Costume Designer

Director

The male alliance of the Knights of the Grail is in crisis. Time and again, knights desert to the opposite realm of the sorcerer Klingsor, who had previously been rejected by the circle of knights.

Parsifal

Vienna State Opera

When asked about his title, the author gives an answer that leads into the future. "I love snow. Snow covers the earth and everything becomes beautiful. There are the upheavals, all the contradictions of everyday life, and then it snows and the world is beautiful," says Vladimir Sorokin in conversation about his novel, which, like Pushkin and Tolstoy, bears the title Метель ( Snowstorm ) and, at first glance, appears to be a condensation, an intertext, of the Russian blizzard tradition. "If you're out and about and get caught in a blizzard, that's it. It's a beautiful phenomenon, but also a terrible, fateful event. My story actually has three protagonists: the doctor, his coachman, and the blizzard. In the end, the third wins."

The blizzard

Perner-Insel

Infanticide, cunning monks and a tsar falling prey to madness. In his large-scale choral opera, the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky tackled a theme that is still relevant today: the extremes to which a hunger for power can lead. Celebrated director Kirill Serebrennikov brings his own experiences in Russia into a grippingly topical reading of the work.

Boris Godunov

National Opera & Ballet

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.

EPSG:4326

Leben mit einem Idioten

Opernhaus Zürich

By the middle of the 19th Century, the figure of Salome, a woman who enforced her erotic desires by using lethal violence, had developed into both – incarnation of female ferocity and symbol for pure eroticism – in short to the most important Christian-mythological female figure within the world of music and literature. It resembles an ecstatic dance on the verge of a precipice which finally evolved into a symbol of decadence: Until today, the opera has not lost any of its equally fascinating and disturbing power.

Salome

The Staatstheater Stuttgart

The acclaimed Komische Oper Berlin and director Kirill Serebrennikov, known for his daring, satirical productions, present Mozart’s iconic comic opera.

The Marriage of Figaro

Festival Theatre Edinburgh

Festival Theatre

Child murder, devious monks and a tsar who falls victim to madness. In his grand choral opera, the Russian composer, Modest Mussorgsky deals with a theme that offers poignant parallels to today’s world: the extremes to which one man’s thirst for power can lead. The director Kirill Serebrennikov incorporates his own experiences in Russia in this highly topical production.

Nationale Opera & Ballet

The depths of love are the subject of almost all of Mozart's operas – but none as exclusively as in "Così fan tutte." Ferrando and Guglielmo are convinced that their fiancées, Dorabella and Fiordiligi, are faithful to them. The men enter into a bet with Don Alfonso, who intends to prove them wrong with an experiment. But what begins as a harmless game turns into a cruel open-heart experiment... Kirill Serebrennikov's production is radically contemporary; Roberto González-Monjas, chief conductor of the Musikkollegium Winterthur, guides the audience through Mozart's brilliant yet ambiguous score.

That's what they all do

Zurich Opera House

After meeting for the first time, the two are in love. Surprisingly, the Spanish King Philip II announces that he wants to marry Elisabeth himself. Elisabeth complies for reasons of state. The liberal Marquis Posa advises his desperate friend Don Carlo to become politically active for a better future for Flanders. However, this puts Don Carlo and Posa in dangerous opposition to the overpowering Grand Inquisitor.

Don Carlo

With the help of seductive women, above all Kundry, he succeeds in bringing down the knights. He is even able to tempt Amfortas, King of the Grail, into a misstep. He steals his sacred spear and strikes him with an incurable wound. As a result, Amfortas' ritual duty of unveiling the Grail has become an ordeal. Only a pure fool is destined to undo the Grail King's fall from grace and reverse its devastating consequences.

Costume Designer, Director

Kirill Serebrennikov

Events

Upcoming events

3 - 12 Jul, 2026

That's what they all do · Opernhaus Zürich

4 - 16 Sep, 2026

Don Carlo · Wiener Staatsoper

Mar 25 - Apr 3, 2027

Parsifal · Wiener Staatsoper

Past events

2 - 8 Apr, 2026

Parsifal · Wiener Staatsoper

16 - 26 Aug, 2025

The blizzard · Salzburger Festspiele

About

Kirill Serebrennikov hasn't added a bio