When social roles and values ​​are renegotiated, existential questions arise: Who am I? Who can I be? And what can I do to be a good person? In The Greek Passion , the residents of a Greek village are painfully confronted with this after they have assigned the roles for the upcoming passion play. When a group of refugees appears and asks for help, the overwhelming feeling grows. The Greek Passion deals with the most important themes of our coexistence: humanity and charity. With Greek folklore, Orthodox liturgy and large choral tableaux, it tells the story in a musically folk-like way, making it one of the most magnificent and haunting operas of the 20th century.

The Greek Passion

Opernplatz

In one of the strongest and most evocative post-war operas, Benjamin Britten paints the moving picture of an individual who succumbs to the hypocrisy of a small community.

Peter Grimes

National Opera & Ballet

‘The Bald Soprano is a parody of the theatre and thus, of course, a parody of certain human attitudes.

A married couple are sitting cosily in front of the fireplace. We learn that they live near London and are called Smith. Later, they are joined by the Martins, who are surprised to discover that they are husband and wife. The fire chief and the maid Mary also already know each other, and the bald prima donna – she always styles her hair the same way! Eugène Ionesco’s first play The Bald Soprano from 1950 inaugurated the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’. With its assemblage of domestic scenes featuring meaningless banter, situational comedy, pseudo-clichés and non-sequiturs, Ionesco created a witty “anti-play” full of dazzling linguistic acrobatics. In collaboration with the playwright, Italian composer Luciano Chailly (1920-2002) wrote the libretto for the opera of the same name. His score captures the character of the protagonists and their relationships by means of a quintet of plucked instruments – featherlight, vain and dance-like – as well as serene string quintet and a rather coarse wind quintet. Semper Zwei now presents the German premiere of this opera rarity, which was first performed in Vienna in 1986.

The Bald Soprano

Semper Zwei

La traviata –directly translated as »the one who has lost her way«–is, of course, the Parisian courtesan Violetta Valéry. Already dying from an incurable lung disease, she falls in love with Alfredo Germont. Yet her feelings are in conflict with her way of life and all sense of reason; ultimately, her quest for freedom and happiness is defeated by the moral strictures of bourgeois society. When first performed in Venice in 1853, this story was considered scandalous: an opera about a courtesan who dies of tuberculosis and is also modelled on a real-life woman in Parisian society was an outrageous inno-vation for the time. Focusing on the complex relationship between Violetta, her lover Alfredo and his father Giorgio, Giuseppe Verdi created a captivating and fully-rounded character, expressed through music that shifts between lyrical bel canto passages and powerful musico-dramatic outbursts. Director Barbora Horáková Joly places »La traviata« in the dazzling world of 19th-century vaudeville.

Barbora Horáková

Events

Upcoming events

Mar 24 - Apr 1, 2026

The Bald Soprano · Semperoper Dresden

Mar 28 - Apr 28, 2026

La traviata · Semperoper Dresden

Past events

Apr 11 - May 11, 2025

The Greek Passion · Staatstheater Hannover

6 - 22 Oct, 2024

Peter Grimes · Nationale Opera & Ballet

About

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