Last premiere – lasting performance

Irene Delgado-Jiménez at Wiener Kammeroper in Vienna, Austria

On 2 June 2026, the Wiener Kammeroper – the beloved, intimate stage that has nurtured young opera talent and championed musical curiosity for over six decades – opened its final premiere before closing its doors, hopefully not forever. The double bill of Martinů’s “Zweimal Alexander” and Weinberg’s “Lady Magnesia” brought the curtain down on the Kammeroper’s run as part of the MusikTheater an der Wien, a casualty of budget pressures and pending renovations.

There is something quietly poetic about the fact that it was Irene Delgado-Jiménez at the podium for this occasion. She first came to the Wiener Kammeroper as an assistant conductor in 2018, learning the ropes and absorbing the atmosphere of one of Vienna’s most idiosyncratic stages. Nearly a decade later, she returned to conduct its final premiere.

Delgado-Jiménez drew out the contrasts between the two works with real clarity and playfulness, guiding the Wiener Kammerorchester to find the wit in Martinů and the unease in Weinberg. It was exactly the kind of conducting the Kammeroper deserved for its last night: attentive, alive, and unmistakably personal.

The evening’s blend of humor, irony, and musical sophistication earned enthusiastic critical acclaim, with reviewers highlighting both the production’s inventive spirit and the conductor’s vibrant musicianship.

A selection of press reviews:

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung – June 5, 2026
“The musically inspiring force, however, emanated from Irene Delgado-Jiménez at the podium of the magnificent Vienna Chamber Orchestra. As different as the two scores are — Martinů’s neoclassicist in character, Weinberg’s a colorful stylistic blend extending all the way to jazz — Delgado-Jiménez knew how to strike sparks from them and build a tension that was sustained across all stylistic ruptures.”
– Peter Blaha –

Opern News, June 5, 2026
“In the pit, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra under Irene Delgado-Jiménez performs magnificently, lending Weinberg’s opera, which only received its world premiere in 2009, the required intricate music-theatrical character through the playback of a chorus and a thunderstorm from „tape“ as called for in the score. After the intermission, the orchestra also blossoms symphonically, for Martinů’s Twice Alexander (in the original: Alexandre bis or Dvakrát Alexandr) emerges as the musically richer work, by virtue of its eclecticism, which, following a Mozartian opening, imperceptibly and nimbly tips from the 19th century into the modern era, and despite the modest size of the ensemble, repeatedly conjures a late-Romantic intensity.”
– Stephan Burianek –

Die Presse, June 3, 2026
“Weinberg’s music is bizarre in its constant clashes of operatic pathos and jazz elements, sound effects, recorded interludes, and ironic stylistic allusions. One can easily imagine the composer, with no hope of a stage performance, playing and singing his little comedy for his guests at the piano. In Martinů’s work, these deliberate breaks are contrasted with a much more homogeneous classicism in the Parisian style. Irene Delgado-Jiménez and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra meticulously bring out these internal and external contrasts.”
– Walter Weidringer –

Der Kurier, June 3, 2026
“Irene Delgado-Jiménez leads the chamber orchestra with verve through Weinberg’s sudden twists and turns. She weaves jazzy passages into the music like sprinkles that make the characters swing. She makes Martinus’s music float with sublime grace.”
– Susanne Zobl –

Der Standard, June 3, 2026
“The Vienna Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Irene Delgado-Jiménez, distills this stylistic diversity into compact musical exclamations that bring the absurd goings-on to life. The music’s rich palette comes across immediately. Weinberg imbues the darkly comic antics with jazzy swing, late-Romantic mellowness, and even vocal recordings from tape. Martinů, on the other hand, draws close to French Impressionism and blends in folkloric influences.”
– Ljubiša Tošić –

News.at, June 3, 2026
“Under the musical direction of Irene Delgado-Jiménez, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra brought to life the distinct sonic worlds of both composers with great enthusiasm.
At the end, the audience celebrated all the performers with prolonged applause and standing ovations. The double bill proved to be a fitting and brilliant conclusion to a special premiere chapter for the Chamber Opera—an evening full of humor, elegance, and musical discoveries.”