René Pape Begins his 2008-09 Season with the European Release of his Deutsche Grammophon Debut CD and European Concert and Opera Appearances

The CD’s U.S. Release will follow in November when Pape returns to the Metropolitan Opera

The champagne is flowing as René Pape celebrates the release of his Deutsche Grammophon solo CD debut, Gods, Kings and Demons, the first recital of the German bass with a “one-in-a-million voice” (Opera News). The U.S. release of the album is scheduled for November to coincide with Pape’s appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde – the Dieter Dorn production that Daniel Barenboim conducts in his long-awaited Met Opera debut.

The new CD features many of the show-stealing arias that Pape has performed around the world, including the mesmerizing “Tatest du’s wirklich? Wähnst du das?”, the tragic monologue of King Marke from Tristan.

Multimedia Clip: English Promo Video:

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Pape had the idea for this debut album while listening to Gods and Demons, a record by one of his heroes, the outstanding Canadian bass-baritone George London. Pape explains: “I thought I might follow in his footsteps and do something similar, while adding some kings to the portrait gallery. Like him, I want to show a wide range of colors, in a wide range of languages and styles.” One of the kings that Pape added is Filippo from Verdi’s Don Carlo. His highly emotional aria “Ella giammai m’amò”, in which he laments the absence of love, is another spell-binding highlight of the album.

Including Mephistopheles's arias from the Berlioz, Gounod and Boito versions of Faust allowed Pape to juxtapose three very different approaches to the same demonic character. In this way, Pape has devised a musical journey that takes in France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and – by selecting the malevolent Water Goblin's aria from Dvorák's Rusalka – Czechia. The CD gives an excellent overview of the great vocal gifts of René Pape, who is accompanied on the disc by the Dresden Staatskapelle under Sebastian Weigle.

Pape’s fall season began with a gala in his hometown of Dresden to celebrate the new CD release. He continues by traveling to Oslo, Norway for the opening of that city’s new opera house where he will be singing the role of King Philipp II in Verdi’s Don Carlo.

He then travels to Barcelona to take part in Verdi’s Requiem and on to Rome for performances of Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Kurt Masur, before arriving at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Pape’s grand finale for 2008 will be his return to Dresden in December to revisit the title role of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov.