Sweeping melodies with Jonas Kaufmann at the Summer Night Concert in Vienna - in this week's episode of Musica on Euronews.
Sweeping melodies resonated from the magnificent gardens of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria, for this year's ''love'' themed Summer Night Concert.
AN EVENING DEVOTED TO LOVE
The program about "love" included selected works from areas of concert, film, ballet, opera and operetta, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Russian conductor Valery Gergiev.
German operatic tenor, Jonas Kaufmann spoke about the theme of the open-air event and why it was a perfect fit.
''Love is one of the greatest motivations for composing music. It has been like this for centuries, even millenniums, probably since the beginning of what we can perhaps call music. Music is about expressing something, about transporting feelings," he explained.
The audience was treated to Jonas Kaufmann singing arias by Jules Massenet, Emmerich Kálmán and Giacomo Puccini.
Nessun Dorma is one of the most well known and loved pieces of opera music - an aria from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot, made famous on a global scale after Luciano Pavarotti performed it in 1990.
''Nessun Dorma is a mystery. Even young people who listen to it for the first time, say: that is unbelievable, incredible. They don't understand a word of the text and nevertheless they are immediately enthusiastic.
''Everyone gets goosebumps from this piece," Jonas Kaufmann said.
GLIMPSE OF HOPE
The annual concert has taken place since 2004 but 2020 has been like no other due to the global health pandemic, with just a very small number of people allowed into the palace to watch it - a far cry from the usual 100,000 people that normally attend from all over the world.
However, the occasion was still able to reach millions of fans via TV and the internet this year.
''This concert is for us a glimpse of hope towards the future,'' Chairman of the Vienna Philharmonic, Daniel Froschauer, said.
Conductor Valery Gergiev also acknowledged how its happy musical offerings during the pandemic makes it even more special.
"A concert which offers happy tunes today, it is so triple precious," he added.
