DANIELE GATTI FOR SIX YEARS AT THE HEAD OF THE DRESDEN STAATSKAPELLE

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by OPERA Charm Team

July 5, 2023

Contract signed with Minister of Culture Barbara Klepsch: Daniele Gatti will be Chief Conductor of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden from August 2024 to July 2030

Graduate in composition and conducting from the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, Daniele Gatti is Music Director of the Orchestra Mozart, Artistic Advisor of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He has been Music Director of the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome and previously held prestigious positions at important musical institutions such as the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre national de France, the Royal Opera House in London, the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, the Opernhaus Zürich, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Filarmonica della Scala are just some of the symphonic institutions he collaborates with. He was awarded the Abbiati Prize as the best conductor of 2015, and in 2016 he was honoured with the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur of the French Republic. Other awards include that of Grande Ufficiale al Merito of the Italian Republic. He has recorded with the Sony Classical, RCO Live and C Major labels.

The Free State of Saxony has engaged Italian conductor Daniele Gatti as the next principal conductor of the Sächsische Staatskapelle in Dresden. Saxon Minister of Culture and Tourism Barbara Klepsch and Daniele Gatti signed the contract today, July 5th, 2023, in Dresden. The term of office starts on August 1st, 2024 and lasts for six years, until July 31st, 2030.

Minister Barbara Klepsch emphasises: I am delighted that, after the orchestra’s vote, we can conclude the contract with Daniele Gatti for joint work at the Semperoper Dresden and I warmly welcome him to the city! Our new principal conductor is one of the best in the world and will continue to cultivate the highest musical level of the Sächsische Staatskapelle, to inspire and move people in the opera house of the state capital and as a cultural ambassador of Saxony to the world. The character and treasures of the Saxon orchestra are in good hands with him, and he will certainly initiate new programme developments, which will help to ensure that the Staatskapelle continues to grow in the future and that classical music captivates a diverse audience. I also warmly welcome Annekatrin Fojuth, the orchestra’s new general director from 2024, to Saxony. I am very happy that she, together with our next superintendent Nora Schmid, will take responsibility for the future of our opera house with its rich tradition as the home of the Staatskapelle. To all of you I say: welcome to Saxony, welcome to the Semperoper. We are delighted!

Superintendent Nora Schmid says: I am very happy to be working with Daniele Gatti! Since he was elected the next Chief Conductor of the Staatskapelle, we have established a rewarding and stimulating dialogue, and it is wonderful to see how the artistic plans are taking shape more and more. I am convinced that Daniele Gatti will reach significant heights with the Staatskapelle both in Dresden and on international stages. It fills me with great joy that we have also succeeded in securing an experienced general conductor for the orchestra, Annekatrin Fojuth, and I am sure that she will devote herself to this task with great dedication, thus completing the future management team of the Semperoper in an excellent way.

The next principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Daniele Gatti points out: In February 2000, at the invitation of the then principal conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli, I had the honour of conducting a concert of the Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra for the first time. It was a musical understanding such as I had rarely experienced, and the starting signal of an artistic relationship that has continued to intensify over the years, both in Dresden and on tours around the world. Today I feel happy and deeply honoured to accept this new assignment in one of Europe’s great music cities and to be at the helm of one of the oldest and most important orchestras in the world – and even more so in a venue like the Semperoper, where so many world-famous musicians have worked, from Richard Wagner onwards. I would like to thank the great conductor and friend Christian Thielemann – whom I have known and admired for many years – for the great work he has done, hoping that he will continue to be close to this orchestra and that he will soon return to the podium as a guest.

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Alice Lechner

Alice Lechner comes from a music-loving family. Her first encounter with the opera universe was at the tender age of six. The grandeur of the stage productions and costumes, the backstage chatter, and last, but definitely not least, the music left her in awe, beginning with Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The overall feeling that opera awakens in anyone who gets a glimpse into this part of artistic eternity, that each and every day passes the test of time, was what drew her to stay and be a part of this world. The Opera House of Brașov became her second home, and the people who worked there were her second family.

Since then, Alice has devoted her spare time to maximising her musical knowledge through instrumental studies, studying both piano and violin for a short time. In the following years, her number one passion stepped out of the limelight and graciously gave way to Law Studies.
Since 2018 she has been studying Law at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University in Iași.

Her passion for opera, even if it is no longer her top professional priority in terms of career, it has most definitely become her priority during her free time. Wanting to experience the best of both worlds and extend her musical horizons, she regularly attends opera performances throughout Romania and abroad.
With OPERA Charm Magazine, Alice aims to nurture her creative side to help it flourish and bloom and to discover, alongside the magazine’s readers, the fascinatingly complex world of opera.

Currently, she is an LL.M. in Business Law at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University in Iași.

Oana Zamfir

Oana Zamfir is a second year MA student at the “George Enescu” National University of Arts, at the Department of Musicology.

She studied violin for 12 years at the “Stefan Luchian” High School of Art in Botosani, later focusing on the theoretical aspects of music. In 2019 she completed her bachelor studies in Musicology as a student of the National Academy of Music “Gheorghe Dima” in Cluj-Napoca. Her research during 2018-2019 brought to the forefront elements of the archaic ritual within works of composers who activated during the communist period, giving her the opportunity to start a research internship at the “Carl von Ossietzky” University in Germany. In this context, she recorded conversations with members of the Sophie Drinker Institute in Bremen, and had access to documents directly from the Myriam Marbé archive.

Since 2019 she has been a teacher of Music Education and Theoretical Music Studies, making full use of interactive methods in the musical training of students and working, at the same time, with the children’s choir founded in the first year of her activity.

Her interests include pursuing a degree in interior design in 2020.

Alexandru Suciu

Alexandru Suciu inherited his passion for art growing up in a family of several generations of musicians. He began his musical studies at the “Augustin Bena” School of Music in Cluj, where he studied piano and guitar. Even though his main study direction was philological, his passion for music prevailed. He began his academical journey at the Faculty of Letters of the “Babeș-Bolyai” University, studying Comparative literature and English. He continued by studying Opera Singing at the “Gheorghe Dima” National Music Academy. He also graduated the Musical Education section, followed by Artistic Directing at the Musical Performing Arts department.

His multidisciplinary education opened the doors towards research, which is seen both through his participation in national and international conferences and symposia, such as the Salzburg Easter School PhD-forum, organized by the Salzburg Universität or the Silesian Meeting of Young Scholars, organized by the Institute of English at the University of Silesia, as well as the collaboration with Opera Charm Magazine.

During his student years, he won several prizes, including the Grand Prize at the “Paul Constantinescu” National Musical Interpretation Competition, the Romanian Composers and Musicologists’ Union Prize at the same competition, the First Prize and the Schubert Prize at the “Ada Ulubeanu” Competition.

He further developed his artistic skills by specializing in courses and masterclasses held by personalities such as Vittorio Terranova, Giuseppe Sabbatini, Marian Pop, Ines Salazar, Riccardo Zanellato, Paolo Bosisio, Valentina Farcaș and Manuel Lange in contexts such as the Internationale Sommerakademie für Operngesang Deutschlandsberg, Corso Internazionale di Canto Lirico I.M.C. Licata or the Europäische Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst Montepulciano. Besides his activity on-stage, he currently teaches Opera Singing Didactics, and Pedagogical Practice within the Department for Teacher Education and Training at the “Gheorghe Dima” National Music Academy.

Cristina Fieraru

Cristina is a 24 year-old Romanian soprano & a student at the National University of Music Bucharest, where she pursues the MA program in Vocal Performance.

She made her debut in Pamina from “Die Zauberflöte” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at only 19 years old at the Bucharest National Opera House, as a member of the Ludovic Spiess Experimental Opera Studio. Over the years she made her debut in roles such as Contessa d’Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Mimì & Musetta (La Bohème), Alice Ford (Falstaff), Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte) in her university’s opera productions.
Her passion and experience extends in the field of choral music, too.

She has been part of our dream team since the fall of 2021. For a good period of time she took care of OPERA Charm’s social media and took you on the monthly journey through the history of opera through our Legends rubric – and a few times through the Theaters around the World rubric.

Her little soul rubric – from 2021 to present – is definitely the Conductors of the Future, where, every month, she gives you the chance to meet a young star of the world of conducting and, of course, to find out what’s the most charming feature of opera in these artists’ views.

BIANCA L. NICA

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