Archive & Press
Press articles, stage moments, festival milestones and selected documents trace the artistic path of Patricia Freres.
Press voices
“...the powerful-voiced soprano...” — an appearance between Neuberg and live television, crowned by standing ovations.
“A cultural highlight for Neuberg” — the festival quickly developed into a respected cultural event.
“...the brilliant Luxembourg soprano Patricia Freres with her natural cheerfulness and joy of performance...”
“...passionate, emotionally highly exciting singing...”
Chamber music festival
The Neuberg Piano and Chamber Music Festival has grown since its beginning into a concert series with increasing resonance. The articles and documents show the development of the series, its return and its continuation with further concerts, encounters and artistic accents.
Archive
Chronicle
The following chronicle presents a curated selection of important artistic milestones. It does not claim to be complete; Patricia Freres’ full activity history is considerably more extensive.
Since 2022, the Neuberg Piano and Chamber Music Festival has created a setting for chamber music, singing and artistic encounter.
Opera Dinner at Restaurant Aal Schoul in Habscht: Patricia Freres provided the musical part of an exclusive evening with gourmet dinner, crémant, appetisers and wine pairing.
August 2023
Concert series relaunched. The Hanauer Wochenpost presented the second edition of the Neuberg Piano and Chamber Music Festival — with Patricia Freres as a powerful-voiced Luxembourg soprano, accompanied by Irina Korolev at the piano.
Leading role of Lisa in Franz Lehár’s operetta The Land of Smiles, open air at Schloss Braunfels, under the direction of Hans Härle.
Patricia Freres sang Aria and Danza from Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 with the cellists of the Solistes Européens Luxembourg and Camerata SEL at the Philharmonie Luxembourg.
Patricia Freres sang the leading role of Mimì in La Bohème at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra Athens under the musical direction of Byron Fidetzis. With support from Focuna.
Manon Lescaut as an opera pasticcio in four acts with music by Puccini, Massenet and Auber; performed at the Kurtheater Bad Ems and the Comoedienhaus Wilhelmsbad Hanau with the Kammerensemble Classic of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Patricia Freres and Karo Khachatryan.
Patricia Freres sang Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen with Opera Classica Europa.
John Thrower’s Love Songs: an emotional story for soprano and two marimbas, inspired by the ballet Book of Dreams.
Opera gala at the Roman Forum of Thessaloniki with excerpts from La Traviata, Norma, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. With the kind support of Focuna.
Semi-staged opera pasticcio at Schloss Kransberg with music by Verdi and Tchaikovsky, newly arranged for the Kammerensemble Classic of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Ancient Roman Forum of Thessaloniki
Patricia Freres sang the role of Cio-Cio-San in Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at the Greek Opera Festival 2016.
The Luxemburger Wort described Patricia Freres as a charming, graceful and passionately radiant Manon.
The Nassauische Neue Presse reported on a Puccini programme in Runkel with standing ovations. Patricia Freres’ timbre, phrasing and the emotional impact of her Puccini interpretations were especially highlighted.
Performance at the Théâtre National.
The following text comes from a letter by Dr. Frank Hoffmann, director of the Théâtre National du Luxembourg, written for the premiere of both monodramas on 8 November 2007 in Luxembourg.
Dear Patricia Freres, belatedly I would like once again to thank you warmly for the wonderful evening that you gave us together with Hans Martin Ritter at the Théâtre National. The first part of the evening, based on Schumann’s song cycle “Frauenliebe und Leben”, already showed an interesting and successful attempt to fill Schumann’s songs with theatrical life. But especially in the second part, the evening became a true experience. “Margarethe singt” tells Goethe’s Gretchen tragedy as a dramaturgically skilful sequence of songs. The wonderful music by Gounod, Schubert, Hugo Wolf and Hans Martin Ritter found in your emotional interpretation a scenically congenial and vocally convincing realisation.
Dr. Frank Hoffmann, Director of the Théâtre National du Luxembourg
Waat sin daat fir Manéiren by Jemp Schuster, Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Festival de Wiltz and theatre work in Luxembourg.
Review · Le Jeudi · December 2003
“Marie-Madeleine - Patricia Freres, very present, notably through her beautiful voice.”
The Stranger as Marie, member of the children’s theatre Jaddermunnes and participation in Melusina.
West Side Story, Festival de Wiltz.
Don Giovanni as Zerlina, Dido and Aeneas, La Sirène and Rayok.
Finale
Selected documents, press voices and milestones from the artistic path of Patricia Freres.
Chronicle.lu · published Thursday, 02 February 2023 · JCA
Come to Lux announced an “Opera Dinner” at Restaurant Aal Schoul in Habscht. In addition to a four-course gourmet dinner, guests had the opportunity to listen to Luxembourg soprano Patricia Freres.
The restaurant was reserved exclusively for this private evening. A glass of crémant and appetisers were served, followed by a four-course meal prepared by chef Dragos Andrei Dudu, accompanied by three selected wines from Clos mon vieux Moulin.
The evening combined opera, gastronomy and encounter in an exclusive setting.
Luxemburger Wort · March 2015
La soprano Patricia Freres a campé une Manon d'une jeunesse charmante, gracieuse dans ses différents costumes et souvent rayonnante dans ses élans de passion. Très à l'aise sur scène, elle n'a éprouvé aucune peine à séduire le public, que ce soit dans les airs les plus célèbres, tels «Je suis encore», «Adieu notre petite table» de Massenet ou «In quelle trine morbide» de Puccini, mais aussi dans l'émouvant «Oh beautiful night», de Balfe.
Si le duo «If mine eye but gaze on thee», de Balfe, a semblé légèrement forcé à la fin du deuxième acte, le duo final «Mon dieu», signé Auber, a enflammé les auditeurs, qui ont chaleureusement applaudi tous les interprètes.
La mise en scène très statique a été rehaussée par la projection d'immenses tableaux signés Ron Lammar, où de vifs accents colorés interpellaient de fins éléments photographiques. L'éclairage subtil mais efficace a quant à lui créé une ambiance intime, tout en rehaussant l'effet dramatique des airs d'opéra.
The soprano Patricia Freres portrayed a Manon of charming youthfulness, graceful in her various costumes and often radiant in her moments of passion. Completely at ease on stage, she had no difficulty captivating the audience.
She convinced in famous arias such as “Je suis encore” and “Adieu notre petite table” by Massenet, “In quelle trine morbide” by Puccini, and Balfe’s moving “Oh beautiful night”.
The final duet set the audience alight, and all performers were warmly applauded. The rather static staging was enhanced by large projections by Ron Lammar and by subtle, effective lighting that created an intimate atmosphere while strengthening the dramatic impact of the opera arias.
Tageblatt · Tuesday, 17 July 2012 · No. 165 · “Summerstage” in Dudelange · “Opera Classics”
As part of “Summerstage” in Dudelange, opera lovers fully got their money’s worth. Despite at times heavy rain, the artists gave everything: the audience thanked them with brave endurance, loud applause and calls for an encore.
DUDELANGE - At the beginning there was still bright sunshine, in the truest sense of the word. It seemed as if both the audience and the artists — baritone Stevica Krajinovic, tenor Ralf Sostmann, mezzo-soprano Ivana Milasinovic and Luxembourg soprano Patricia Freres — might be lucky, as the sun shone from a blue sky over Parc Le’h. The first part of the concert was performed in dry conditions: despite the poor weather forecast, the numerous spectators were treated to sounds by Mozart, Gounod, Puccini, Bizet and Delibes. There was much applause and many “Bravo” calls.
But it soon became clear that the weather would not hold; especially the artists on stage could see the dark clouds approaching. The planned interval was spontaneously cancelled, and the second part began immediately with the overture to Rossini’s “L’italiana in Algeri”.
The valiant “Kammerensemble Classic der Deutschen Oper Berlin” under the direction of Martín Baeza de Rubio was rewarded with strong applause when, precisely during this piece, the rain began to pour down. But the organisers were prepared: within seconds the umbrellas were opened and the audience was equipped with orange rain ponchos.
Musically, a selection of some of the most beautiful opera arias followed, with a clear focus on Giuseppe Verdi, including four pieces from “La Traviata” as well as arias from “Il Trovatore” and “Giovanna d’Arco”. After almost two hours, the concert was nearly over. But the audience did not let the artists leave without an encore, and what many had probably hoped for followed: the drinking song from “La Traviata”, in which all four singers appeared together on stage for the first time.
It was the crowning conclusion to a very beautiful evening, one that even the rain could not spoil: hardly any audience member left the concert early.