Es war einmal..... Märchen & Balladen

Cast:

contributors: Nicholas Ofczarek / Georg Nigl
pianist: Olga Pashchenko

At the now traditional recitals, you will experience internationally renowned singers not in the usual opera productions, but with specially compiled song and aria programs.


KSch. Nicholas Ofczarek, born in Vienna and raised in Switzerland and Austria, completed his training at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna and has been a member of the Burgtheater for 30 years.

In 1991, his teacher Elfriede Ott engaged him for the Maria Enzersdorf Festival, where he portrayed August Sonders in Nestroy’s He Wants to Have a Joke. In the following years, he appeared on small and medium-sized Viennese stages and at the Porcia Comedy Plays in Spittal an der Drau, before Claus Peymann brought him to the Burgtheater in 1994. Since then, he has played leading roles in both the classical and modern repertoires.

In 2005, he made his Salzburg Festival debut in Grillparzer’s King Ottokar’s Fortune and End, and from 2010 to 2012 he was the fifteenth Everyman of the Salzburg Festival.

The highly acclaimed actor, a two-time recipient of the Nestroy Award and of the Grimme Award, also holds the Gertrud Eysoldt Ring, the Nestroy Ring, the Vienna Actors’ Ring, and the Josef Kainz Medal. In 2017, he was awarded the title of Kammerschauspieler.

Nicholas Ofczarek has also achieved success in film and television, receiving the German Television Academy Award in 2016 for “Best Actor.”

In the 2006 Mozart Year co-production between the Vienna State Opera and the Burgtheater, he performed the role of Selim Bassa in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail.


He interprets – and invites interpretation. Austrian-born baritone Georg Nigl, with his extensive network of musicians and composers, is a central figure in European musical life. Not only with his close friends Wolfgang Rihm and Pascal Dusapin does he maintain a long-standing collaboration; Friedrich Cerha, Georg Friedrich Haas, Wolfgang Mitterer, Olga Neuwirth, and Mathias Pintscher have also written works for him, which he premiered.

A former soprano soloist of the Vienna Boys’ Choir, he quickly rose to become one of the most sought-after singers on Europe’s opera and theatre stages following his studies at the Musikhochschule and the Conservatory in Vienna, where his last teacher was Hilde Zadek. He has appeared at major houses such as the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow (Russia), the Berlin, Bavarian, Hamburg and Vienna State Operas, the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Zurich Opera House (Switzerland), Teatro La Fenice Venice (Italy), La Scala Milan (Italy), Teatro Real Madrid (Spain), and Théâtre de la Monnaie Brussels (Belgium), as well as at leading festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (France), and the Vienna and Berlin Festivals.

His concert and recital repertoire spans a wide range from Baroque and Viennese Classicism to contemporary music. His recordings and DVDs for Alpha Classics – Outhere Music have received numerous awards. Recital tours have taken him to the most prestigious concert halls across Europe and overseas. He is a regular guest with Europe’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, and the Orchestre de Paris.

Until 2017, he taught as professor at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart (Germany). Recent highlights include the world premiere of Beat Furrer’s Violetter Schnee at the Berlin State Opera, and his widely acclaimed portrayal of Jakob Lenz, which he brought to the stage in concert at the Salzburg Festival in 2022. At the Vienna State Opera he was recently celebrated as Eisenstein, in the title role of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, as Ulisse (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria), as Nekrotzar in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, and as Clov in Kurtág’s Fin de partie.

He has also demonstrated his versatility as Alberich (Das Rheingold) under Sir Simon Rattle and as Eisenstein at the Bavarian State Opera. At the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2023, Nigl appeared as Don Alfonso in a new production of Così fan tutte, a role he reprised in 2024 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris (France).

In Easter 2025, he sang for the first time as Klingsor in a new production of Parsifal at the Tirol Festival Erl (Austria), and performed Henze’s Das Floß der Medusa at the Salzburg Festival 2025. With his self-conceived serenade cycle Nachtmusiken, Georg Nigl has created highlights of the Salzburg Festival since 2023.

The 2025/26 season will include, among others, his return as Clov and Nekrotzar, as well as his first portrayal of Alberich in Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen at the Vienna State Opera. He will also appear in the world premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Monster’s Paradise at the Hamburg State Opera and at Zurich Opera House.

Georg Nigl was named “Singer of the Year 2015” and has most recently been awarded the “German Record Critics’ Award 2021” and the “Austrian Music Theater Award 2025.”

Luogo

Opera di Stato di Vienna – Palcoscenico di fama mondiale per opera e balletto nel cuore di Vienna

L’Opera di Stato di Vienna (Wiener Staatsoper) è uno dei più prestigiosi teatri lirici al mondo e un simbolo culturale dell’Austria. Situata nel centro storico di Vienna, lungo la celebre Ringstrasse, è celebre per le sue produzioni di altissimo livello, artisti internazionali di fama e un rinomato corpo di ballo.

Fin dalla sua inaugurazione nel 1869, l’Opera di Stato di Vienna rappresenta l'eccellenza musicale, la perfezione artistica e vanta un vastissimo repertorio che spazia dai classici immortali fino alle opere contemporanee. Ogni stagione propone più di 300 spettacoli, tra cui opere celebri a livello mondiale come «Il Flauto Magico» di Mozart, «La Traviata» di Verdi e «Tosca» di Puccini.

Accanto alle sue straordinarie produzioni operistiche, l'Opera ospita anche il prestigioso Balletto di Stato di Vienna, rinomato per la qualità delle sue performance classiche e moderne. L’annuale Ballo dell’Opera di Vienna è inoltre un evento sociale di altissimo prestigio e fama internazionale.

Come arrivare con i mezzi pubblici

Metropolitana:

• Linee U1, U2, U4 – stazione Karlsplatz, accesso diretto

Tram:

• Linee 1, 2, D, 62, 71 – fermata Oper/Karlsplatz

Autobus:

• Linea 59A – fermata Oper

Grazie alla sua posizione centrale lungo la Ringstrasse di Vienna, l’opera è facilmente raggiungibile da ogni punto della città.

Opera di Stato di Vienna – Simbolo della cultura viennese e dell’eccellenza musicale

Come uno dei più importanti teatri lirici del mondo, l’Opera di Stato di Vienna è una destinazione imprescindibile per gli amanti dell’opera, gli appassionati di musica e tutti coloro che desiderano vivere il cuore culturale di Vienna.