Mozart’s illustrious operatic oeuvre is rounded off by a work providing both copious entertainment and food for thought, affording a fantastic spectacle and presenting a magical ritual of initiation of the human spirit. All that is encompassed in Die Zauberflöte, and all that can be found in Vladimír Morávek’s colourful production, featuring a thrilling atmosphere and teeming with mysterious symbols. There is something for everyone – adults and children, including, if fear hasn’t consumed them, the very youngest.

Die Zauberflöte

The Estates Theatre

And if we were to name the places at which Mozart in person premiered an opera of his and which still function as theatres, the one and only candidate in the world would be the Estates Theatre in Prague. The National Theatre Opera has proudly cherished this unique tradition for decades.

Don Giovanni

Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata, to the libretto based on Alexandre Dumas’s novel La Dame aux camélias, about Marie Duplessis, the famous courtesan and idol of Parisian society in the 1840s, is actually the very first major opera treating a contemporary social theme. The work’s premiere in 1863 in Venice was a flop: the audience was appalled that the lead role had been assigned to a courtesan who, what’s more, was portrayed in a positive light. Yet Verdi’s opera soon started garnering plaudits and is now one of the most popular repertoire titles the world over.

La traviata

State Opera

Antonín Dvořák’s two most successful operas, The Devil and Kate, and Rusalka, are based on fairy-tale motifs. Blending folk and humorous with lyrical and fantasy elements is one of the typical (and still very popular) traits of Czech drama. Dvořák created a masterly patchwork of contrasting scenes – folksy, breezy, fiendishly fervent and courtly noble.

The Devil and Kate

National Theatre Prague

Carmen is actually one of the first verismo operas that preceded the “manifesto” of the Italian artistic movement. Its style, and the death of the title heroine, which were at variance with the established opéra comique conventions, seem to have been the reason why the work did not give rise to much public enthusiasm at and in the wake of the world premiere in Paris in 1875. Yet Carmen soon triumphed in other European cities.

Carmen

For over two centuries, Gioachino Rossini has been one of the most celebrated opera composers, and it might even have been the case if he had written nothing but Il barbiere di Siviglia. Both its genesis and premiere were connected with all kinds of twists and turns, which accompany many a play and opera. The piece had to be completed hastily, rehearsed and staged even more hastily; it was a setting of a literary work that had been used several times; the premiere was poorly received and affected by scandal, etc. In hindsight and knowing the fates of other creations, such circumstances would seem to be the best prerequisite for future success. Four years after the opera’s world premiere, in 1816 at the Teatro Argentino in Rome, Il barbiere di Siviglia was first presented, in German translation, at the Estates Theatre in Prague, which in 1825 staged the piece in Czech, owing mainly to the composer and conductor František Škroup (known primarily for creating the melody of the Czech national anthem), who would later on also give Czech premieres of operas by Wagner and others. The Provisional Theatre included Il barbiere di Siviglia in its repertoire during its very first season. Later on the opera was also undertaken by the National Theatre, which to date has adapted it in more than ten productions.

Il barbiere di Siviglia

Cupid’s arrows fly around as they please, binding the seemingly incompatible and dividing the seemingly inseparable. Mozart’s philandering Count Almaviva, his neglected wife Rosina, the Countess’s pretty maid Susanna and the crafty, albeit occasionally naïve, valet Figaro know all too well … The new National Theatre production of Le nozze di Figaro has been created by two distinguished female artists: the English conductor Julia Jones and the Czech stage director Barbora Horáková Joly.

Le nozze di Figaro

Song Recitals

In our third subscription concert, much-loved Czech conductor Petr Altrichter is our guide through an evening of spiritual contemplation.

EPSG:4326

Dvořák. Shostakovich

Rudolfinum

Ranking among the highlights of Zemlinsky’s Prague concert activities was the performance of Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand in March 1912, and the Prague premiere of Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder in June 1921. When it comes to Alexander Zemlinsky’s own music, today’s programme includes his magnificent settings of two Old Testament psalms for choir and orchestra, dating from 1900 and 1935, respectively.

Mahler – Schönberg – Zemlinsky

Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème ranks among the most frequently staged operas worldwide. The composer was inspired by the Paris-based painter and writer Henry Murger’s popular book Scènes de la vie de bohème, published in 1851, immediately sensing its enormous dramatic potential. He duly asked the librettists and playwrights Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, with whom he had successfully collaborated previously, to pen a text for a new opera. Their fruitful partnership is among the most cherished in the history of opera, comparable to that of W. A. Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte, or Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

La bohème

In just a few short years, Chilean American tenor Jonathan Tetelman has shot to stardom on the most prestigious stages across Europe and the Americas. He regularly performs at the Bavarian State Opera, London’s Covent Garden, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Vienna State Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

Lukáš Bařák

Events

Upcoming events

Aug 26, 2026 - Feb 14, 2027

Die Zauberflöte · Národní divadlo

Aug 28 - Nov 27, 2026

Don Giovanni · Národní divadlo

Aug 29, 2026 - Jan 24, 2027

La traviata · Národní divadlo

Sep 3, 2026 - Mar 21, 2027

The Devil and Kate · Národní divadlo

Sep 4, 2026 - May 5, 2027

Carmen · Národní divadlo

Future and recently performed repertoire

Marquis d'Obigny in La traviata by Verdi

Národní divadlo

Singer in Des Knaben Wunderhorn by Mahler

Národní divadlo

Schaunard in La bohème by Puccini

Národní divadlo

Singer in Biblical Songs by Dvořák

Prague Philharmonia

Morales in Carmen by Bizet

Národní divadlo

Papageno in Die Zauberflöte by Mozart

Národní divadlo

Masetto in Don Giovanni by Mozart

Národní divadlo

Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini

Národní divadlo

Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart

Národní divadlo

Devil porter / Steward in The Devil and Kate by Dvořák

Národní divadlo

About

Lukáš Bařák hasn't added a bio