Winterreise
Peter Mattei / David Fray
Event Slider
Date
- 20:00 / Cancelled 20:00 / Sold out Monday, 20:00
Location
Grand Auditorium Calouste Gulbenkian FoundationPricing
50% – Under 30 years old
15% – Over 65 years old
- Baritone
- Piano
-
Peter Mattei
Baritone
Musical America’s 2020 Vocalist of the year, renowned Swedish baritone Peter Mattei has the season of 2024/2025 appeared as Il Conte in Le nozze di Figaro at the Bayerische Staatsoper and as Starbuck in Moby-Dick at the Metropolitan Opera. The season also includes his role debut as Jochanaan in Salome, also at the Metropolitan Opera.
The previous season 2023/24 included Don Giovanni at the Opéra National de Paris and Wozzeck at the Bayerische Staatsoper. Peter also appeared at the Royal Swedish Opera as Amfortas in Parsifal.
Peter Mattei’s international breakthrough came with the title role in Peter Brook’s staging of Don Giovanni at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1998 and he has since then had the privilege to work with many of the worlds’ foremost conductors and directors on stages across Europe and in the U.S.
Peter Mattei has been a frequent guest at the Metropolitan Opera, where he has been seen in roles such as Amfortas in Parsifal, Wolfram in Tannhäuser, the title roles of Don Giovanni and Eugen Onegin, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Il Conte in Le nozze di Figaro, Rodrigo in Don Carlo, Marcello in La Bohème, Yeletsky in Pique Dame, Shishkov in From the House of the Dead and in 2020, he made his much-acclaimed role debut in the title role in Wozzeck. Some of Peter Mattei's other roles include Billy Budd (Oper Frankfurt and the Göteborg Opera) and Don Fernando in Fidelio (Teatro alla Scala).
With one of his favorite roles, Don Giovanni, Peter Mattei has had the pleasure to work with directors such as Peter Brook and Michael Haneke. He has delighted audiences at the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, the Royal Opera House in London, Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zürich, Palau de les Arts Valencia, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Semperoper Dresden, the Royal Swedish Opera and the Norwegian Opera as well as the prestigious festivals of Salzburg, Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne and Tanglewood.
His discography includes DVDs of Don Giovanni (Aix-en Provence), Le nozze di Figaro (Opéra National de Paris), Eugene Onegin (Salzburg) and Parsifal (Metropolitan) and CDs of Mahler’s 8:th Symphony under the baton of Chailly, Berlioz’ Les Troyens with Sir Colin Davis (winner of two Grammy Awards), Fidelio with Abbado as well solo CDs such as Once in My Life (Naxos), Great Baritone Arias, Schubert’s Winterreise (BIS Records) and most recently the recording of Allan Pettersson’s Complete Songs (BIS Records).
Peter Mattei studied at the Royal Academy of Music and at the University College of Opera in Stockholm. He made his debut in 1990 as Nardo in Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera at the Drottningholm Court Theatre and made a sensational Royal Swedish Opera debut as Pentheus in Daniel Börtz' The Bacchae (directed by Ingmar Bergman) in 1991.
Peter Mattei is appointed Court Singer and has been awarded the medal Litteris et Artibus by H.M. the Swedish King for his outstanding achievements as an artist.
-
David Fray
Piano
Described by the press as the “perfect example of a thinking musician” (Die Welt) and acclaimed for his interpretations of music from Bach to Boulez, David Fray performs in the world’s major venues as a recitalist, soloist and chamber musician. He has collaborated with leading orchestras under distinguished conductors such as Marin Alsop, Semyon Bychkov, Andrey Boreyko, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniele Gatti, Paavo Järvi, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Michael Sanderling, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Jaap van Zweden. Orchestral appearances in Europe have included the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, London Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Salzburg Mozarteum, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Orchestre de Paris, and Orchestre National de France. David Fray made his US debut in 2009 with The Cleveland Orchestra followed by performances with the Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has given recitals at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory in New York, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and appears regularly at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Mozarteum Salzburg, London’s Wigmore Hall, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, and many other of the world’s major venues.
The work of Johann Sebastian Bach has always occupied a special place in David Fray’s repertoire. Recently, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris presented David Fray in a cycle of Bach’s work featuring the Goldberg Variations, keyboard concertos for two, three and four pianos with Mr. Fray play-directing from the piano, and Bach Violin Sonatas with Renaud Capuçon.
In the 21/22 season, David Fray returns to perform with the Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse and Monte Carlo Philharmonic where he will be joined by Cecilia Bartoli in a Mozart program. He also joins baritone Peter Mattei for performances of Schubert’s Winterreise, premiering their collaboration at the Frankfurt Opera and the Turku Music Festival in Finland. Mr. Fray will also appear in a special recital with Fatma Said at the Eiffel Tower. Mr. Fray continues to perform in Hamburg Ballet’s John Neumeier work “for the time of coronavirus” entitled Ghost Light, with an all-Schubert score, for which he won the Opus Klassik’s 2020 Award for “Innovative Concert of the Year.” Other highlights include performances of Bach Goldberg Variations at the Gulbenkian Festival in Lisbon, televised as part of “Pianomania II”, Bach Keyboard Concertos at the Firkusny Festival in Prague, as well as a recital tour of Asia in spring of 2022.
Mr. Fray’s upcoming release on Warner, his exclusive label, features Bach Goldberg Variations. Previous releases include the Bach Keyboard Concertos for 2, 3, and 4 pianos, a “musical family affair” alongside his teacher Jacques Rouvier and his former students Audrey Vigoureux and Emmanuel Christien, and the Bach Violin Sonatas with Renaud Capuçon. In 2017, Mr. Fray recorded a CD of selected Chopin solo piano compositions, following the acclaimed disc called “Fantaisie,” an album of Schubert’s late piano works named Gramophone Editor’s Choice and praised by Sinfini Music as “one of the most appealing listening experiences of present times” and “exceptionally thoughtful and touching.” Mr. Fray first album featuring works of Bach and Boulez was praised as the “best record of the year” by the London Times and Le Soir. Mr. Fray’s second release, a recording of Bach keyboard concerti with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, was awarded by the German Recording Academy. An album featuring Schubert’s Moments Musicaux and Impromptus followed. Mr. Fray’s other critically acclaimed releases include Mozart piano concerti with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden, and the Bach Partitas Nos. 2 and 6 along with the Toccata in C minor. In 2008, the TV network ARTE +7 presented a documentary on David Fray directed by the renowned French director Bruno Monsaingeon. The film “Sing, Swing & Think” was subsequently released on DVD.
In 2021 David Fray founded and presented the first edition of a new Festival L’Offrande Musicale, which takes place annually in his native region of Hautes-Pyrénées in southwestern France.
David Fray holds multiple awards, including Opus Klassik Award for Innovative Concert of the Year (2020), the German Echo Klassik Prize for Instrumentalist of the Year and the Young Talent Award from the Ruhr Piano Festival. In 2008, he was named Newcomer of the Year by the BBC Music Magazine. At the 2004 Montreal International Music Competition, he received both the Second Grand Prize and the Prize for the best interpretation of a Canadian work. He started taking piano lessons at the age of four and furthered his studies with Jacques Rouvier at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris.
Franz Schubert
Winterreise, D. 911
It has been written of baritone Peter Mattei’s voice that it has a “superhuman beauty”, a quality to which the singer combines an extreme care with each word and syllable, and a magnetic stage presence. It is no surprise, therefore, that Mattei is much sought after by the world’s main opera houses. Accompanied by French pianist David Fray, whose acclaimed performances are based on “restraint, intimacy and honesty” (Die Welt), he will sing Schubert’s Winter Journey, a sublime masterpiece and supreme example of German romanticism.
Gulbenkian Music Sponsor
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation reserves the right to collect and keep records of images, sounds and voice for the diffusion and preservation of the memory of its cultural and artistic activity. For further information, please contact us through the Information Request form.