Wagner on New Year’s Eve: In the first part of the concert, Kirill Petrenko and the Berliner Philharmoniker perform the overture and bacchanal from Tannhäuser, followed by the first act of Die Walküre, with Vida Miknevičiūtė (Sieginde), Jonas Kaufmann (Siegmund) and Tobias Kehrer, who has taken over the role of Hunding for Georg Zeppenfeld, who is ill. The concert will be broadcast live in the Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall at 17:30, as well as in many cinemas in Europe, click here for the list.
Photo: Monika Rittershaus
Remembrance service for Franz Beckenbauer
The remembrance service for star German soccer player Franz Beckenbauer was held at the Allianz Arena in Munich on Friday, January 19th. Jonas Kaufmann was invited to perform three pieces: Time to say Goodbye (in the Italian version Con te partiro) as well as E più ti penso and Nessun dorma. In a personal statement, Jonas Kaufmann added: "It is an honor for me to be able to contribute to the unique memorial service for Franz Beckenbauer. I grew up in Munich and have been a fan of FC Bayern since my childhood. In my eyes, Franz Beckenbauer is the greatest personality of the club and of German soccer as a whole; he is unrivaled as a sportsman and as a person."
The service was broadcast live on ARD, BR, ZDF, RTL and ntv; the video can be watched in the ZDF Mediathek til February 19.
