With this Gala Concert from the Semperoper in Dresden, Christian Thielemann gives eloquent testimony to an early love, the operetta. Since the beginning of his conducting career, “Kapellmeister” Christian Thielemann has had a fascination for this genre. Especially the operettas of Franz Lehár (1870-1948) are, in Thielemann’s words, first-class music and very difficult to perform due to their blending of sophistication and merriment. Together with the great international stars Angela Denoke and Piotr Beczala as well as newcomer Ana Maria Labin, Thielemann has taken up this challenge and was frenetically applauded by an audience of millions; the concert was broadcast in 16 countries around the world.

This Gala Concert presents the entire multi-facetedness of the great master of the “silver operetta” with highlights from “Giuditta”, “Paganini”, “Friederike”, “Der Zarewitsch”, “Das Land des Lächelns” and many others. The concert is rounded off by works of two of Lehár’s contemporaries, Oscar Straus und Johann Strauß II. To Johann Strauß’ waltz “Wilde Rosen”, members of the theater’s ballet ensemble dance in the sumptous foyer of the Semperoper.

Lehár had a deep artistic connection to the Semperoper, which was one of the leading operetta stages back then, and wrote many of his famous arias for the tenor Richard Tauber, who sang in the opera’s ensemble.