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PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Prague Philharmonic Chorus, Gareth Jones – conductor
Welch bass-baritone Bryn Terfel has been, for many years, a renowned opera star in the best meaning of the word: instead of being a quasi-celebrity, he is a forthcoming, kind and a charismatic man. He performs at all of the world’s great stages. His signature roles were Mozart’s Figaro and Leporello, that were later replaced with Verdi’s Falstaff, Wagner’s Wotan (Rheingold and Die Walküre), Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and Der fliegende Holländer, Gounod’s Mephistopheles (Faust), Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, and Puccini’s Scarpia (Tosca).
In November 2015, The Telegraph compared his Scarpia on the stage of Royal Opera House Covent Garden to the legendary bass Tito Gobbi: “Bryn Terfel’s magnificently creepy, immaculately vocalized Scarpia … As a study in the poisonous but charismatic combination of sexual allure and psychotic sadism, it can’t have been equalled since Tito Gobbi’s heyday.“ His songs are just as captivating as his opera characters; he sings German, English and Irish songs, as well as musical melodies (Rodgers & Hammerstein and Lerner & Loewe), and folk songs of his homeland.
Bryn Terfel was raised in Pant Glas, which is close to Garndolbenmaen, he graduated from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and in 1989, he became laureate of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. He follows a roster of great Welch singers: Gwyneth Jones, Margaret Price, Robert Tear, Robert Lloyd, etc. “To be born Welsh is to be born privileged," he says. "Not with a silver spoon in your mouth, but music in your blood and poetry in your soul." In 2000, he founded Faenol Festival at Bangor, Wales. Bryn Terfel was awarded with many prestigious awards, in 2003 he received CBE and in 2006 received The Queen's Medal for Music, as only a second artist after sir Charles Mackerras.
Bryn Terfel made his Prague debut per Nachtigall Artists invitation on 13th January 2009 and he returned to the Smetana Hall on 20th January 2011, with Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868)
Miei rampolli femminini (Don Magnifico)
La Cenerentola, Act I
Arrigo Boito (1842–1918)
Son lo Spirito che nega sempre tutto (Mefistofele)
Mefistofele, Act I
Charles Gounod (1818–1893)
Vin ou bière, bière ou vin (chorus)
Faust, Act I
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)
Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate (chorus)
Nabucco, Act III
Richard Wagner (1883–1883)
Was duftet doch der Flieder (Hans Sachs)
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Act II
Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge (Wotan)
Das Rheingold, Scene 4
Ride of the Valkyries
Die Walküre, Act III
Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)
Te Deum (Scarpia & chorus)
Tosca, Act I
Interval
Gaetano Donizetti (1798–1848)
Udite, udite, o rustici (Dulcamara & chorus)
L'elisir d'amore, Act I
Modest Petrovič Musorgskij (1839–1881)
Dawn on the Moskva River
prelude to opera Khovanshchina
Звон! Погребальный звон! (Boris Godunov & chorus)
Boris Godunov, Act IV
Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) & Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960)
Carousel Waltz
Carousel, Act I
Deep River (Bryn Terfel & chorus)
arr. Chris Hazell
Marta Keen Thompson
Homeward Bound (Bryn Terfel & chorus)
Jerry Bock (1928–2010) & Sheldon Harnick (*1924)
If I were a rich man (Tevye)
The Fiddler on the Roof, Act I
