Ausrine Stundyte, Nikolai Schukoff, John Lundgren, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra & Marc Albrecht
Biographie Ausrine Stundyte, Nikolai Schukoff, John Lundgren, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra & Marc Albrecht
Nikolai Schukoff
Austrian tenor Nikolai Schukoff opens the 2023/24 season as Jim Mahoney in Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam. He is then engaged in Bergen for concert performances of Elektra conducted by Kirill Petrenko. Teatro Sao Carlos Lisbon presents the tenor as Florestan in performances of Beethoven's Fidelio at the Centro Cultural de Belem. At the Teatro Real he is expected in the role of Walter in Weinberg's Die Passagierin. Concerts take Nikolai Schukoff to Malmö for Mahler's Song of the Earth and to the Helsinki Phlharmonic Orchestra for Mahler's 8th Symphony.
Major engagements in recent seasons include his return to the Metropolitan Opera New York in Lady Macbeth of Mzensk, his role debut as Tristan (Tristan und Isolde) at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Parsifal at the Liceu Barcelona, Tambourmajor (Wozzeck) in Toulouse, Siegmund (Walküre) at Opéra de Marseille, Herodes (Salome) at Finnish National Opera Helsinki and State Opera Berlin, Leoncavallo's Zaza (Milo Dufresne) and Der feurige Engel (Agrippa/Mephisto) at the Theater an der Wien, his scenic role debut as Otello at the Opéra de St. Etienne, Oedipus Rex in concert performances in Madrid, Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 with Simone Young conducting in Tokyo, Parsifal in a new production of the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Boris in Katia Kabanova at Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, the tenor lead in the world premiere of Glanert's Oceane at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Jim Mahoney in Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in Aix-en-Provence, Mahler's Symphony No.8 under Dmitri Kitajenko in Zagreb as well as under Jukka-Pekka Saraste at the Chorégies d' Orange, the title role in Parsifal at the Finnish National Opera Helsinki, concert performances of d'Albert's Tiefland at the Budapest Festival, and Teiresias in Henze's The Bassarides at the 2018 Salzburg Festival directed by Krzystof Warlikowski and with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Kent Nagano.
Nikolai Schukoff studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. The Parsifal, which he took over for Placido Domingo at the Munich State Opera in 2007, brought his international breakthrough. He subsequently sang this role at many important opera houses. Other milestones included Siegmund/Walküre under the baton of Zubin Mehta in Valencia in 2013 and Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera New York. Further important roles include Erik/Flying Dutchman (Edinburgh Festival, Munich, Hamburg, Seattle, Madrid), Florestan/Fidelio (Lyon, Edinburgh, Prague Spring), Lohengrin (Amsterdam, Mannheim, Saint-Etienne), Jim Mahoney/Mahagonny (Toulouse, Santiago, Buenos Aires), Max (Geneva, Hamburg, Paris), Oedipus Rex (Lisbon and Paris), Eléazar/La Juive (Lyon), Pedro/Tiefland (Toulouse), Siegmund/Walküre (Leipzig Opera).
In concert Nikolai Schukoff sings among others Gurrelieder (Musikverein Vienna/Zubin Mehta, Enescu Festival, Canaria Festival), Symphony No.8 (Paris/Christoph Eschenbach and Daniele Gatti, Rome/Antonio Pappano, Valencia/Yaron Traub, Frankfurt/Paavo Järvi, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Prague) or Das Lied von der Erde (Opéra de Paris, Concertgebouw, Lucerne Festival, London, Bregenz Festival).
John Lundgren
is a dramatic baritone with an expressive stage appearance. He combines his powerful voice with an exquisite, theatrical understanding of the dramatic operatic repertoire. Amongst his signature roles you find some notorious Wagner roles such as Der fliegende Holländer, Wotan and Telramund, as well as some of the evil characters of the operatic literature such as Scarpia in Tosca, Pizarro in Fidelio and the title role in Duke Bluebeard's Castle.
John Lundgren is born and raised in Sweden. While still attending The Opera Academy in Copenhagen he joined the soloist-ensemble at The Royal Theatre, Copenhagen. His debut was as Schaunard in La Bohème, conducted by Dietfried Bernet. John has since portrayed several of the most important dramatic baritone characters at his former ‘home stage’ in Copenhagen such as Paolo Albioni in Simone Boccanegra, the title role in Wozzeck, Conte di Luna in Trovatore, Enrico Ashton in Lucia di Lammermoor, Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, Posa in Don Carlo, and Amonasro singing together with Roberto Alagna at the prestigious opening production of Aida at the new opera house in Copenhagen.
Guest engagements have taken him to the opera houses of London, Berlin, Munich, Stockholm, Zurich, Geneva, Dresden, Hamburg, Leipzig, Amsterdam, Gothenburg, Oslo, Beijing and Tokyo, as well as to the Bregenz and Bayreuth Festivals. His repertoire includes roles such as Jochanaan Salome, Baron Scarpia Tosca, Don Pizarro Fidelio, Tomsky Queen of Spades, Alberich and Wotan Der Ring des Nibelungen, Kurwenal Tristan und Isolde, Telramund Lohengrin, Amfortas Parsifal, Barak Die Frau ohne Schatten and the title roles in Der fliegende Holländer, Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Nabucco.
John Lundgren has cooperated with conductors such as Thielemann, Soustrot, Morandi, Adam Fischer, Petrenko and Boder, and have had the privilege to work together with directors such as Warner, Loy, Dresen, Radok and Castorf.
In 2006 John Lundgren received the prestigious Birgit Nilsson Prize for being one of the few Scandinavian-born dramatic baritones of his generation. In 2010, he was honoured ‘Ridder af Dannebrogordenen’ (‘Knight of Dannebrog’) by H.M. The Queen of Denmark, and in 2021 John Lundgren was appointed Court Singer by H.M. the Swedish King.
Ausrine Stundyte
Plans of Lithuanian soprano Ausrine Stundyte include both Schönberg’s Erwartung and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas as well as Teufel von Loudun in Munich, Lady Macbeth of the District of Mtsensk in both Geneva and Vienna as well as Héctor Parra’s Orgia in Bilbao.
2024 are scheduled her debut in the part of Emilia Marty in The Makropulos Case in Lyon, Orgia in Barcelona and a new production of Respighi’s La Fiamma at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Her debut at Salzburg Festival 2020 in the title role of Elektra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst has been one of the artist's most outstanding projects of the past seasons, highly acclaimed by both press and audience. She returned to Salzburg for Judit in Duke Bluebeards Castle in Summer 2022.
Highlights of recent seasons include Jeanne in Penderecki’s The Devils of Loudun in Munich, Renata in The Fiery Angel in Madrid, at the Theater an der Wien, at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence, in Warsaw, in Zurich staged by Calixto Bieito and conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, in Munich conducted by Michail Jurowski and in Lyon conducted by Kazushi Ono; a concert performance of the 2nd act of Tristan und Isolde in Lyon, the title role in Strauss’ Elektra both at Salzburg Festival and in Hamburg, a new production of Korngold’s Die tote Stadt at Oper Cologne, Regan in a new production of Reimann’s Lear in Munich, Judit in Duke Bluebeard’s Castle in Venice staged by Calixto Bieito at Komische Oper Berlin, the title role of Salome at the state operas of Vienna and Berlin as well as in Bologna and Dallas, Hindemith’s Sancta Susanna in both Baltimore and Vienna, Heliane in Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane at Bard Summer Escape and in Antwerp, José Maria Usandizanga’s Basque folk opera Mendi Mendiyan directed by Calixto Bieito in Bilbao and San Sebastian, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District in Paris directed by Krzystof Warlikowski, in Lyon staged by Dmitry Tcherniakov and conducted by Kazushi Ono and in Antwerp under Dmitri Jurowski and staged by Calixto Bieito;Tosca in Helsinki, Seattle and São Paulo, Carlotta in Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten at Komische Oper Berlin, Heliane in Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane in Antwerp, Bianca in Zemlinsky’s Eine florentinische Tragödie in Amsterdam, Catalani’s Loreley at St. Gallen Festival, Venus in Tannhäuser staged by Calixto Bieito in Venice and Antwerp, Montezuma in Rihm’s Die Eroberung von Mexiko in Peter Konwitschny’s production in Cologne and Madrid, Leonore in Fidelio in concert performances in Israel and fully staged at Vienna Volksoper and in Florence under Zubin Mehta, Margherita in Boitos Mefistofele in Munich, Chrysothemis in Elektrain Antwerp, the title role in La Gioconda in St. Gallen or Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly at the Savonlinna Opera Festival and in Seattle.
Ausrine Stundyte started her career with appearances at Opera Leipzig and as a member of the ensemble of Cologne Opera, she guested in Essen, Lübeck, Lisbon or as Sieglinde in Die Walküre in Palermo.
Born in Vilnius, Aušrine Stundyte studied voice at the Lithuanian Music Accademy with Prof. Irena Milkeviciute and at Music and Theater Accademy in Leipzig with Prof. Helga Forner.
She received several scholarships and awards.
She is working with conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Zubin Metha, Fabio Luisi, Jeffrey Tate, Julia Jones, Julian Kovatchev, Marco Armiliato, Dmitri Jurowski, Markus Stenz or Gabriel Feltz and with stage directors like Calixto Bieito, Robert Carsen, Peter Konwitschny, Barry Koski, Graham Vick, David Alden, Christof Nel, Pierre Audi, Tatjana Gürbaca or Anthony Pilavachi.
She sings a large concert and lied repertoire, which she performes at Gewandhaus Leipzig, at the Philharmonie of Cologne and Essen as well as in several concert halls in Tokyo.
With MDR Orchestra Leipzig she recorded songs by Hermann Heyer.
