Director

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.

EPSG:4326

Guercœur

Oper Frankfurt

Suffused with the spirit of the French Revolution, FIDELIO explores issues of individual and collective freedom in the face of tyrannical suppression. For his one venture into opera Beethoven chose a political event rooted in the French tradition of rescue opera. It tells the story of a fearless woman, Leonore, who triggers the end of the old order by having her husband released from prison, where he has been detained on a whim. Far from evincing Beethoven’s inability to compose a coherent opera, this mixed bag of genre elements – German light opera, heartfelt arias, exquisite orchestral interludes and a symphonic close – reflects his revolutionary idea of dramaturgical opposites and subversion of form. The further Leonore descends into the depths of the dungeon, the clearer the existential core of the drama becomes. In an explosive choral and symphonic finale, which, with its quote from Schiller’s “Ode to Joy”, foreshadows Beethoven’s “Ninth”, the uncompromising affirmation of liberty, human rights and humanist ideals bursts forth. The work has repeatedly been appropriated for political ends - on both sides of the spectrum – with Leonore acquiring iconic status. Yet Beethoven’s musical vision of a humanist society still manages to thwart all attempts to encapsulate the opera in simplified interpretations.

Fidelio

Deutsche Oper Berlin

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)

Semperoper Dresden

With Falstaff , his final opera, Verdi created a dazzling comedy, punctuated by incisive dialogue and sparkling music. In this burlesque farce, the pot-bellied, boastful knight believes he can seduce with impunity, but he comes up against the intelligence and solidarity of women. David Hermann turns it into a biting satire of toxic masculinity, where intrigues, disguises, and misunderstandings follow one another in an effervescent production that is somewhere between burlesque and social critique. Carried by the alert direction of Michael Schønwandt—returning, to our great delight, at the helm of the Orchestre de Montpellier—Verdi's teeming score unleashes its jubilant energy: whirling ensembles, bouncy rhythms, and a dizzying final fugue that reminds us, with Falstaff , that "everything in the world is a farce"!

Falstaff

Opéra Comédie

With the world premiere of his one-act opera, VIOLANTA, the 18-year-old Erich Wolfgang Korngold shifted overnight from child prodigy to one of the leading opera composers of his generation. For VIOLANTA not only heralded the arrival of a young maestro who was as independent as he was variegated in his musical palette, who had an unerring feel for how to render his vision on stage, and who could write melodies that were both expressive and catchy to boot; the 75-minute work to a libretto by Hans Müller, later to be known for co-writing THE WHITE HORSE INN, also served notice that Korngold had caught a contemporary Viennese mood that encapsulated Art Nouveau, psychoanalysis and an end-of-days atmosphere, a quintessence framed by Freud, Klimt and Schnitzler – all mirrored perfectly in the storyline: Violanta, the wife of Venice’s governor, plots during Carnival to avenge, through assassination, her sister, who committed suicide after being seduced by Prince Alfonso. When the moment comes, however, she acknowledges her true motive: to snuff out her own desire to abandon herself to passion. She sacrifices herself to free herself from “lust and guilt”.

Director

David Hermann

Events

Upcoming events

7 - 13 Jan, 2026

Falstaff · Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

Jan 25 - Feb 13, 2026

Violanta · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Past events

Feb 2, 2025

Guercœur · Oper Frankfurt

20 - 30 Oct, 2024

Fidelio · Deutsche Oper Berlin

About

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