BEETHOVEN – Fidelio, Op. 72
Sat, 18 Feb 12, 7.30pm
Esplanade Concert Hall
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Lan Shui conductor
Lim Yau chorus master
Singapore Symphony Chorus
Singapore Bible College Chorale
Hallelujah Chorus
The Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Sinéad Mulhern, soprano (Leonore/Fidelio)
Stuart Skelton, tenor (Florestan)
Diogenes Randes, bass (Rocco)
Camille Butcher, soprano (Marzelline)
Michael Heim, tenor (Jaquino)
Carsten Wittmoser, bass (Don Pizarro)
Johannes Schmidt, bass (Don Fernando)
David Edwards, director/narrator
Beethoven lived during a time of radical political change in Europe, and his only opera is consistent with his personal ideals: an admiration for heroism, personal sacrifice, of triumph against all the odds, of freedom from tyranny.In the opera, Leonore disguises herself as a man (Fidelio) to work in a jail where her husband (along with many others) has been unfairly imprisoned by a despotic governor.Beethoven transcends the fairly simplistic plot with some of his most stirring music, culminating in a rousing hymn to liberty.