Pique Dame

Hermann, who is addicted to gambling, loves Lisa, who longs for self-determination, comes from a wealthy family and lives in the care of her controlling grandmother, the Countess.

Tchaikovsky's second most popular opera today, after Eugene Onegin, is particularly impressive due to its sheer size: in Queen of Spades, the mood shifts skillfully from grand, representative choral and ensemble opera to psychological chamber drama scenes. The splendor of a sophisticated elite meets the misery of the outlaw proletariat. Pushkin's short novella became the starting point for Pyotr and Modest Tchaikovsky's musical-dramatic psychogram of the two main characters Hermann and Lisa, who are united in their fatalistic hopelessness and their failing quest for freedom. As a social outcast, the protagonist Hermann is not only a pole of identification for the homosexual Tchaikovsky brothers; his work as a military engineer also brings him close to the two brothers' father, Ilya Petrovich Tchaikovsky.

Hermann, who is addicted to gambling, loves Lisa, who longs for self-determination, comes from a wealthy family and lives in the care of her controlling grandmother, the Countess. The countess herself is not only said to have had a sensational past in Parisian high society, she is also surrounded by the ominous story of a card secret that is said to guarantee good luck for all those in the know and has earned her the nickname "Queen of Spades". When the penniless Hermann learns of this, he believes he has found the way out of his misery and the obsession with the mystery of the "three cards" takes its course.

About the production of Queen of Spades

British director Sam Brown is staging the work for the first time at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Based on the set created by his friend and fellow director Sir Graham Vick, who tragically passed away in 2021, Brown brings to light the shades and ambiguities of the highly dramatic operatic material. His concept poses questions to the play that are deliberately left open: Does Hermann love Lisa or is she merely a tool for him? Is Lisa a defenceless victim or does she see Hermann as an opportunity to break out of the golden cage? Does the mysterious card secret really exist or is it just a fairy tale and Hermann's delusion?

Artists/Collaborators: Deutsche Oper Berlin

Runtime: Sun, 01/11/2026 to Fri, 13/11/2026

Next date:

• Date Sunday, 01/November/2026 16:00 (3 more dates)
• Venue Hauptbühne
• Address Bismarckstraße 35, 10585 Berlin-Charlottenburg
• Price from €37.00

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