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Scarpia, Rome’s chief of police, desires Tosca. Since her lover, the painter Cavaradossi, is among the government’s political enemies, Scarpia has him imprisoned. He orders Cavaradossi’s execution and hopes to force Tosca into granting him one night with her, in exchange for Cavaradossi’s release. She, however, thwarts his plans…

On the steps of the entrance foyer of the Hamburg State Opera, school classes can watch the musicians closely and intervene directly in the musical action with the help of emojis. The focus is on works from the chamber music repertoire.

"It is a simple and tremendous problem of life: that of fidelity", is how Hugo von Hofmannsthal described the core of their third opera together, Ariadne auf Naxos, in a letter to Richard Strauss. To live does not mean to persevere and hold on to what has been lost. If you want to live, you have to let go, forget, get over yourself - constantly transform yourself. This is what a young opera composer experiences in this work when he is confronted with the stubborn wishes of his patron; just like the protagonist of his opera, Ariadne, who, abandoned by her lover, Theseus, expects only death. But things turn out differently... Strauss and Hofmannsthal let the opposites collide: Tragedy and comedy, light music and grand opera, playfulness and seriousness. Thus, in the mirroring of art and life, between gaze and gaze, the unfathomable mystery of transformation takes place.

The poet E. T. A. Hoffmann as the protagonist of his own fantastic tales: In his encounter with three women - Olympia, Antonia, and Giulietta - he searches in vain for love for love and for himself. Will he draw the strength for art from his failure in life? art from his failures in life? Or will he fail in himself, even in alcohol? Like in a kaleidoscope, ever new constellations and shimmering colors constellations and shimmering colors German romanticism and French esprit.

What happens when, in times of war and destruction, even your own family becomes a battlefield and mistrust, desire and betrayal break out? The cruel, ingenious and at the same time megalomaniac King of Pontus, Mitridate, fights a hopeless war against the Romans, while his two sons are under pressure from their father and his fiancée Aspasia decides against her duty and in favor of her feelings and turns away from him. With Mitridate, the 14-year-old Mozart composed his first full-length opera seria according to all the rules of the time and at the same time a work in which his humanistic flair already shines through. In the arias, he gives the ensemble of singers ample opportunity to explore the depths of the human soul and display their vocal virtuosity. Preserving the essence of this historical operatic genre, but at the same time reinterpreting its form, the aim is to create something in which the orchestra is integrated both visually and in terms of content. In this way, the fate of the characters can be experienced directly through visible music-making.

Young Tatyana falls in love with Eugene Onegin, and confesses her love for him, against all convention. When he pretends that marriage is not for him, she weds Prince Gremin in haste. After many years, Tatyana and Onegin meet again, but their belated confession of mutual love cannot bring them back together.

Don Pasquale, an older, wealthy man with a desire for a young, modest wife, meets the young couple Ernesto and Norina in Donizetti's opera. The only thing missing for their great love happiness is the blessing of money. Malatesta, a doctor friend, develops a cunning plan so that in the end the perfect intrigue emerges and Don Pasquale becomes the plaything of the young people.

Never one to miss an opportunity to make fun of others, the hunchback jester Rigoletto is employed by the Duke of Mantua. His only joy in life is his daughter Gilda. When Rigoletto must witness how she falls for the calculated vows of love of the unscrupulous Duke, he is out for revenge: he hires the contract killer Sparafucile to murder the seducer. Gilda, however, sacrifices herself for her lover. Rigoletto realises that he has driven his daughter to death and destroyed his own life.

Maria and Elisabetta: two queens fight for power and love. Between them stands Count Leicester, Elisabetta's lover, who is attracted to Maria. The two women meet in the park of Fotheringhay Castle - a duel of emotions, fought with the weapons of bel canto, coloratura on a knife's edge. In the end, the Catholic Maria will ascend the scaffold with her head held high, while the Protestant Elisabetta will keep her throne but lose her love.

California in 1850: hundreds of thousands have fallen for the gold rush – and some of them also for the barkeeper Minnie, at whose saloon various fortune seekers meet every evening. Among them is Sheriff Jack Rance. Minnie, however, falls in love with the stranger Dick Johnson. It soon turns out that Johnson is a wanted robber: the sheriff wants to see him hang and have Minnie to himself. A round of poker is to decide about Dick’s life: is there yet another trump up Minnie’s sleeve?