Jarrett sings Maximilian, Captain, Inquisitor 2, Judge

At the beginning there is the certainty of living in the best of all possible worlds. After a momentous kiss, however, life gets out of hand and drives Candide into a rushing world turmoil. A journey of constant departures leads to a nomadic life, which has fascinated Leonard Bernstein since his student days. With "Candide" in the mid-eighteenth century, Voltaire settled accounts with the optimism of his time. Not everyone liked the "infernal cheerfulness" that Madame de Staël attested to the work. But Voltaire struck a chord that would make Bernstein two hundred years later expose the brave new life of America's Roaring Fifties with just as biting irony. No wonder, that the premiere of the musical in 1956 in New York was a failure in the first version, before it was revised in 1974 and received numerous awards and in 1988, guided even more closely by Voltaire, celebrated triumphs in the last version. An opulent style of operetta, musical, opera, vaudeville, slapstick and Mahler song creates a light, parodic tonal language that still puts our well-practiced listening expectations to the test with dry wit and a lot of heart.

Concert performance of the comic operetta in two acts with intermediate texts by Loriot.

contributors

• conductorMartin Yates

• narratorIsabel Karajan

• CandidaJack Swanson

• CunigondeClaire de Sevigne

• dr PanglossBen McAteer

• old ladyHelene Schneiderman

• MaximilianJarrett Ott

• ChoirEurope Choir Academy Görlitz

• choir rehearsalJan Hoffman

• orchestraHamburg Symphony Orchestra