Salute to Vienna New Year's Concert in Clearwater
BASED ON VIENNA'S BELOVED NEUJAHRSKONZERT
December 31, 2024 3:00pm
Ruth Eckerd Hall
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"A rousing afternoon of music and dance."
– Washington Post
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Salute to Vienna Cast
Strauss Symphony of America
Featuring Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami
Conductor
András Deák attended the Liszt Academy of Music where he received diplomas in both choral and orchestral conducting. He has been the principal conductor of the Danube Symphony Orchestra since 1991, and has conducted the Wiener Mozart Orchester, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, and the Chicago Civic Opera Orchestra, among others. International tours as guest conductor have taken him throughout Europe, Russia, Scandinavia, the Middle East, and North America. In 2004, Maestro Deák was awarded Hungary’s decoration of Knight’s Cross for his internationally recognized contribution to musical artistry.
Soprano
Coloratura Katarzyna Dondalska began her musical studies at age five with the violin and began singing at 15. She was awarded a Doctoral degree in 2011 by the Danzig Music Academy and is currently a Professor at the Academy of Arts in Szczecin, Poland. Ms. Dondalska won second prize at the Sylvia Geszty International Coloratura Singing Competition in Luxembourg, and has sung throughout Europe and North America with concert repertoire, oratorio, and opera roles including Queen of the Night, Konstanze, Zerbinetta, and Olympia. She has performed to critical acclaim with opera companies including Houston Grand Opera, the Korean National Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Nationaltheater Mannheim, and the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw.
Tenor
Awarded the Austrian Music Theater Prize, in addition to classical Mozart and Wagner roles (including the Steersman in Der Fliegende Holländer), Franz Gürtelschmied's repertoire includes Tony in West Side Story, Barinkay in Gypsy Baron, Rosillon in Merry Widow, and Edwin in Gypsy Princess. In recent years, he has appeared with Opéra Bastille Paris, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, MÜPA Budapest, Oper Leipzig, and Oper Graz. He has worked with well-known conductors such as Philippe Jordan (Parsifal), Franz Welser-Möst, (Der Rosenkavalier), Cornelius Meister (Magic Flute, Doktor Faust), Lothar Zagrosek (Tristan und Isolde), Markus Poschner (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Thomas Adès (The Exterminating Angel) and many more. Together with pianist Stephan Matthias Lademann, Gürtelschmied develops new song recitals with a focus on Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven, and Strauss. In the 2023/24 season, he will make his debut as Pirelli in Sondheim'sSweeney Todd and will also appear at the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein, at Oper Graz, and as Alfred inDie Fledermaus in Israel.