Miroslav Srnka’s Jakub Flügelbunt ... and Magdalena Rotenband. Or: Wie tief ein Vogel singen kann [How low a bird can sing] is a fairy tale for three singers and orchestra, commissioned by the Semperoper Dresden. Srnka has composed a piece which is both an entertaining story and a fable. The cast is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and has the potential for great tragedy, as found in the heroes of comics: from the little bird Jakub, who wants to learn to fly, breaks a wing and learns that you can also achieve things with other strengths. Srnka, who also wrote the libretto, tells the tale in a concise, laconic language and an unsentimental style. The premiere on 15 December at the Semperoper is conducted by Tomáš Hanus.

Flavius Bertaridus is Telemann’s sole surviving opera seria. Following the first performance of the new edition in 2008 in Magdeburg, this highly emotive drama in the Italian style is being revived by the renowned Innsbruck Festival of Early Music from 10 August. In the co-production with the Hamburg State Opera, the director is Jens-Daniel Herzog and Alessandro de Marchi conducts the choir and orchestra of the Academia Montis Regalis.

The Bregenz Festival features the Czech composer Miroslav Srnka this year: his chamber opera Make No Noise (World Premiere Munich 2011) will be performed on 17 and 19 August 2016 in a new production by Johannes Erath, with Dirk Kaftan conducting. The roles of the two protagonists Hannah and Joseph, who meet on an oil platform and find each other through their speechlessness, will be sung by soprano Measha Brueggergosman and baritone Holger Falk in the first Austrian performance. Ensemble Modern plays the orchestral part. On 21 August Srnka’s Eighteen Agents for 19 Strings will be performed by the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gérard Korsten. (Photo: Vojtěch Havlík)

There is still a great deal to discover amongst Christoph Willibald Gluck’s operatic works, beyond the well-known Reform operas. One such work is Telemaco, the Dramma per musica premiered in Vienna in 1756, which combines traditional and progressive stylistic elements in fascinating ways. Tobias Kratzer directs the ‘magic opera’ at the Schwetzingen Rococo Theatre; performers include the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Anu Tali (21, 22, 24 and 26 May).

Zaïs, the fairy-story opera, now published in the complete edition of Rameau’s works “Opera Omnia Rameau”, is characterized by daring musical experiments and the theme of freemasonry.

New gems are constantly emerging from the large output of works by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The latest volumes of the Complete Edition are devoted to music theatre at court and church music for the sun king Louis XIV.

The Handel Festival Halle continued its outstanding series of first performances using newly-published volumes in the Complete Edition with three major vocal works this year: the first of these was the opera Ottone on 3 June (Marcus Creed / Franziska Severin), followed on 7 June by the seldom-performed Occasional Oratorio (MDR Radio Choir and The English Concert, conducted by Howard Arman). The crowning conclusion was Handel’s last oratorio Jephtha on 12 June, also performed the following day at the Göttingen Handel Festival (Salzburg Bach Choir and Handel Festival Orchestra, conducted by Bernhard Forck).

Bild links: Coronation of the Emperor Otto II. and his wife Theophanu, ca. 980