Singer

French tenor Benjamin Bernheim literally dazzled Prague during his first performance on 19th November 2024. He didn't even sing any opera hits, but fragile, lyrical, intimate compositions by French masters of the song repertoire! „It was an Encounter with Perfection," wrote a reviewer on the KlasikaPlus website. Benjamin received a standing ovation! It also seems that it was an instant mutual love; during the encores, Benjamin Bernheim addressed the enthusiastic audience by saying that this concert was the beginning of a promising relationship between him and the Czech audience – a relationship that will certainly develop further in the coming years. Naturally, such a publicly stated promise cannot remain unanswered. So, here comes a new date! In a year, in November 2025, Benjamin will return to Prague, this time with the French-American soprano and his life partner Sandra Hamaoui.

Opera gala – L’amour. Benjamin Bernheim & Sandra Hamaoui

Smetana Hall Municipal House

The Carmina Burana with its mighty Fortuna choirs is one of the most famous musical works, but is rarely performed as a trittico teatrale with its two sister works. Carl Orff created a trilogy that searches for new forms of expression for music theater: between opera, oratorio and cantata. Trionfi stands for the fascination of the primal elements of theater, the popular and cultic, ancient and medieval poetry and again and again: the elemental power of rhythm. Life and its earthly pleasures are triumphantly celebrated, the omnipotence of Eros, the awakening of spring. Love and fidelity are negotiated and a wedding ceremony is performed, culminating in an orgiastic cry. - As the subtitle of Carmina Burana, which speaks of magical images, suggests, there are no limits to the imagination of a scenic realization. Archaic and modern meet.

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Trionfi

Staatsoper Hamburg

In the heart of Hamburg: a warm late summer night, hustle and bustle, conviviality and brilliant sounds in the open air - chief conductor Kent Nagano, the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the Hamburg State Opera have once again brought a special gift to their loyal audience this year. With powerful choirs, rousing rhythms and beautiful melodies: with Carl Orff's cantata "Carmina Burana", the orchestra, together with the choir of the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Boys' Choir, are bringing one of the most popular musical creations ever to the Rathausmarkt. "O Fortuna, your moods change like the image of the moon," is how the opening chorus first addresses the goddess of fate, before moving on in several stages through the different stages of human life. The wheel of fate rolls relentlessly between joy and sorrow, love and consolation, telling of the autumn of one's own existence and yet offering the decisive hope: that a new spring will come - O, Fortuna!

Rathausmarkt Open Air

For Figaro and Susanna, it was supposed to be the most beautiful day of their lives: their wedding day. But their employer, Count Almaviva, who is equally in love with Susanna, does everything he can to delay the wedding. Twenty-four turbulent hours begin, in which the power of Eros throws every character in the play into confusing emotional states. Director Jan Philipp Gloger sets Mozart’s masterpiece in the present day, highlighting the way a supposedly irresistible man gets ensnared in a complex code of conduct designed to prevent abuse of power and sexual assault.

The Marriage of Figaro

Zurich Opera House

It was his involvement with musical theater, music education, and his turn to historical music that led Carl Orff to his "archaic" compositional style. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he looked back and led the audience of Carmina Burana into a world of medieval songs from the 11th to 13th centuries, in which people were not afraid to attack the church and society and to praise sensual and depraved life. The evocative power of the rhythm in the music, the extraordinary use of instruments, and the declamatory vocal style have lost none of their gripping urgency to this day.

Soprano

Sandra Hamaoui

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 24 - Feb 14, 2026

The Marriage of Figaro · Opernhaus Zürich

Jun 28, 2026

Carmina burana · MDR-Sinfonieorchester

Past events

Nov 25, 2025

Opera gala – L’amour. Benjamin Bernheim & Sandra Hamaoui · Prague Philharmonia

Oct 12, 2024

Trionfi · Staatsoper Hamburg

Future and recently performed repertoire

Singer in Carmina Burana by Orff

MDR-Sinfonieorchester

Singer in Prélude à L'après-midi d'un faune by Debussy

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

Singer in Trionfo di Afrodite by Orff

Staatsoper Hamburg

Singer in If Bach had bred bees ... by Pärt

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg

Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro by Mozar

Opernhaus Zürich

About

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