Dutch National Opera nominated for Grammy Award
In the category ‘Best Opera Recording’ for Wozzeck with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
'A dazzling visual and listening experience that reverberates through mind and body long afterwards’, wrote the newspaper Trouw after seeing Wozzeck. The recording of the acclaimed opera composed by Alban Berg, which was released on DVD by Naxos in November 2018, has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the category ‘Best Opera Recording’. The opera, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski, was presented in Dutch National Opera & Ballet, in Amsterdam, in March and April 2017. Principal conductor Marc Albrecht conducted the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, and the main roles were sung by Christopher Maltman (Wozzeck) and Eva-Maria Westbroek (Marie). Big roles in the opera were also played by the Chorus of Dutch National Opera and the Nieuw Amsterdams Kinderkoor (Nieuw Vocaal Amsterdam).
The recording of Wozzeck is a co-production by Dutch National Opera and the French producer Francois Roussillon (Fraprod). It was released on DVD by Naxos in 2018.
Glowing reviews
Dutch National Opera’s new production of Wozzeck was premiered at the Opera Forward Festival 2017 and was received with great enthusiasm by the press. ‘This new DNO production has great visual appeal and the acting and singing were superb’, wrote NRC Handelsblad. De Volkskrant gave a full five stars to the opera, writing: ‘Maybe the most impressive thing about this production is how everything comes together in balance: Warlikowski suffuses Berg’s masterpiece in his own vision, but leaves room for interpretation. And conductor Marc Albrecht also understood the layers of emotion to a fault, whereby the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra became a character in its own right: the sultry subconscious of the stage’.
About Wozzeck
Alban Berg (1885 - 1935) wrote the opera Wozzeck after seeing Georg Büchner’s play Woyzeck. The composer was called up for military service in World War I. The human suffering he encountered at close hand is reflected in one of the most poignant masterpieces of the opera repertoire. In order to optimally serve the drama of the play, Berg combined taut classical forms with a modern atonal composition method. This musical idiom, which created a heightened representation of reality, was extremely innovative at the beginning of the twentieth century and had a great influence on composers who came after Berg.
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are regarded as one of the most important music awards in the world, comparable to the Oscars for the film world. The prestigious awards are present annually in the United States by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in recognition of artistic and technical achievements in the music profession. In total, just five opera recordings worldwide (on CD and DVD) have been nominated.
The Grammy Awards 2019 will be presented in Los Angeles on 26 January 2020.
Regular orchestra partner
The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra|Netherlands Chamber Orchestra has been the regular orchestra partner of Dutch National Opera for over 30 years and is internationally regarded as one of the best opera orchestras. This season, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing with Dutch National Opera in Die Walküre by Wagner (November/December 2019), Rise and fall of the city of Mahagonny by Weill (March/April 2020) and Die Frau ohne Schatten by R. Strauss (April/May 2020). And the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra will be in the pit for La Cenerentola by Rossini (December 2019).