Singer

The inspiration for Fortner’s opera resembles an ancient Greek tragedy. The Spanish poet Garcia Lorca took up an all too familiar tale for his play Blood Wedding, which was first performed in 1933. His vitriol aimed at the uncompromising nature of blood feuds: a bridegroom’s mother lost her husband and oldest son in fights between the two clans and now fears for her youngest son’s life. She’s worried his wedding will reignite the war, because the bride still loves her former beloved Leonardo, a member of the enemy family. Leonardo abducts her during the wedding. They escape into the woods, but are caught. Two scores are settled: both rivals die in a duel.

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Blood Wedding

Oper Frankfurt

Richard Wagner revolutionised music with his version of theTristan story, popular since the Middle Ages. His opening Tristan chord paved the way for modern music and encapsulates the core of this tragic love story – an insatiable longing, ceaselessly striving for relief. »Only in the face of death are the lovers able to give themselves unrestrainedly to each other«, said Katharina Thoma, focussing on the subconscious, their past lives, loss and the meaning for life of both protagonists. She explores the reasons for loneliness, which go beyond societal difficulties and external influences in Johannes Leiacker’s clear, focussed space.

Tristan und Isolde

"How beautiful Princess Salome is tonight!". Oscar Wilde's French drama, arranged as opera text by the composer himself, was a stroke of genius of the fin de siècle, a scandal on one hand and an absolute hit on the other, both an artistic and a financial success which allowed Richard Strauss to buy his villa in Garmisch. Salome demands the head of the prophet, John the Baptist, who has rejected her, from her lustful stepfather – and bound by an oath, he cannot deny her. And so the zealous admonisher dies, and with him the princess is undone – "Kill this woman!". Krzysztof Warlikowski is convinced that Salome recounts many of the contradictions of the period of origin, that in this piece, however, much is also dismissed of that which at the time was still the future: "It's not just what's in the work of art itself that is important, whether it be Oscar Wilde or Richard Strauss, but rather the whole context, which Christianity and the history of the 20th century add to this piece."

Salome

Max-Joseph-Platz

A ruler wracked with guilt, power-greedy conspirators, a fickle people and a monk, who writes history, in the true sense of the word: Boris Godunov is crowned Tsar, to the delight of the people, after Dimitri, legitimate heir to the throne, was murdered. The monk Pimen naming the ruler as the murderer in his chronicles of Russian history inspires the novice Grigori to pass himself off as Dimitri, who escaped with his life after all, and lay claim to the throne, backed by ambitious Marina, Polish Voyevoda's daughter. While Boris struggles with ghosts of the past, the Boyars wonder how to get rid of the new usurper, but the »fake Dimitri« ends up being crowned Tsar.

Boris Godunov

Wotan wants to secure power through his descendants. The twins Siegmund and Sieglinde seem to be the perfect choice. One day, fate brings them together. However, for Wotan’s wife Fricka, the sibling’s love is a thorn in her side, and even Wotan himself feels emotionally torn. When his favourite daughter, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, revolts against him, he puts her to sleep, casting a circle of fire around her that only a fearless person can walk through.

Die Walküre

Bebelplatz

The Nibelung dwarf Alberich robs the Rhinemaidens of the Rhinegold to forge a ring that confers "endless power". Meanwhile, Wotan, the father of the gods, is forced into action. To reward the giants Fasolt and Fafner for building the castle Valhalla, he steals the Nibelungs’ treasure with the help of Loge, the cunning fire god. Alberich curses the ring and all its future owners – the tragedy takes its course.

Das Rheingold

Under the face of the wandering moon, spirit and body quarrel in all their greatness and wretchedness until the blood of two bodies flows. Strauss remains close to Wilde's re-creation of the biblical material, which leads Salome from her mother's tool to autonomy. It is she who, in her unfulfilled desire for the liberatingly different, the body of the prophet Jochanaan, seeks revenge and demands his head - a price the male-dominated society around Herod is willing to pay for their dance. Now that Salome holds his severed head in her hands, she can kiss Jochanaan, possess him if not alive, then dead. As if under a burning glass, Strauss pours Oscar Wilde's demonic dramaturgy into sound like an eruption of the psyche, accompanying his protagonist from her failed escape from the decadence of her existence to her death.

Staatsoper Hamburg

Finding no peace in the world hereafter, Guercœur wishes himself back to earth – to his great love Giselle and his people, who he led to freedom ...

Four deities, Vérité, Bonté, Beauté and Souffrance grant Guercœur’s wish to return to earth, but the world’s moved on: Giselle, who promised to be true to him forever, is having an affair with Guercœur’s pupil Heurtal, who’s kissed goodbye to the ideals of freedom and love and turned into a dictator. The starving populace is divided, resulting in violent riots which threaten the foundations of the fledgling democracy.

Guercœur

Lulu's uniqueness challenges the norm. Is she real, a mythological figure or a figment of men's imagination? Innocent victim or a destructive demon? She's none of these things yet all of them. This feral, vulnerable, creature's struggle with the world, during which she's appropriated and exploited before being murdered, began when she was dragged out of her element.

Lulu

Richard Wagner wrote Die Walküre as the second of four parts of the powerful musical theatre epic, Der Ring des Nibelungen, which is based on the Medieval Nibelungenlied and old Norse god sagas. Wotan, the highest god, has fathered twins with a mortal woman – Siegmund and Sieglinde. These two in turn have a child, in which Wotan sees his dominion consolidated. His wife Fricka defies his plans and, as protector of the traditional marriage rites, demands Siegmund’s death. Wotan reluctantly agrees, although it will cause a split with his favourite daughter.

With "Das Rheingold," Richard Wagner opens his monumental "Ring of the Nibelung": a mythological world theater about power, love, and the loss of innocence. Whoever renounces love gains power. This fateful law draws both Alberich and the god Wotan into the spell of the cursed ring. From the famous depths of E-flat major, a world unfolds between idyllic nature and moral decay. Andreas Homoki's successful production returns under the musical direction of Gianandrea Noseda. Michael Volle sings Wotan.

Opernhaus Zürich

"Die Walküre" takes us from the mythical realm of the gods into the world of men: Siegmund and Sieglinde are consumed by a forbidden love that defies all laws and threatens to undermine Wotan's power plan. In his conflict with Fricka, the father of the gods recognizes his hero's lack of freedom and sacrifices him. Brünnhilde's defiance is severely punished: Wotan puts her into a deep sleep and encircles her with a ring of fire that only a fearless hero can traverse. With the "Ride of the Valkyries" and the "Magic Fire," the music of "Die Walküre" contains some of the most famous passages of the "Ring." Camilla Nylund and Eric Cutler sing Brünnhilde and Siegmund in this continuation of the Zurich "Ring" interpretation by Andreas Homoki and Gianandrea Noseda.

Mezzo-soprano

Claudia Mahnke

Events

Upcoming events

May 10 - Jun 15, 2026

Blood Wedding · Oper Frankfurt

Jun 25 - Jul 8, 2026

Die Walküre · Bayerische Staatsoper

Nov 29 - Dec 17, 2026

Das Rheingold · Opernhaus Zürich

Jan 24 - Feb 6, 2027

The Valkyrie · Opernhaus Zürich

Past events

May 10 - Jun 15, 2026

Blood Wedding · Oper Frankfurt

Mar 22 - Apr 11, 2026

Tristan und Isolde · Oper Frankfurt

Future and recently performed repertoire

Herodias in Salome by Strauss

Staatsoper Hamburg

Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde by Wagner

Oper Frankfurt

Fricka in Die Walküre by Wagner

Staatsoper Berlin

Waltraute in Die Walküre by Wagner

Bayerische Staatsoper

Herodias in Salome by Strauss

Bayerische Staatsoper

Fricka in Das Rheingold by Wagner

Staatsoper Berlin

Barmaid in Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky

Oper Frankfurt

Gräfin Geschwitz in Lulu by Berg

Oper Frankfurt

Giselle in Guercœur by Magnard

Oper Frankfurt

Fricka in The Valkyrie by Wagner

Opernhaus Zürich

Mother in Blood Wedding by Fortner

Oper Frankfurt

About

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