JUNE 29, 2016
Orchestra Wellington presents CAPRICCIO
SATURDAY 16 JULY 2016, 7:30PM
MICHAEL FOWLER CENTRE, WELLINGTON
Anna LEESE Soprano
Marc TADDEI Conductor
Richard STRAUSS
Capriccio, Prelude and Final Scene
New Zealand soprano Anna Leese is coming from Italy to sing one of Kiri Te Kanawa’s favourite roles with Orchestra
Wellington.
Leese will sing the role of Countess Madeleine in the glorious closing scene of Richard Strauss’ last opera Capriccio
with conductor Marc Taddei.
Te Kananwa was an alluring Countess Madeleine during her phenomenal career and Leese is looking forward to the glamorous
role.
“I’ve enjoyed studying her character and fantasising about this woman's fabulous life,” Leese says.
“The Countess is surrounded by two talented suitors, a poet and a musician. Her biggest struggle in life is to decide
whether poetry or music is more important.”
Leese’s previous encounters with Strauss include a performance of the Four Last Songs with the Philharmonia Orchestra of
London in the “glorious” Canterbury Cathedral, and the role of 'Echo' in Ariadne Auf Naxos for the Royal Opera House
Covent Garden in 2008.
“Strauss is both musically complex and vocally demanding, stretching the singer to their capacities in so many
instances,” she says.
Leese is a graduate of London’s Royal College of Music Opera School. She has performed roles with Covent Garden,
Canadian Opera, Opera Flanders and NZ Opera. She was most recently seen in Wellington in the role of Elvira in Don
Giovanni.
Before the interval, the Orchestra Wellington strings will perform Strauss’ final orchestral work, Metamorphosen,
written in the last years of the Second World War. Autumnal yet sumptuous, it is Strauss’ tribute to the past greatness
of German culture, and his elegy for its destruction.
The concert opens with Strauss’ last fanfare, showcasing his brilliant understanding of how to write for brass.
ends