Singer

Count Almaviva has himself abolished the iusprimae noctis, or "right of the lord". A fact, however, which does not prevent him from trying to seduce the Countess’s maid, Susanna, just before her marriage to Figaro. A clear case of sexual harassment. But, what happens when the culprit has plenty of money and power? Or, can even bend the law to suit their wishes? Le nozze di Figaro was more than just a comedy back in Mozart’s day. The world portrayed is brim full of criminal machinations and blatant fraud and chicanery by the powerful and almighty. Lorenzo Da Ponte’s libretto based on the scandalous play by the French revolutionary, Beaumarchais, leads the colourful characters of a comedy of the classes into situations so hopeless that emptiness and the desire to die spread to all quarters. And so the Count’s love for his new wife following their marriage suddenly goes ice-cold, although he has just recently spectacularly freed her from the clutches of her custodian. The resourceful Figaro of all people had helped him here, and in gratitude, the Count now employs him as his personal valet, perhaps as questionable compensation for Susanna’s harassment. Hardly conquered, the countess finds herself neglected and longs for either Almaviva's love or her own death. It takes a great deal of intrigue and counter-intrigue to disempower the encroaching count and allow Susanna's wedding to her beloved Figaro to take place after all.

EPSG:4326

The Marriage Of Figaro

Max-Joseph-Platz

Munich Residence

When Strauss and Hofmannsthal wrote «Der Rosenkavalier» – setting it in an imaginary Rococo Vienna and yet closely linked to the decadent fin de siècle – they created a profound social comedy. It is not without melancholy that the Marschallin lets her young lover Octavian go when he falls head over heels with Sophie, who hails from Faninal’s bourgeois household. As voluptuous as Strauss' score is, it contains tender moments of dream and melancholy. Director Lydia Steier stages Strauss’ opera according to an aesthetic concept by Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein. Diana Damrau sings the Marschallin. 

Der Rosenkavalier

Zurich Opera House

In this electric performance from 2013, baritone Željko Lučić sings the title role in Michael Mayer’s 1960s-era production of Verdi’s great drama, sharing the stage with soprano Diana Damrau and tenor Piotr Beczała. Michele Mariotti conducts.

Rigoletto

Rockport Music-Shalin Liu Performance Center

Michael Mayer’s sumptuous production of Verdi’s beloved tragedy returns, featuring soprano Diana Damrau and tenor Juan Diego Flórez in this 2018 performance. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.

La Traviata

The Viennese aristocracy are no strangers to family feuds: boorish Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau interrupts the morning tête-à-tête between his cousin, the Marschallin, and her young lover Octavian, to ask for her help with his wedding plans, which are steered more by financial gain than love. Ochs does not suspect that Octavian himself, who is chosen to deliver the engagement rose, will eventually fall in love with the bride.

Bebelplatz

Konzert zum Jahreswechsel

Staatsoper Unter den Linden

Across opera, concert works, and lieder, soprano Diana Damrau can “do anything she wants with any note at any given time” (Opera News). She is a prime example of how special it is to hear a great singer in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, where every detail of one’s voice rings true. In her return to the Hall, she performs 19th- and 20th-century works by Robert and Clara Schumann, Richard Strauss, and Spanish composers Rodrigo, Granados, Turina, and Obradors.

Diana Damrau, Soprano Helmut Deutsch, Piano

Carnegie Hall

Barrie Kosky affords the “operetta of all operettas” a new look and focuses on its morbid side. The scene is Vienna, city of the golden operetta era, where Die Fledermaus celebrated its world premiere at the Theater an der Wien in 1874. The revenge of the bat becomes a nightmare for Gabriel von Eisenstein and many others. A society, an entire city dances towards the abyss. To take revenge on his friend Eisenstein, Dr Falke, alias the bat, orchestrates a misunderstanding with Prince Orlofsky. A marquis and a chevalier, a countess and budding artists meet here for a raucous party. Glasses clink, relationships are strained, there is loving, lying and dancing. They party ‘til the cows come home, always believing: “Happy are those who forget ...”

Die Fledermaus

Although she is surrounded by many admirers, Arabella dreams only of the «right one». She finds him in Mandryka, the Croatian landowner. Opera history’s final idealized marriage of love was written on the precipice of disaster: The opera dates to a time of deep social insecurity. The operetta-like tone of Strauss’ «Lyrischer Komödie» is strangely fractured. When it premiered in Dresden in 1933, it was instrumentalized by the Nazis for propaganda purposes. 

Soprano

Diana Damrau

Events

Upcoming events

Oct 12, 2025 - May 24, 2026

The Marriage Of Figaro · Bayerische Staatsoper

Dec 31, 2025 - Jan 10, 2026

Die Fledermaus · Bayerische Staatsoper

14 - 28 Apr, 2026

Arabella · Opernhaus Zürich

Jul 22, 2026

Festival Liederabend Diana Damrau · Bayerische Staatsoper

Past events

Oct 12, 2025 - May 24, 2026

The Marriage Of Figaro · Bayerische Staatsoper

Sep 21 - Oct 26, 2025

Der Rosenkavalier · Opernhaus Zürich

Future and recently performed repertoire

Arabella in Arabella by Strauss

Opernhaus Zürich

The Countess of Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart

Bayerische Staatsoper

Singer in La traviata by Verdi

Rockport Music

Singer in Rigoletto by Verdi

Rockport Music

Field Marshal Princess Werdenberg in Der Rosenkavalier by Strauss

Opernhaus Zürich

Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus by Strauss

Bayerische Staatsoper

About

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