‘Dietrich Henschel’

The baritone Dietrich Henschel does not shy away from a challenge. As a lieder singer and conductor he develops projects of his own that breathe new life into the recital and concert genre. On the occasion of our production of Il Prigoniero, he focuses on Luigi Dallapiccola, a composer who made human freedom and subjection into one of his main themes: ‘In a totalitarian regime, the individual is powerless. Only by means of music would I be able to express my anger.’ This joint project by Dietrich Henschel and musicians of the La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra introduces us to Dallapiccola as an outstanding composer of small-scale vocal and instrumental works. By adding some famous ‘numbers’ by Johann Strauss and works by Hans Werner Henze, Henschel has cooked up a programme that takes us on a grand tour of Naples, Florence, Greece, and Vienna.