Conductor

Attractive because repulsive - that’s one way to describe the contradictory fascination potential of William Shakespeare’s most enigmatic character, Othello. He probably could not have existed at the time of his creation: Black, a stranger, yet risen to the top of Venetian society through merit and spectacular eloquence, he marries the beautiful Desdemona.

EPSG:4326

Otello 

The Staatstheater Stuttgart

La Fille du régiment, or the “regiment’s daughter”, is what they call the young Marie, who was found when just a child on the battlefield by soldiers. The troops commit to raising the evidently abandoned girl themselves. A young man of course must soon enter the scene and stir a special interest in her, and the secret of her origins will soon also be revealed. In the best tradition of French opéra comique, with his team of librettists, Gaetano Donizetti created a piece that in a truly original way combines Alpine idyll, patriotic enthusiasm and romantic love with comic situations and heightened conflicts. While Donizetti’s piece was at times extremely popular, the “regiment’s daughter” faded from favour somewhat in the 20th century. It can now be rediscovered, from the famous overture right through to the both amusing and cryptic music, in its first new production at the Bayerische Staatsoper in almost ninety years

La Fille du régiment

Max-Joseph-Platz

Maria and Elisabetta: two queens fight for power and love. Between them stands Count Leicester, Elisabetta's lover, who is attracted to Maria. The two women meet in the park of Fotheringhay Castle - a duel of emotions, fought with the weapons of bel canto, coloratura on a knife's edge. In the end, the Catholic Maria will ascend the scaffold with her head held high, while the Protestant Elisabetta will keep her throne but lose her love.

Mary Stuart

Hamburg State Opera

Moral outrage one moment, coquettish expediency the next. The intrigues of the powerful interwoven with the desperation of hapless refugees. When it comes to the gamut of human emotion and modes of behaviour, few operas of the baroque period can touch Handel’s GIULIO CESARE IN EGITTO, which premiered in London in 1724. This tale of the love affair between the ageing Roman general Julius Caesar and the young pharaoh Cleopatra was one of Handel’s greatest triumphs within his lifetime and remains his most performed opera. That is not just down to the base material – one of the best-known historically attested love stories, which has been given treatments ranging from Shakespeare to Liz Taylor and Richard Burton and “Asterix und Cleopatra” – but also to a sophisticated libretto that provided the inspiration for a string of great arias and memorable character studies, for aside from the Roman-Egyptian pairing of Caesar and Cleopatra GIULIO CESARE IN EGITTO features another pair who are busy not with flirting but with the serious business of staying alive: Cornelia, the widow of Pompeius, a murdered rival of Caesar, and her son Sesto. Both have sought refuge in Egypt but have become pawns in the scheming between Cleopatra and her brother Tolomeo.

Giulio Cesare in Egitto

Deutsche Oper Berlin

3. Concert La Scintilla

Zurich Opera House

A secretive empire, ruled by a legendary queen – Alcina is all things at once: strong, powerful, clever and beguilingly beautiful. Again and again, she seduces strange men, who follow her call, onto her island, and again and again Alcina hopes without end to find true love. But her dream always ends in disappointment. The traces of past loves are strewn across the land – former suitors are now magically transformed and held captive in the island’s flora and fauna. But when Ruggiero lands on the island, Alcina is convinced – this is the right one! Meanwhile another “man” appears. Ruggiero’s fiancé Bradamante, disguised as her brother, Ricciardo, and searching for Ruggiero. When Alcina’s magic then also begins to gradually disappear, everything goes topsy-turvy.

Conductor

Stefano Montanari

Events

Upcoming events

Feb 15 - Mar 14, 2026

Mary Stuart · Staatsoper Hamburg

Apr 25 - Jul 8, 2026

Giulio Cesare in Egitto · Deutsche Oper Berlin

May 18, 2026

3. Concert La Scintilla · Opernhaus Zürich

13 - 28 Jul, 2026

Alcina · Bayerische Staatsoper

Jul 19, 2026

1st Festival Baroque Concert · Bayerisches Staatsorchester

Past events

May 18 - Jul 18, 2025

Otello · Staatsoper Stuttgart

Dec 22, 2024 - Jul 1, 2025

La Fille du régiment · Bayerische Staatsoper

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Alcina by Handel

Bayerische Staatsoper

Conductor in Giulio Cesare in Egitto by Handel

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Conductor in Mary Stuart by Donizetti

Staatsoper Hamburg

About

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