Peter Mattei | baritone
David Fray | piano

A major ensemble in musical history and a pillar of German culture, the Winterreise (Winter Journey) Lieder cycle was composed by Franz Schubert shortly before his death. It is a dense work comprising 24 melodies for voice and piano based on melancholic poems by Wilhelm Müller, a writer whose Die schöne Müllerin (The Fair Maid of the Mill) Schubert had already set to music. Winterreise, one of the most extensive and poignant song cycles in the German Romantic repertoire, is a musical illustration of the gradual erosion of a lover frozen with cold, walking alone, abandoned by the world, and abandoning it in turn. Two major Schubertians come together this evening to bring this solitary journey to life. Peter Mattei, who has received plaudits for his Don Giovanni, Almaviva and Onegin, is also an equally brilliant performer of German Lieder. At the piano, David Fray, who has a long history with Schubert, will mirror the vocalist to perfection for the evening.

Production Théâtre des Champs-Elysées