Opera

With its immense richness of musical colour, this is arguably Handel's most famous opera. The fact that the plot draws on a well-known love story – the liaison between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, overshadowed... more

In the summer of 1782, in his twenties, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart celebrated his greatest opera success yet. With Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), he composed an enormously... more

Thirty years ago, Lortzing's works were still part of the repertoire, but now they have almost completely disappeared from the programme. This also applies to ZAR UND ZIMMERMANN. Yet the story of Tsar... more

With the world premiere of Pelléas et Mélisande in 1902, Claude Debussy challenged his contemporaries to listen to music in a new way. His instrumentation was without precedent. He transposed the Wagnerian... more

He commands a world empire and yet he is deeply unsettled. Philip II of Spain not only fears losing command but also feels betrayed and deserted by his wife Elizabeth von Valois: she and his son Carlo... more

This work by Puccini is probably the most famous of all artist operas and at the same time a portrait of a group of young people who live for the moment without considering the consequences of their actions.... more

It was his first great success, in a sense, his breakthrough: Nabucco. Premiered at Milan’s Scala in the spring of 1842, this work marks the start of the brilliant career of Giuseppe Verdi, who would become... more

In Ted Huffman's production, the magical realm of the elf-king Oberon is a place of poetry and mystery, a place of dreams and theatre at the same time. Here, it often takes only simple means to awaken... more