Great Performances

-Next, on "Great Performances"... amidst the beautiful baroque gardens at Schoenbrunn, the stage is set for the Vienna Philharmonic's annual Summer Night Concert.

Ooh la la.

This year conductor Yannick Nzet-Sguin adds a decidedly French ambiance.

And watch out for the acclaimed mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca on this evening of romance.

-[ Singing in French ] -Toujour l'amour on a summer night starts right now.

Major funding for "Great Performances" is provided by... ...supporting the arts and education... Funding for this program is also provided by... [ Applause ] -The Vienna Philharmonic and French Canadian conductor Yannick Nzet-Sguin begin the festivities on this summer night with melodies from Bizet's ever-popular opera "Carmen."

[ Suite No.

1 from "Carmen" playing ] [ Applause ] [ Applause ] The Toreadors and the Aragonaise from "Carmen"!

Montreal-born Yannick Nzet-Sguin made his debut with this opera at New York's Metropolitan Opera back in 2009.

Today, he's its music director.

The busy maestro also leads the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Canadian Orchestre Mtropolitain as well.

Now the capacity crowd of 55,000 welcomes to the stage the star who sang the title role at the maestro's Met debut, Elina Garanca.

She sings the sultry, seductive "Habanera," "Love is a rebellious bird that none can tame."

[ Applause ] Carmen is a signature role for the Latvian singer Elina Garanca, just one of the many heroines the celebrated mezzo has performed to ecstatic audiences worldwide.

Now the program continues with more pieces highlighting French impressionism and romance.

-[ Speaking German ] -We, together, with the Vienna Philharmonic and myself want to dedicate this piece by Lili Boulanger that we are about to perform to the universal declaration of human rights, which this year is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

We strongly believe together that a clear and total commitment of our world to human rights everywhere in the world is essential and important more than ever in the world we live in.

[ Applause ] [ Applause ] -It's a summer nuit d'amore under the stars.

The last piece, a love of nature, was dedicated to a love for all mankind; and the next, by Hector Berlioz, suggests a love of the sea with the exhilarating impressions of pirate adventures on the wind and wave.

[ Applause ] Yannick Nzet-Sguin and the Vienna Philharmonic perform Hector Berlioz' "Le Corsaire Overture."

Now the program veers from adventures at sea to a love gone very wrong.

On the isle of Lesbos, the poet Sappho wins the heart of the revolutionary prince Phaon with her verses.

Refusing to leave her land and flee with him, he jilts her for a rival, which leads to her suicide.

Elina Garanca returns to the stage for the soliloquy, "O ma lyre immortelle."

Oh, my immortal lyre, I go to sleep forever in the sea.

[ Applause ] Sappho throws herself from the cliffs of Lesbos into the sea.

Next is a far happier tale from that isle.

This suite from the ballet by Ravel opens with the young shepherd Daphnis asleep by a cool grotto.

He awakes to bird song.

Anxiously, he looks around for his friend Chloe.

She appears and they playfully reenact the myth of the god Pan in pursuit of the nymph Syrinx.

As Pan, Daphnis declares his love.

The nymph spurns him and hides in the marsh.

In despair, he shapes a reed into a flute and plays his melancholy tune.

Enchanted, Chloe emerges and, in spirited dance, falls into her lover's arms.

[ Applause ] The power of music triumphs once again in winning the girl!

Love plays a significant role in this romantic French program at the Vienna Philharmonic's Summer Night Concert, set against the magnificent backdrop of Austria's Schoenbrunn Palace.

When Elina Garanca returns to the stage for her final aria, she's no longer the spurned lover.

She's a femme fatale of Biblical proportions intent on seducing Samson into revealing the secret of his strength.

Her signature aria is the dangerously alluring "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix."

A love song?

Sure, but simmering with seduction and betrayal.

From the opera "Samson and Dalila," "My heart opens to your voice, like the flowers open to the kisses of the dawn."

[ Applause ] "Fill me with ecstasy," purrs the temptress Dalila.

Many cheering in the audience tonight were at the Vienna State Opera when mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca sang her first Dalila there in 2018.

Since then she has triumphed in the role in New York, Berlin and London.

The next piece on the program, Ravel's "Bolro," is considered a master class in orchestration -- a simple tune, backed by Spanish dance rhythms, is repeated 18 times in a slow crescendo.

A relentless snare-drum underlies the flute's insistent melody, which Ravel then passes to each section of the orchestra as his piece inexorably builds to its thundering climax.

[ Applause ] This free concert in the park for the music lovers of Vienna and viewers throughout the world is just one of the ways the Vienna Philharmonic continues to broaden the reach of classical music to more people.

For 180 years, this orchestra has been influential in the course of musical history.

Originally wanting to perform Beethoven's symphonies at the highest level, the musicians of the Vienna Court Opera Orchestra banded together to establish their own organization in order to give themselves complete artistic and financial freedom.

Today, the Vienna Philharmonic believes that, as cultural messengers, their performances should express the ideals of peace, humanity, and reconciliation.

This evening, for the orchestra, highlights that a clear commitment to human rights is more important today than ever.

Now the performers of the shadow ballet accompanying Ravel's "Bolro" take a bow.

They are all young artists of the Vienna State Opera Ballet Academy.

Finally, the orchestra and maestro Nzet-Sguin bid farewell with Johann Strauss's "Viennese Spirit" waltz.

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"Summer Night Concert 2023" is available on Blu-ray, DVD, and CD.

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[ Applause ] Major funding for "Great Performances" is provided by... ...supporting the arts and education... Funding for this program is also provided by...