William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, a late 19th-century French opera that is as poetic as it is grandiose, takes an intimate look into the inner turmoil of its main characters, Hamlet and Ophélie. Just two weeks after the king dies, the widow Gertrude marries the late king’s brother Claudius. Hamlet, son of the king, refuses to attend the festivities, upset that his mother has remarried so soon. Ophélie, his lover, is disturbed by his inconsistent behavior. Is he going mad? Does he no longer love her? The ghost of his deceased father reveals to Hamlet that the new king, Claudius, was actually his murderer. Whipped into a frenzy by thoughts of revenge, Hamlet defies the power structure of the court.

Ambroise Thomas’ lyrical drama Hamlet explores the souls of the characters, with a poetic and complex musical language, culminating in the aria expressing Ophélie’s madness. Director Nadja Loschky stages this opera, which offers everything from eerie graveyard encounters, to pleasurable dances, to intimate and musically graceful scenes, with great musical sensitivity as a finely tuned study of society.

By the way William Shakespeare’s dramas have been interpreted by numerous composers over the centuries. More of them can be experienced in the symphony concert “To be or not to be?”

Artists/Collaborators: Etienne Pluss (Bühnenbild), Irina Spreckelmeyer (Kostüme), Marie Jacquot (Musikalische Leitung), Jean-Christoph Charron (Chöre), Nadja Loschky (Inszenierung), Olaf Freese (Licht), Thomas Wilhelm (Choreographie), Yvonne Gebauer, Julia Jordá Stoppelhaar (Dramaturgie), N.N. (Claudius, König von Dänemark), N.N. (Die Königin Gertrude), N.N. (Hamlet), N.N. (Ophélie), N.N. (Polonius), N.N. (Laërte), N.N. (Horatio), N.N. (Marcellus), N.N. (Der Geist), N.N. (Erster Totengräber), N.N. (Zweiter Totengräber), Chorsolisten und Komparserie der Komischen Oper Berlin, Orchester der Komischen Oper Berlin

Runtime: Sun, 16/04/2023 to Wed, 07/06/2023

Alternative events

Lucia di Lammermoor

Opera

A historicised staging forms the backdrop for Lucia's tragedy, which is negotiated as a pledge of military alliances. more

Next date:: Lucia Di Lammermoor
Date:: Wednesday, 07/June/2023 19:30 (1 more date)
Venue:: Deutsche Oper Berlin
Address:: Bismarckstraße 35, 10627 Berlin-Charlottenburg
Price:: from €29.90

Order online

Xerxes

Opera

The magnificent magic of Baroque theatre on the stage of the Komische Oper Berlin: In the acclaimed production by Norwegian theatre magician Stefan Herheim, under the musical direction of Baroque specialist Konrad Junghänel, Handel's opera Xerxes becomes... more

Next date:: Oper Von Georg Friedrich Händel
Date:: Thursday, 08/June/2023 19:30
Venue:: Komische Oper Berlin
Address:: Behrenstraße 55, 10117 Berlin-Mitte
Price:: from €58.95

Order online

Il Teorema di Pasolini

Opera

In his 1968 film "Teorema", Pasolini formulated a radical reckoning with the bourgeoisie: the upper-middle-class family at the centre of the work is held together only by conventions, and the erotic seductive power of a stranger alone is enough to break... more

Date:: Friday, 09/June/2023 19:30 (2 more dates)
Venue:: Deutsche Oper Berlin
Address:: Bismarckstraße 35, 10627 Berlin-Charlottenburg
Price:: from €32.10

Order online

Sommeroperette Rüdersdorf

Opera

Das Land Pontevedrin hat ein Problem, das viele kleinere Staaten kennen. Leere Kassen und die Elite tanzt, hier im Stück in Paris, weiter auf dem Vulkan... nach uns die Sintflut. Vielleicht tanzt man aber auch weil Rettung in Sicht ist... Geld winkt in... more

Next date:: Die lustige Witwe
Date:: Saturday, 10/June/2023 16:00 (6 more dates)
Venue:: Naturbühne Rüdersdorf
Address:: Heinitzstraße 11, 15562 Rüdersdorf bei Berlin
Price:: from €36.20

Order online

Stravinsky

Opera

»I consider that music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all, whether a feeling, an attitude of mind, or psychological mood, a phenomenon of nature, etc… more