Singer

The wedding of the servant couple Figaro and Susanna is imminent, and everything could be so wonderful, if it weren’t for the lecherous Count Almaviva, who has been stalking Susanna for some time, as well as the vengeful Doctor Bartolo and his housekeeper Marcellina, who all wish to prevent the wedding. After numerous twists and turns, Figaro and Susanna, with the help of the Countess and thanks to an ingenious plan of revenge, finally succeed in thwarting Almaviva using his own art of seduction so that, in the end, all couples are reunited. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s „The Marriage of Figaro“, which premiered at Vienna’s Hoftheater in 1786, is the first of the three Mozart-da Ponte operas. Despite its quick-fire comedic action, the work foreshadows some of the radical ideas of the French Revolution. In his staging, director Johannes Erath takes the audience on a journey through the different epochs of theatrical history from Commedia dell’arte to the modern age.

Le nozze di Figaro

Semperoper Dresden

Johann Strauss’s »Die Fledermaus« from 1874 is a masterpiece of Viennese operetta: In order to take revenge on his friend Eisenstein, Dr. Falke (alias Die Fledermaus) stages a game of mistaken identities at Prince Orlofsky’s ball, where the guests include a Marquis and a Chevalier, a Hungarian countess and budding artists. However, nobody is who they claim to be. The masquerade and trickery end with the entire group of partygoers in prison. When the masks finally fall and extramarital shenanigans come to light, Falke’s revenge is complete. This production by Günter Krämer has been delighting Semperoper audiences since 2003 with classic numbers such as the Watch Duet, the Czárdás or Adele’s »Mein Herr Marquis« as well as the witty dialogue, updated with some amusing contemporary references. With diamond-sharp irony amidst the champagne glasses, »Die Fledermaus« is a great evening’s entertainment… and not just at the New Year!

Die Fledermaus

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.

The Love for Three Oranges

Richard Wagner's 1868 »Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg« is one of the composer's most popular works - and a wonderful musical comedy. This takes place around midsummer night in medieval Nuremberg, where the widowed shoemaker Hans Sachs, the town clerk Sixtus Beckmesser and the young aristocratic daredevil Walther von Stolzing sing, write poetry and also fight over Eva. Why? Because the goldsmith Pogner advertised his coveted daughter as a prize in the annual singing competition to make it clear how important art is to him. And so »Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg« becomes a musical masterpiece that poses the question of the importance of art – here music – for our lives and society. Reason enough for director Jens-Daniel Herzog

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Master-Singers of Nuremberg)

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

A rich man has commissioned a young composer to write an opera for a celebration: Ariadne auf Naxos. But because this tragic opera about Ariadne, abandoned by her lover Theseus, isn't entertaining enough for him, he invites a troupe of comedians to perform their farces concurrently with the tragedy. This is an imposition for the composer, but also an opportunity: the grief of the abandoned Ariadne clashes with the joie de vivre of the comedienne Zerbinetta. In his production of the work, which premiered in 1916, David Hermann brings the world of Greek tragedy into contact with the lightness of French Rococo. "Ariadne auf Naxos" is an opera about opera, about fidelity and change, and about the transformative power of love.

Ariadne auf Naxos (Ariadne on Naxos)

»The Nose« is the stroke of genius of the just 22-year-old Dmitri Shostakovich based on the novel of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. While Gogol's novella is a satire on tsarist officials, the opera, which premiered in 1930, brings to the stage an entire society in which an opportunistic official falls into the clutches of bureaucracy, a nose becomes a media sensation, and the police closely monitor its citizens. With dance music, balaleika sounds, Russian church music and the first pure percussion piece in music history, »The Nose« is no less grotesque than the strange occurrences it tells: the nose of college assessor Kovalev suddenly disappeared for no reason.

The Nose

Semper Zwei

The celebrated singer Tosca lives only for art, until political intrigue suddenly disturbs her life and that of her lover, the painter Cavaradossi: When Cavaradossi hides the political refugee Angelotti, he is targeted by the unscrupulous police chief Scarpia, who has long had his eye on Tosca. To save Cavaradossi, Tosca not only has to betray Angelotti, but also give herself to Scarpia. Premiered in 1900, Puccini’s »Tosca« is practically unique in its close interweaving of political power and personal passions.

Semper Essenz: Tosca

Sparkling irony combined with sparkling champagne mood to the sounds of waltzes.

Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)

A story fizzing with irony and champagne, all danced to the sounds of the waltz.

“How am I supposed to do that? I'm going mad!” On Fadinard’s wedding day, his horse eats the straw hat of a lady having a bit of fun with her lover in the bushes. But Anaide doesn’t dare return to her jealous husband Beaupertuis without her new Florentine hat: she simply has to get hold of a new one! An odyssey full of hijinks begins, taking Fadinard across the length and breadth of Paris ...

Tenor

Gerald Hupach

Events

Upcoming events

Dec 27, 2025 - Jan 16, 2026

Die Fledermaus · Semperoper Dresden

May 31 - Jun 29, 2026

The Italian Straw Hat · Semperoper Dresden

Past events

20 - 29 Mar, 2025

Le nozze di Figaro · Semperoper Dresden

Dec 31, 2024 - Jan 17, 2025

Die Fledermaus · Semperoper Dresden

Future and recently performed repertoire

Zweiter Priester in Die Zauberflöte by Mozart

Semperoper Dresden

Dr. Blind in Die Fledermaus by Strauss

Semperoper Dresden

master of ceremonies in The Love for Three Oranges by Prokofiev

Semperoper Dresden

An officer GH in Ariadne auf Naxos by Strauss

Semperoper Dresden

Oberst in The Nose by Shostakovich

Semperoper Dresden

Ulrich Eißlinger in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Wagner

Semperoper Dresden

Un notaro in La Sonnambula by Bellini

Semperoper Dresden

Dr. Blind in Die Fledermaus by Strauss

Semperoper Dresden

Spoletta in Tosca by Puccini

Semperoper Dresden

Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart

Semperoper Dresden

Achilles by Rosalba in The Italian Straw Hat by Rota

Semperoper Dresden

About

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