Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos

Soloists:

James King, Pilar Lorengar, Josef Greindl

Orchestra, choir:

Chor und Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Conductor:

Wolfgang Sawallisch

Director:

Gustav Rudolf Sellner



In 1964, the Berlin Opera did not yet have a principal conductor. However, artistic director Gustav Rudolf Sellner made a virtue of necessity and invited other conductors from Germany and abroad to conduct individual productions, in addition to permanent conductor Heinrich Hollreiser and regular guest conductor Karl Böhm. For the opera Don Carlos, he invited Wolfgang Sawallisch, who had made a name for himself at the Bayreuth Festival since 1957, particularly with the operas Tannhäuser and The Flying Dutchman, and who had been the musical director of the Hamburg Opera since 1960. He had a group of outstanding soloists at his disposal. In addition to Josef Greindl and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, these included James King in the title role, Pilar Lorengar, Martti Talvela, Patricia Johnson, and Lisa Otto as the voice of the sky.