KURTÁG: Kafka-Fragmente, Op. 24
Austrian-British soprano Anna Prohaska made her debut at the age of 18 at the Komische Oper Berlin as Flora in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, followed shortly afterwards by her debut at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. Since then, she has developed an outstanding international career, collaborating with some of the world’s leading opera houses and orchestras.
Her many operatic roles include Zabelle in the world premiere of George Benjamin’s Picture a day like this at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites and Nannetta in Falstaff at the Royal Opera House, Zerlina in Don Giovanni at Teatro alla Scala, Euridice in Orphée et Eurydice at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Opéra national de Paris, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier in Baden-Baden, and many others. A regular guest at the Salzburg Festival, Prohaska has performed roles including Deola in Luigi Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore and Cordelia in Aribert Reimann’s Lear.
Highly sought after on the concert stage, Prohaska has performed regularly with the Berliner Philharmoniker since making her debut with the orchestra at the age of 24, working with conductors including Rattle, Harding and Abbado. Other orchestral collaborations include the Wiener Philharmoniker under Boulez, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Jansons, Harding, Blomstedt and Nézet-Séguin, the London Symphony Orchestra under Rattle, the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Dudamel, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under François-Xavier Roth, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra under John Eliot Gardiner, the Cleveland Orchestra under Welser-Möst and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under von Dohnányi.
Her engagements during the 2023/2024 season included, among others, the role of Angelica in Orlando, conducted by Ivor Bolton, at Teatro Real in Madrid; L’Ange in Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise, conducted by Kent Nagano, at the Hamburg State Opera; a return to the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; the world premiere of Rufus Wainwright’s Dream Requiem with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Mikko Franck; a solo concert tour with Ensemble Modern conducted by Sir George Benjamin, including the premiere of Francesco Filidei’s Cantico delle Creature; and a dance project in collaboration with the Emanuel Soavi Company and Lautten Compagney. Anna Prohaska appears for the first time with Amici della Musica di Firenze.
Isabelle Faust captivates audiences with her compelling interpretations, approaching each work with the utmost respect and sensitivity towards its historical and musical context and the instruments appropriate to its period. Combining this authenticity with a contemporary perspective, she continually creates meaningful musical dialogues with a wide range of works and audiences.
After winning the renowned Leopold Mozart Competition and the Paganini Competition at a young age, she soon began performing with some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Boston Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Les Siècles and Freiburger Barockorchester. These appearances have led to close and ongoing collaborations with conductors including Andris Nelsons, Giovanni Antonini, François-Xavier Roth, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel Harding, Philippe Herreweghe, Jakub Hrůša, Klaus Mäkelä, Robin Ticciati and Sir Simon Rattle.
Isabelle Faust’s wide-ranging artistic curiosity embraces every period of music and every form of instrumental collaboration. Alongside the great symphonic violin concertos, her performances include Schubert’s Octet on period instruments, Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat with Dominique Horwitz, and György Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments with Anna Prohaska. Faust is also deeply committed to contemporary music. Recent world premieres include works by Péter Eötvös, Brett Dean, Ondřej Adámek and Rune Glerup.
During the 2024/25 season, Faust performed with the Bamberg Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. She toured Europe and Japan with Il Giardino Armonico and was Artist in Residence at the Beethovenfest Bonn in 2024.
She performs chamber music with Alexander Melnikov and in a trio with Tabea Zimmermann and Jean-Guihen Queyras. She also performs Schubert’s String Quintet and Quartet in G major from a historically informed perspective with Antoine Tamestit, Anne Katharina Schreiber, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Christian Poltéra.
Many of her recordings have received unanimous critical acclaim and have been awarded distinctions including the Diapason d’Or, Gramophone Award and Choc de l’année. Her most recent recordings include Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, works for violin and orchestra by Pietro Locatelli with Il Giardino Armonico, and works for solo violin by Biber, Matteis, Pisendel, Vilsmayr and Guillemain. Other acclaimed recordings include Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin and the violin concertos by Beethoven and Berg conducted by Claudio Abbado.
