Puccini Viva Puccini!
Puccini's most beautiful arias...
Puccini Centenary Festival
Following his enthusiastically applauded appearance in our homage to Enrico Caruso on the occasion of the legendary tenor’s 150th birthday and the Principality’s Fête Nationale in 2023, we are delighted to welcome back Jonas Kaufmann for a concert he specially designed in honour of Giacomo Puccini. At the same time, this evening concludes the Opéra de Monte-Carlo’s memorial events remembering the 100 years of the composer’s passing. Jonas Kaufmann is one of the few tenor superstars of today and amazes audiences on all continents with the intelligence of his interpretations, the ease with which he sings the most varied parts from the grand German, French and Italian repertoire, and of course the earthy bronze colour of his voice, which lets listeners’ hearts melt before soaring with ease to a radiant high C.
Among others, Jonas Kaufmann is currently one of the most sought-after interpreters of Puccini’s Cavaradossi in Tosca, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Calaf in Turandot, which he sings on the world’s greatest stages. His concert repertoire, however, also contains arias from Puccini’s other works, some of which are less often heard. For the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, our affiliated orchestra, this music is home ground too, which means that we can certainly look forward to a wonderful evening of italianità.
Marco Armiliato
Marco Armiliato collaborates regularly with the Metropolitan Opera in New York (where he has more than 500 performances to his credit), the Paris Opera and the Vienna State Opera, which recently appointed him ‘Ehrenmitglied der Wiener Staatsoper’ (Honorary Member of the Vienna State Opera). He has recorded for numerous labels, receiving the prestigious Grammy Award for his CD Verismo with Renée Fleming and Jonas Kaufmann, and the Diapason d’or for Romantic Arias, recorded with Jonas Kaufmann. In 1995 he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera with Andrea Chénier, a title with which he made his debut at the Met the following year. This marked the beginning of a brilliant career that saw him regularly appear in some of the most important theatres and festivals in the world, including La Scala in Milan, the Arena in Verona, the Royal Opera House in London, the Opéra National de Paris, the Zurich Opernhaus, the Salzburg Festival, the Lyric Opera in Chicago, the San Carlo in Naples, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and the Semperoper in Dresden. In 2022, appointed Music Director of the 99th Arena Opera Festival, he conducted Carmen, Aida, La traviata and Turandot. He returned in 2023 to conduct Aida, Rigoletto and La traviata. In 2024, he again conducted Aida. Recent engagements include Fedora and Andrea Chénier at La Scala, La traviata, Fedora and La bohème at the Met, Andrea Chénier in Monte Carlo, Tosca, La bohème and Don Pasquale in Vienna, La rondine in Zurich, Turandot in Paris.
Jonas Kaufmann
Hailed as “the world’s greatest tenor” by The Telegraph, Jonas Kaufmann has performed over 70 roles in the world’s leading opera houses. Not only a great vocal technician, his performances are also praised for their dramatic impact. One of today’s greatest interpreters of Lieder repertoire, Kaufmann is also in very high demand in concert. His performances and recordings have earned him multiple honors and awards including eleven Echo/Opus Klassik awards, “Singer of the Year” from multiple classical music magazines including Opernwelt, Diapason and Musical America. Last season, Kaufmann has appeared at the Bavarian State Opera (Peter Grimes and La fanciulla del West), the Vienna State Opera (Andrea Chénier and Aida), Opernhaus Zürich (Tosca), La Scala in Milan (Andrea Chénier), Teatro di San Carlo in Naples (Die Walküre) and the Royal Opera House in London (Werther), among others. He also made his long-awaited role debut as Tannhäuser at the Salzburg Easter Festival. To mark the festival’s centenary, Kaufmann gave a concert in the Arena di Verona, together with Sonya Yoncheva and Ludovic Tézier. A voice which excels in a large variety of repertoire, Kaufmann has received recognition for his performance of French, German and Italian roles, as well as his performance in recital. Standout roles include Don José, Werther, Don Carlo, Otello, Andrea Chénier, Maurizio, Lohengrin, Parsifal and Florestan, which he has performed at houses such as Teatro alla Scala, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra national de Paris, and the Vienna State Opera. A native of Munich, Germany, Jonas Kaufmann completed his vocal studies there at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, in addition to which he attended master classes with Hans Hotter, James King and Josef Metternich.
Valeria Sepe
Born in Naples (1985), Valeria Sepe won the “Oscar della lirica 2016” award as the Best Soprano of the New Generation. She graduated from the Conservatorio “Giorgio Federico Ghedini” in Cuneo and attended masterclasses held by Luisa Castellani, Mariella Devia, Luciana D’Intino, Bruna Baglioni, and Marcello Giordani. She has appeared in leading roles in Florence, Naples, Palermo, Parma, Catania, Verona, Rome, Sidney, Turin, Hong-Kong, Tokyo. Highlights of her recent seasons include acclaimed performances as Mimì (La bohème) and Nedda (Pagliacci) at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Liù in Turandot at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, and Nedda at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Other notable performances include her portrayal of Liù and her debut as Leonora in Il trovatore at the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Liù at the Hong Kong Opera, Act IV in Manon Lescaut with Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Micaela in Carmen at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Arena di Verona, Nedda at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, the Art Center of Seoul and the Teatro Regio of Parma, Mimì at the Teatro Regio of Parma, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale and the Teatro Bellini in Catania, Liù at the International Music Festival of Macao, Desdemona in Otello at the Hong Kong Opera, La bohème at Opera Australia, and Pagliacci at the Teatro Regio in Turin and the Arena di Verona. Recently, she participated in Seven Deaths of Maria Callas with performance artist Marina Abramovic at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples.
“I’m a great admirer of Puccini, and his music has fascinated me since I was 6 or 7. The turning point came when I attended a family performance of Madama Butterfly at the Bavarian Staatsoper, where I discovered the immense impact of his music. It entranced me, so to speak, and I remain under its spell to this day. As a singer, I experience this seductive power at first hand during numerous performances of Manon Lescaut, La bohème, Tosca, La fanciulla del West and Turandot, as well as during the many hours I spend rehearsing at the piano with the vocal coach and my partners. And yet I never get tired of it. The same goes for millions of audience members. Puccini’s music is so effective, it never goes out of fashion despite the passage of a century, even though we are saturated with all kinds of sounds and images these days. This is why I believe that Puccini will remain for the public the key to the magical world of opera.”
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