Giuseppe Verdi: NABUCCO

Conductor: Asher Fisch

Nabucco: Gabriele Viviani
Abigaile: Anastasia Bartoli
Zaccaria: Simon Lim
Fenena: Emilia Rukavina
Ismaele: Giorgio Berrugi
Gran Sacerdote: Lukas Enoch Lemcke
Anna: Caterina Marchesini
Abdallo: Emanuele Pellegrini

Orchestra and Chorus of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl

Operas performed in concert format have become a tradition at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl. To acknow-ledge this, the festival is expanding its winter season programme and will be presenting Verdi’s Nabucco as early as mid-December. This early opera by Giuseppe Verdi brought him his inter-national breakthrough, while at the same time becoming a musical symbol of the Italian Risorgimento.

For this performance, the Festival has assembled a top-class cast led by Anastasia Bartoli – regarded by connoisseurs as one of the outstanding inter-preters today of the demanding role of Abigaille. The opening of our winter season is thus entirely in the spirit of “Viva VERDI” – that famous utterance that once served as a cry of support for the composer himself while also signifying hopes of a united Italy under “Vittorio Emanuele, Re D’Italia”.

Team

Asher Fisch Conductor

Asher Fisch is Chief Conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and has been Music Director of the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl since the beginning of the 2024/25 season. He is internationally recognized as one of the leading conductors and has an extensive repertoire that covers both opera and concert areas. He began his career as an assistant to Daniel Barenboim and as a conductor at the Berlin State Opera. Since then, he has conducted at major European opera houses, including Vienna, Milan, Munich, Paris and Madrid. As an acknowledged Wagner specialist, Fisch has recorded two complete "Ring" cycles as well as "Tristan und Isolde". In addition, he has intensively studied the Italian repertoire and recently released a Puccini album together with tenor Jonas Kaufmann, the new Artistic Director of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl.

As a concert conductor, Asher Fisch has led renowned US American and European orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France and the London Symphony Orchestra. Asher Fisch is also active as a pianist and can be experienced in piano concerts, with chamber music and as a song accompanist.

Gabriele Viviani Nabucco

Anastasia Bartoli Abigaile

Simon Lim Zaccaria

Emilia Rukavina Fenena

Croatian mezzo-soprano Emilia Rukavina was born in 1995 in Rijeka. She completed her solo singing studies at the Music Academy in Zagreb and also completed a law degree in Rijeka. Her first professional appearances at the Croatian National Theatre in her hometown in 2016 as Giovanna in "Rigoletto" and Berta in "Il barbiere di Siviglia". In 2021, she was accepted into the Giorgio Surian Opera Studio of the National Theatre and interpreted roles there such as Mercedes ("Carmen"), Lola ("Cavalleria Rusticana"), Flora ("La Traviata"), Suzuki ("Madama Butterfly") and Colombina in Busoni's "Arlecchino". In addition, she could be seen in roles such as Dorabella "Così fan tutte", Maddalena ("Rigoletto"), Orlofsky ("Die Fledermaus") and others at the Croatian National Theatre Zagreb.

In the 2024/25 season, Emilia Rukavina makes her debut as Suzuki in "Madama Butterfly" at the Teatro di Cagliari. In addition, the mezzo-soprano's current engagements include roles such as Charlotte ("Werther") in Zagreb, Fenena in ("Nabucco") and Olga ("Eugen Onegin") in Ljubljana and Angelina ("La Cenerentola") at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste. In addition to opera, she passionately devotes herself to song singing and sacred music.

Giorgio Berrugi Ismaele

Lukas Enoch Lemcke Gran Sacerdote

Der Bass Lukas Enoch Lemcke stammt aus Regensburg und erhielt seine Ausbildung u. a. bei den Regensburger Domspatzen sowie bei Brent Lee Damkier. 2022 schloss er sein Gesangsstudium an der Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien ab und begann ein Masterstudium an der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. In der Saison 2021/22 debütierte er an der Wiener Staatsoper, wo er u. a. in Monteverdis Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria zu erleben war. 2023 gab er als Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte) sein Hausdebüt am Badischen Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Seit der Spielzeit 2023/24 ist er Ensemblemitglied des Staatstheaters am Gärtnerplatz in München, wo er Partien wie Sarastro, Alidoro (La Cenerentola) und Leporello (Don Giovanni) interpretierte. Auf dem Konzertpodium war er u. a. in Pietro Mascagnis Messa di Gloria und Schuberts Messe B-Dur zu hören sowie bei den Tiroler Festspielen Erl in Bachs Weihnachtsoratorium und Matthäus-Passion.

Caterina Marchesini Anna

Emanuele Pellegrini Abdallo

Orchestra and Chorus of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl

Tiroler Festspiele Erl Orchestra

The music springs from the enthusiasm of a motivated and exceptionally well-prepared ensemble that has grown together over the years. The Tyrolean Festival Erl Orchestra was first formed in the summer of 1999—and today, musicians from 20 nations play together. Already in its first year, the ensemble achieved unprecedented success, which would go on to bring international recognition to the Tyrolean Festival Erl. Top young talents, musicians from major international orchestras, chamber music specialists, and lecturers come together annually in summer and winter—and since 2017, also in fall and spring—as part of the Tyrolean Festival Erl. Under the direction of festival founder Gustav Kuhn, the orchestra garnered rave reviews from international critics and cemented its reputation as one of the world’s finest Wagner orchestras. With the start of Jonas Kaufmann’s tenure as artistic director in September 2024, Asher Fisch—a conductor in high demand internationally in both opera and concert settings—has taken over the helm of the orchestra.

In addition to Richard Wagner’s ten major music dramas and operas by Strauss, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, and Rossini, the orchestra’s repertoire includes Beethoven’s symphonies and many other key works from the concert repertoire spanning the Baroque and Romantic periods, as well as contemporary works and world premieres.

Tiroler Festspiele Erl Choir

Founded in 2007, the choir serves as an equal musical partner to the festival orchestra. The focus is on meticulous attention to individual parts. As part of the festival, the singers work on a wide range of projects, from a cappella programs to concert and opera productions. Since the opening of the Festspielhaus Erl in 2012, the repertoire has placed additional emphasis on bel canto works and Verdi’s operas.

The development of a Baroque choral sound in the works of Bach and his contemporaries is also a key focus of the ensemble’s work; since 2009, it has maintained close ties with Capella Minsk, the State Academic Choir of the Republic of Belarus. Founded in 1940, this choral ensemble has made it its mission to preserve Belarusian folk music and to premiere works by modern and contemporary composers.

The choir is distinguished by its precise intonation, harmony, versatility, and dynamic sound—qualities that have formed the basis for numerous tours throughout Europe in recent years. Its repertoire includes requiems, masses, cantatas, and sacred works, as well as operas. After Lyudmila Yefimova spent many years developing and shaping the choir’s quality, Olga Yanum took over as the ensemble’s director following her death in 2018.