NEWS

Parnassus Arts Productions remains true to its reputation as a rediscoverer of unknown baroque operas, some of which have not been performed since the 18th century. In this spirit, we present our next new production, Il Venceslao, an opera by Antonio Caldara, the court composer of Empress Maria Theresa.

Concert performances of this new discovery will be given on Sunday 20th November 2022, at 6:00 pm at the Teatr Miejski in Gliwice (Poland) as part of the All'Improvviso Festival, and on Tuesday, 22nd November 2022 at 7:00 pm in Hall E of the Museumsquartier Wien, the venue of the Theater an der Wien under the new artistic direction of Stefan Herheim.

The musical direction is in the hands of Martyna Pastuszka, resident conductor of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival 2022, who will conduct {oh!} Orkiestra! which she founded. The title role will be sung by star countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic, artistic director of Bayreuth Baroque, singer, director, producer and manager, who will also celebrate his 40th stage anniversary in Vienna with this performance. Venceslao is another new role for Max this year, following the role of Gualtiero in Bononcini's Griselda, the title roles in Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso, Scarlatti's San Giovanni Battista, and his work as director in Vinci's Alessandro nell'Indie.

In addition, two other top-class countertenors will be part of this production: Nicholas Tamagna, who previously sang at the MET, creates the role of Casimiro. Nicholas will also sing Polinesso in Handel's Ariodante at Tel Aviv Opera in February 2023 and in the title role in Giovanni Legrenzi's Il Giustino at Pinchgut Opera Sydney in June 2023. The male soprano Dennis Orellana, who is only 21 years old and comes from Honduras - currently in rehearsals for Mozart's La finta giardiniera at the Salzburg Landestheater as Ramiro - lends his angelic voice to the role of Alessandro.

The young French soprano Suzanne Jerosme, who is currently singing Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at the Aachen Theatre, will sing the role of Lucinda, and the German tenor Stefan Sbonnik, soon to be heard in Verdi's Stiffelio in Aachen, interprets the role of Fernando. Both artists will make their debut at La Scala in Milan in June 2023 in the production Carlo il Calvo. The young Croatian contralto Sonja Runje, who lives in Stuttgart, will excel as Erenice. In addition, Sonja will make her debut in the title role in Handel's Giulio Cesare at the Cologne Opera in May 2023. The bass part of Gismondo is in the proven hands of Pavel Kudinov. Pavel sang two important Verdi bass roles at Oper Bonn earlier this year, Philipp II in Don Carlos and Don Ruy Gómez de Silva in Ernani. He will also sing Claudio in a new production of Agrippina from January 2023.

We are very pleased to be able to present this production with the {oh!} Orkiestra!, a young, dynamic baroque orchestra playing on period instruments.

The cast:

Musical Director: Martyna Pastuszka

Venceslao: Max Emanuel Cencic
Lucinda: Suzanne Jerosme
Casimiro: Nicholas Tamagna
Fernando: Stefan Sbonnik
Erenice: Sonja Runje
Gismondo: Pavel Kudinov
Alessandro: Dennis Orellana

Orchestra: {oh!} Orkiestra!

We wish all the wonderful artists involved a great success and the audiences in Gliwice and Vienna a wonderful journey of discovery into the work of the baroque composer Antonio Caldara. Il Venceslao will be a spectacular evening at the opera.