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As an introduction to the performance, we offer children workshops for three different ballet evenings. Children will engage with the work and the choreography of each evening through play. Dancers from the Junior Ballett will teach participants a small excerpt of the choreography and dance with them.

This program is designed for everyone who wants to explore their own voice, without the pressure of performing, or for those that want to try out their acting skills and to embark on new paths. We experiment with the voice and make fun side trips into different musical eras and genres. There will be improvisation and development of short scenes as we illuminate the comedy and tragedy of human relationships. We’ll also attend rehearsals at the Opernhaus and go to a performance together.

open space tanz offers space for those who wish to engage with dance, independent of technique and pace. This weekly workshop is aimed at people who want to experiment, improvise, and create. We’ll deal with contemporary dance and body concepts, choreographic ways of working and forms of expression, and develop references to current Ballett Zürich productions.

As a punishment for lacking compassion, the writer «Ich» (or «I») is forced to take in an idiot at home. This seems like an easy task: «Ich» sets out to choose his idiot and is quite pleased with himself and his willingness to host a «holy fool». The idiot seems to fit obediently into the lives of «Ich» and his wife, except for the fact that he barely speaks—aside from an occasional «Äch!», he doesn't say a word. But when the idiot suddenly, and without warning, defecates on the carpet one day, an uncontrollable spiral of violence, sex, and anarchy begins. Alfred Schnittke's opera Leben mit einem Idioten premiered in Amsterdam in 1992. The titular idiot was quickly interpreted as a caricature of Lenin, and the absurd, grotesque story as a biting parody of everyday life in the Soviet Union. However, the composer himself pointed out that his opera is 'by no means solely about Communism' but more broadly about a condition in which «the irrational dominates the rational». Thus, director Kirill Serebrennikov will bring the piece to the stage as the dystopian, contemporary story of a couple whose idiot becomes the catalyst for their already toxic relationship—a catalyst that brings the darkest, most destructive urges of human nature to the surface, along with an inclination for aggression and violence. Schnittke’s music, which combines quotes from Bach’s Matthäus-Passion, the Communist Internationale, a folk song about a birch tree, a tango from the 1930s, and further echoes of Chopin, Mahler, Shostakovich, and others in a polystylistic collage technique, has great potential for wit and irony, which will unfold under the direction of Jonathan Stockhammer with the Philharmonia Zurich. Susanne Elmark, Bo Skovhus, and the Zurich Opera Chorus, who will be on stage throughout the evening, take on the enormous challenges of their roles.

This offer for the whole family is the perfect way to get ready for an outing to the opera or ballet. Parents and children take in a short excerpt from a work, and meet singers, dancers and musicians. They playfully engage with the story and figures from each work. They learn lots of interesting facts about the piece and at the same time experience how fun and delightful it can be to play, sing and dance together.

Get to know the theatre from a different perspective! The 60 minute tour will take you through the dressmaking department, the wardrobe, the make-up and props departments, and onto the stage. Important information: The tour is held in German.

Get to know the theatre from a different perspective! The 60 minute tour will take you through the dressmaking department, the wardrobe, the make-up and props departments, and onto the stage.

Finnish soprano Camilla Nylund thrilled as Brünnhilde in the new Zurich Ring des Nibelungen, and now she returns to Zurich as Senta. Her stage partner here is Tomasz Koniezcny, who will sing the title role in this revival and who celebrated his own triumph in the Zurich Ring when he took the stage as Wotan. General Music Director Gianandrea Noseda, meanwhile, showed with the Zurich Ring that he is a fantastic Wagner conductor. He now takes over the musical direction of this revival production.

The one-hour tour takes you into the make-up department of the opera house and will take you into the fascinating world of wigs and mask making.

Pause for 15 minutes a day and escape the hustle and bustle. Artists from the Philharmonia Zürich, the Orchesterakademie, the International Opernstudio, or the Chorus offer 23 concerts held in the Opernhaus foyer, bringing a moment of calm to the often-hectic advent season. The program will be published daily on our Facebook page, on instagram and here. Or simply stop by and let yourself be pleasantly surprised by what’s on offer...