzerthaus Wien, im Musikverein Graz, an den Konzerthäusern in Berlin und Dortmund, in der Kölner Philharmonie, im Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, an der Oper Frankfurt und am Opernhaus Zürich, außerdem im Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid. Konzertengagements führten ihn in die Philharmonie im Gasteig München, in die Royal Festival Hall London, ins Mozarteum Salzburg und zum Festival in Verbier. Ebenfalls regelmäßiger Gast ist er beim Festival de Paques in Aix-en-Provence sowie seit 2012 bei den Salzburger Festspielen, wo er im Sommer 2018 die Rolle des „Tamino“ in der Eröffnungspremiere des Festivals übernehmen wird.

Zu den Dirigenten, mit denen Mauro Peter bislang

zusammengearbeitet hat, gehören Gustavo Dudamel, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Zubin Mehta, Teodor Currentzis, Fabio Luisi, Ivor Bolton, Iván Fischer, Vladimir Jurowski und James Gaffigan.

Seit der Spielzeit 2013/14 ist Mauro Peter Ensemblemitglied des Opernhauses Zürich. Darüber hinaus sang er an der Bayerischen Staatsoper München, an der Mailänder Scala, am Royal Opera House Covent Garden, an der Opéra National de Paris, an der Komischen Oper Berlin, im Theater an der Wien, an der Canadian Opera Toronto sowie an der Opera de Lyon.

Nach einem Live-Mitschnitt der „Schönen Müllerin“ aus der Wigmore Hall erschien 2015 seine Debüt-CD bei SONY Classical mit Goethe-Liedern von Schubert. Ein weiteres Album mit seiner Interpretation der „Dichterliebe“ sowie weiterer Schumann-Lieder wurde 2016 ebenfalls bei SONY Classical veröffentlicht.

Für die Spielzeit 2018/19 folgt Mauro Peter erneuten Einladungen an das Züricher Opernhaus und das Theater an der Wien. Liederabende sind u.a. im Konzerthaus in Wien, bei der Schubertiade, im Münchner Prinzregententheater und im Rahmen der Salzburger Mozartwoche geplant. Im Konzertbereich wird Mauro Peter u.a. in Calgary mit Trevor Pinnock sowie mit Riccardo Muti an der Mailänder Scala arbeiten.

Helmut Fuchs, born in1984 in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, started his education at the age of six with trumpet lessons at the Musikschulwerk Salzburg with Martin Mühlfellner. In 2001 he switched to Igor Oder with whom he was also studying during his time at the Militärmusik Salzburg (20013-2004). In 2004 he started his trumpet studies at the Mozarteum University Salzburg with Gottfried Menth. In 2005 he carried on at the University of Music and the performing Arts Vienna and studied with Josef Pomberger. In addition to his education as a concert instrumentalist he also studied instrumental education. He finished both studies in 2009/2012 with honours.

Already during his studies up until now he is substituting in some of the most prestigious orchestras of Austria (like the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, the Vienna Philharmonics, the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, the Vienna Symphonics, the Bruckner Orchester Linz as well as the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg).

In 2014 he joined the Opera de Nice as trumpeter and since 2016 he is Solo trumpeter at the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden.

Had it not been for Carl Maria von Weber, Dresden’s opera chorus would not have been founded, or at least not on October 8, 1817. It was Weber who obtained royal approval for this initiative; after all, it was his artistic mission (and personal ambition) to establish a German opera company alongside the tradition-steeped Italian opera. Besides suggesting other reforms for the staging of opera, he argued that it was now essential to have a regular choir. The choir started to participate in the traditional Palm Sunday concerts as early as 1827. Major landmarks in its history include the performances in 1846, 1847 and 1849 of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under the later Kapellmeister Richard Wagner, who was forced to flee Dresden shortly after the last-mentioned performance.

Currently comprising 89 singers, the Dresden State Opera Chorus has now become one of Europe’s finest opera choruses and has been acclaimed as such in virtually every premiere review in recent years. This preservation of tradition, coupled with a growing awareness of quality, is indebted to such artists as Joseph Metzner, Wilhelm Fischer, Karl Maria Pembaur, Ernst Hintze, Gerhart Wüstner, Franz Peter Müller-Sybel, Hans-Dieter Pflüger, Matthias Brauer and Pablo Assante, who have led the choir through difficult times to the present day. The Dresden State Opera Chorus is currently directed by Jörn Hinnerk Andresen, who since assuming his post in 2014 has maintained and developed such qualities as tonal coherence, refinement and reliably consistent precision.

The State Opera Chorus of today has to a significant degree been shaped by its collaboration with the conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli, who died far too early and dedicated much time and effort to developing the choir’s artistic potential. Nowadays, the choir frequently demonstrates its qualities in operatic productions and concert performances. Radio, television and CD recordings bear further testimony to the immense prowess on account of which the State Opera Chorus is much sought after in many places besides Dresden: the choir receives invitations to perform at festivals, on tours and in concerts and has since 2013 worked together with the Staatskapelle Dresden at the Salzburg Easter Festival, which has been directed by Christian Thielemann ever since. October 8, 2017 marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Dresden State Opera Chorus.