Choreographer

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. 

Arabella

Zurich Opera House

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La traviata

Teatro La Fenice

“Blame it on the champagne, tra la la la la !” That’s the half-truth that the protagonists in Johann Strauss’s THE BAT sign up to at the end of a drink-fuelled night of mistaken identities and erotic escapades. But alcohol is only partly to blame; the confusion is largely due to the wiles of the humiliated Dr Falke, who was once exposed to small-town ridicule dressed in the costume of a bat and is now seizing his chance to avenge himself on his ‘good pal’, bon vivant Gabriel von Eisenstein. And so it is that the maid disguises herself as an actress, the wife as a Hungarian countess and Eisenstein himself as a French marquess and off they trot to Prince Orlofsky’s masked ball. That they end up bewailing their fate in jail early the next morning is less down to champagne than to the natural course of events. In THE BAT Johann Strauss pulled off a work that proved to be the prototypical Viennese operetta, bursting with waltzes and polkas and oozing wicked irony. Inspired by Offenbach’s opéras buffes from Paris, Strauss’s work was merciless in the way it held up a mirror to the bourgeois salon-going public - and many audience members recognised themselves in the absurd antics onstage.

Die Fledermaus

Deutsche Oper Berlin

A dream cast assembles for Strauss’s grand Viennese comedy. Soprano Lise Davidsen is the aging Marschallin, opposite mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as her lover Octavian and soprano Erin Morley as Sophie, the beautiful younger woman who steals his heart. Bass Günther Groissböck returns as the churlish Baron Ochs, and Markus Brück is Sophie’s wealthy father, Faninal. Maestro Simone Young takes the Met podium to oversee Robert Carsen’s fin-de-siècle staging.

Der Rosenkavalier

Lincoln Center

Vincenzo Bellini's opera »La sonnambula«, which premiered in Milan in 1831, is considered to be his most important work, alongside »Norma«, which was released just six months later. The ›semiseria‹, composed in an elegiac, soft style, shows the idyll of a remote Alpine village in which superstition and backwardness almost cost the young orphan Amina her happiness in life, because Amina sleepwalks. So she ends up in the room of a strange man at night, is accused of infidelity by her lover Elvino and left. Only Rodolfo, the apparent seducer and none other than the deceased count's son who has returned home, can use his knowledge to explain the phenomenon, confirm Amina's innocence and lead the story to its happy ending. Director Rolando Villazón stages Amina's story as an escape from the confines of her village to another

La sonnambula (The Sleepwalker)

Semper Opera Dresden

Jean-Philippe Rameau's ballet opera »Platée« is one of the most unusual music theater works of the 18th century. The comedy, which premiered in 1745, tells the story of the nymph Platée, who believes that every man must fall in love with her immediately. The supreme god Jupiter takes advantage of Platée's need for love: in order to convince his own wife Juno of his loyalty, he stages his absurd marriage to the nymph from the swamp. In »Platée«, Rameau parodies the great French opera and at the same time presents the court society of his time as a collection of unscrupulous opportunists. His music with its onomatopoeic effects, rousing dances and unusual sounds is among the best that this composer has written. In Dresden, where »Platée« can be experienced for the first time, star tenor Rolando Villazón has re-staged the work. The conductor Paul Agnew of the French baroque ensemble "Les Arts Florissants" has appeared on stage as a singer countless times as a platée.

Platée (Platea)

Semperoper Dresden

Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the helm of Strauss’s most beloved score, following his acclaimed Met performances of the composer’s Elektra, Die Frau ohne Schatten, and Salome. After her “resplendent” (Observer) 2025 portrayal of Strauss’s Arabella, soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen stars as the elegant Marschallin, alongside brilliant mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo as her impetuous younger lover, Octavian. Soprano Ying Fang is the lovely heiress who steals his heart, and bass Günther Groissböck reprises his uproarious portrayal of the bumptious Baron Ochs in Robert Carsen’s turn-of-the-century setting.

When Manon arrives in Amiens, she meets Des Grieux and immediately falls madly in love with him. Despite fleeing to Paris to start a life together, Manon's desire for luxury and wealth becomes her undoing.

Choreographer

Philippe Giraudeau

Events

Upcoming events

Mar 24 - Apr 10, 2027

Der Rosenkavalier · The Metropolitan Opera

7 - 18 Apr, 2027

Manon Lescaut · Wiener Staatsoper

Past events

14 - 28 Apr, 2026

Arabella · Opernhaus Zürich

8 - 17 Feb, 2026

La traviata · Teatro La Fenice

About

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