Choreographer

Did Richard Wagner already know when, in The Flying Dutchman, he first explored the notion of redemption, that this would end up being the central concern of his art? In his final opera, Parsifal, which was first performed in Bayreuth in 1882, it is not just a single person but society as a whole that awaits a saviour – buoyed by the hope of one day meeting the One who will fulfil this role. Parsifal’s qualification for this tremendous task is that he has become “knowing through compassion” – a process that takes many years, perhaps an entire lifetime. But there are forces trying to hinder him on his path. Will Parsifal be willing to place himself at the service of the community? Parsifal, which has been called a “stage consecration festival”, is still an overwhelming experience today. Can art truly help us find redemption?

Parsifal

Semperoper Dresden

With his poetic opera The Cunning Little Vixen, Leoš Janáček brought nothing less than the eternal cycle of becoming and passing to the stage. It tells the life story of the young, rebellious vixen Bystrouška, or Sharp Ears, who is captured by the forester and starts a revolution at his homestead before she succeeds in escaping. Back in the freedom of the forest, she founds a family with a fox and is then shot by a poacher. The seemingly so civilized human world looks wistfully at wild nature, which follows its own laws of life and love.

Das schlaue Füchslein

Bebelplatz

How terrible must life be if you can’t laugh? Sergei Prokofiev’s opera The Love for Three Oranges is about a king who wishes to help his sick son. But only one thing can cure the malady of the heir to the throne: laughter. While the doctors are trying their luck, Truffaldino and Fata Morgana get into a fight, during which the latter is knocked over.

The Love for Three Oranges

Manon wants a life of luxury. Des Grieux, a student, tries to escape his father’s influence, hoping for a freer life with Manon. The uncompromising nature of their wishes becomes the young man’s undoing. «Manon» made Jules Massenet one of France’s leading opera composers of the Belle Époque overnight. Lisette Oropesa is one of the outstanding lyric coloratura sopranos of her generation. French tenor Benjamin Bernheim’s international career began as a member of the International Opernstudio in Zurich.

Manon

Zurich Opera House

Drame-lyrique in 5 acts by Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
Libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré
after the tragedy by William Shakespeare

EPSG:4326

Roméo et Juliette

Opernhaus Zürich

How terrible must life be if you can’t laugh? Sergei Prokofiev’s opera The Love for Three Oranges is about a king who wishes to help his sick son. But only one thing can cure the malady of the heir to the throne: laughter. While the doctors are trying their luck, Truffaldino and Fata Morgana get into a fight, during which the latter is knocked over. When her mishap causes the Prince to laugh, she quickly places a curse on him: he is destined to fall in love with three oranges. The Prince and Truffaldino immediately set off on a hair-raising journey that finally takes them to a desert – a trip that can be seen as a balancing act between fantasy and reality. Here parody is tinged with tragedy and a touch of the grotesque.

Romeo and Juliet are outsiders in a world of rigid social conventions. In Charles Gounod's French opera, they meet at a ball: Juliet introduces herself with a lively waltz aria, while Romeo has slipped in with friends. From this fleeting moment blossoms love at first sight – and the beginning of a story as passionate as it is fateful. American director Ted Huffman focuses on the essentials, setting the action on a simple dance floor. In doing so, he once again proves himself a "delicate observer of gestures, moods, and glances" (NZZ). The young Armenian soprano Juliana Grigoryan and the star tenor Juan Diego Flórez embody the lovers.

Choreographer

Pim Veulings

Events

Upcoming events

Feb 12 - Mar 5, 2027

Romeo and Juliet · Opernhaus Zürich

Past events

Mar 22 - Apr 6, 2026

Parsifal · Semperoper Dresden

Feb 28 - Mar 15, 2026

Das schlaue Füchslein · Staatsoper Berlin

About

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