Artist Talk

Her large repertoire included Ellen Orford in “Peter Grimes”, Donna Anna in “Don Giovanni”, Christine in “Intermezzo”, Countess Madeleine in “Capriccio”, Anne Trulove in “The Rake’s Progress” and Blanche in “Les Dialogues des Carmelites”. With Carlos Kleiber on the podium, Felicity Lott made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York as Marschallin in “Der Rosenkavalier” and sang this role at the Vienna State Opera and in Japan. She made her debut at Milan’s Scala as Arabella under Wolfgang Sawallisch. These appearances established her reputation as one of the greatest Strauss interpreters.
As a concert singer, Felicity Lott has appeared regularly with renowned orchestras in Europe and the USA, including the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras. She has worked with such renowned conductors as Georg Solti, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, Sir Neville Marriner, Charles Mackerras and Neeme Järvi.
In addition to her commitment to opera and concert, Felicity Lott is one of the world’s most outstanding song interpreters. She has given lieder recitals in all the world’s major halls and music centres. She has also recorded an extensive repertoire of songs by Hugo Wolf, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Richard Strauss and French composers.
Felicity Lott holds numerous honorary doctorates. In 1996 Queen Elizabeth II awarded her the title “Dame of the British Empire”. Two years earlier, she was awarded the title “Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government and in 2001 was knighted by the French Legion of Honour. Felicity Lott has been a Bavarian chamber singer since 2003. The artist’s most recent award in 2016 was the prize for her life’s work at the “International Classical Music Awards”.

Since May 2015, Alexander Liebreich is Artistic Director of the Katowice Kultura Natura Music Festival, which has already had guests like the Rias Chamber Choir, the Academy of Early Music Berlin, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Budapest Festival Orchestra. In May 2018, Leif Ove Andsnes, the Quatuor Ebène and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich are expected to perform for the 4th edition of the festival. In 2018, Liebreich will take over the position of Artistic Director of the Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

From 2006 to 2016 Liebreich was Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Munich Chamber Orchestra (MKO). The first CD of the ensemble with works by Joseph Haydn and Isang Yun under his direction was received enthusiastically by the critics during its release in January 2008; 2009 followed a Bach CD with Hilary Hahn, Christine Schäfer and Matthias Goerne for the Deutsche Grammophon. The recording with the MKO of Tigran Mansurian’s “Requiem” (2017, ECM Records) with the RIAS Chamber Choir was honored with the Recording Academy nominations for the 2018 Grammy Awards as well as by the jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).

As one of Germany’s leading conductors, Alexander Liebreich is at home on the big concert stages in the world. As a guest conductor, he has collaborated with many top-class orchestras, including the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchester National de Belgique, the Rundfunk-Symphonieorchester Berlin, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo the Dresdner Philharmonie, the Orchester Philharmonique de Luxembourg, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Current and future commitments include debuts with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Orquesta de Valencia, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Essen Philharmonic, the Staatsorchester Stuttgart, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

Liebreich has performed with outstanding soloists such as Lisa Batiashvili, Krystian Zimerman, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Gautier Capuçon, Leila Josefowicz and Isabelle Faust.

In addition to his concerts and opera productions, Liebreich has also built up a reputation with innovative projects. In 2011, he was the first European Artistic Director of the Tongyeong International Music Festival (TIMF) in South Korea, one of the largest and most important music festivals in Asia. To promote intercultural encounters, he launched the East-West Residence Program and invited artists like Heiner Goebbels, Unsuk Chin, Martin Grubinger, Toshio Hosokawa, and Beat Furrer to South Korea.

In October 2016 Alexander Liebreich was awarded the special prize of the Kulturpreis Bayern 2016.

As a native of Regensburg Alexander Liebreich studied at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Munich and the Salzburg Mozarteum. He gained his first artistic experience with Claudio Abbado and Michael Gielen.