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Max Emanuel Cencic at the Vienna State Opera

After nine years Max Emanuel Cencic returns to the Vienna State Opera in November 2019! He will perform the villain Polinesso in Handel’s Ariodante, conducted by Christophe Rousset and directed by David McVicar. Ariodante performances are on November 8, 11, 13 and 15, 2019.

Max continues with the title role of the concert performance Gismondo (Vinci) in Warsaw on November 20 and Orlando Furioso (Vivaldi) in Moscow on December 8.  In Handel’s Orlando, Max will sing the title role in Verona on 9 January, in Essen on 19 January, in Madrid on 26 January and in Trondheim on 4 February 2020. Max Emanuel Cencic presents the rarely played opera Irene (Hasse), performing the role of Nicefero with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra in Helsinki on 31 December 2019 and in Theater an der Wien, Vienna on 29 January 2020. Other various concerts with Max are on 12 December 2019 in Moscow, 15 January 2020 in Brussels and on 24 January 2020 in Wroclaw.

Meanwhile, Max Emanuel Cencic is an internationally renowned director too. He not only directs the productions, but sings most supporting roles as well. In February 2020, the revival of his production Serse (Handel) is performed again at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe where Max sings the role of Arsamene. Max’s production of La Donna del Lago (Rossini) with Max as Malcolm can be seen in May 2020 in Zagreb. Two new exciting productions are planned from mid-2020 onwards: Radamisto (Handel) with Max in the title role and Carlo il Calvo (Porpora) as evil uncle Lottario.

Toi toi toi, dear Max !

An exciting season lies ahead of Austrian-Croatian countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic

Max started the new season with a studio recording of Gismondo re di Polonia, in which he sang the title role. The CD by the same name with Max in the role of Gismondo will be released in November 2019. Concert performances of Gismondo re di Polonia are scheduled in Warsaw (November 2019) and Dortmund (May 2020).
Max will start the concert season 2019/20 with Handel's Arminio at the Enescu Festival in Bucarest on September 14st, 2019. He will, again, sing the title role.

After an absence lasting for 9 years, Max will return to the Wiener Staatsoper to sing the role of Polinesso in Handel's Ariodante conducted by Christophe Rousset and staged by David Mc Vicar. Four Performances are scheduled in November 2019.

More Handel repertoire to come: in January 2020, Max will sing the title role in Orlando in a concert tour with Il Pomo d'Oro, with concerts scheduled in Verona, Essen and Madrid. Max's outstanding staged production of Serse will be presented again at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe in February 2020. In it, he is going to sing the role of Arsamene.
In October 2020, Max will debut at La Scala di Milano in a new production of Handels Semele, in which he will mime Athamas.

Max's fantastic staged production of La Donna del Lago will be presented again at the HNK Zagreb in May 2020, and at the opera festival Saaremaa in July 2020. He is going to sing the role of Malcolm in this production.
Vienna's Theater an der Wien will present Max in two productions in concert version: as Malcolm in La Donna del Lago in March 2020, and as Nicefero in a new production of Hasse's opera Irene in January 2020.
Irene, with Max as Nicefero, will also be performed in Helsinki on December 31st, 2019.

Besides Handel's Orlando, Max will also sing the title role in Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso in Moscow in December 2019 and Paris in April 2020. He will return to Paris' Philharmonie to sing Carmina Burana in June 2020.

Max Emanuel Cencic's concert schedule offers concerts in Moscow (December 2019), Brussels and Wroclaw (both in January 2020).

Huge success and standing ovations for Polifemo at Salzburger Festspiele

On June 8th, 2019, Max Emanuel Cencic's semi-staged production of Porpora's Polifemo was performed as part of Salzburger Festspiele at the Felsenreitschule in Salzburg. Grandious artists found together to ensure it's success, among them Julia Lezhneva, Yuriy Mynenko, George Petrou and Max Emanuel Cencic.
Thus, standing ovations ensued...

The cast of Polifemo in Salzburg reads as follows:

Aci: Yuriy Mynenko
Ulisse: Max Emanuel Cencic
Polifemo: Pavel Kudinov
Galatea: Julia Lezhneva
Nerea: Dilyara Idrisova
Calipso: Sonja Runje
conductor: George Petrou 
direction, concept: Max Emanuel Cencic
stage design: Margit Ann Berger
costumes: Giorgina Germanou
light: Paul Fresacher
video: Sarah Scherer
assistant to the director: Constantina Psoma
orchestra: Armonia Atenea
choir, choir master: Bachchor Salzburg, Alois Glaßner
 
Stage, costumes and masks were produced in the Salzburger Festspiele's own workshop.

Polifemo is a new production by Parnassus Arts Productions.
Performing rights: Parnassus Arts Productions Edition
Editor: Christos Christodoulou

La Donna del Lago, directed by Max Emanuel Cencic, in Zagreb and Wiesbaden

From April 12th to 25th, 2019, the National Theater Zagreb will show Max Emanuel Cencic's highly acclaimed, romantic and opulent staging of Rossini's La Donna del Lago. For the first time on stage, the role of Malcolm is sung by a man, namely Max Emanuel Cencic.
 
La Donna del Lago is a co-production of the Opera de Lausanne (where, a year ago, the premiere took place) and the National Theater Zagreb (performances on 12th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 23rd, and 25th April 2019) and will be shown on May 24th, 2019, as part of a guest appearance at Maifestspiele at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.
 
All performances are conducted by George Petrou, with Max Emanuel Cencic as Malcolm. See an excerpt of one of his arias here.
 
In Zagreb, young and promising talents from the Parnassus agency will have their debut - Nian Wang as Elena, György Hanczar as Uberto / Giacomo, Antonio Gares as Rodrigo and Sonja Runje as Albina.
 
In Wiesbaden, the part of Umberto / Giacomo will be sung by one of the best tenors of our times, Daniel Behle. The role of Elena will be interpreted by the great Lena Belkina. See the La Donna del Lago in full version and staged by Max Emanuel Cencic here.   (Password required. Please request it here.)
 
 
The complete cast of La Donna del Lago in Zagreb and Wiesbaden reads as follows:
 
Conductor - George PETROU
Director - Max Emanuel CENCIC
Stage design and costumes - Bruno de LAVENERE
Light - David DEBRINAY
Video - Étienne GUIOL
Assistant to the conductor- Josip EGO
Assistant to the director - Constantina PSOMA
Choirmaster - Luka VUKšIć
 
ELENA - Nian WANG (Zagreb) / Lena BELKINA (Wiesbaden)
MALCOLM - Max Emanuel CENCIC
GIACOMO V (Uberto) - György HANCZAR (Zagreb) / Daniel BEHLE (Wiesbaden)
RODRIGO - Antonio GARES
DUGLAS D'ANGUS - Dalibor Hanzalek / Neven Paleček (studijska uloga)
ALBINA - Iva Krušić / Sonja Runje
SERANO - Ivo Gamulin / Božimir Lovrić
BERTRAM - Nikša Radovanović
 
La Donna del Lago is a production of the Opera de Lausanne coproduced by the Croatian National Theatre.
 
In March 2020, Parnassus will start a tour with La Donna del Lago in concert version. The premiere will be on March 22nd, 2020, at Theater an der Wien, performed by a Baroque orchestra.

Overwhelming reviews of Serse, directed by Max Emanuel Cencic in Karlsruhe

From 15 to 26 February 2019, Handel's opera Serse, directed by Max Emanuel Cencic, was shown at Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.
The reviews of Cencic's directing, the musical performance and the singers just came in, and they are excellent.

The cast consisted of:

Musical direction: George Petrou, stage direction: Max Emanuel Cencic, stage design: Rifail Ajdarpasic, costumes: Sarah Rolke: choreography: Dave Laera,  assistant costume designer: Wicke Naujoks, lighting: Stefan Woinke, choir: Marius Zachmann, dramaturgy: Boris Kehrmann,
Franco Fagioli (Serse)
Max Emanuel Cencic (Arsamene)
Lauren Snouffer (Romilda)
Katherine Manley (Atalanta)
Ariana Lucas (Amastris)
Pavel Kudinov (Ariodate)
Yang Xu (Elviro)

M. E. Cencic's solo-CD Porpora Opera Arias nominated as best solo-recording

Opera awards has nominated Max Emanuel Cencic's most recent solo CD Porpora Opera Arias as best solo recital recording. We thank for the nomination and hope for the best at the final voting on April 29, 2019.