Singer

»If I survived, and others didn’t, then it was probably to attest to what Auschwitz was.« Said Zofia Posmysz, explaining why she wrote her novel The (female) Passenger. Polish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg, who suffered under the brutality of the SS as well as Stalin’s reign of terror, found a guardian and supporter in Dmitri Shostakovich. It was he who suggested he turn Posmysz' novel into an opera. Director Anselm Weber and set designer Katja Haß cleverly managed to depict different times and places – present day and memories: A ship sailing to Brazil in the 1950s. Lisa and her husband Walter are on their way to start a new life when an encounter suddenly confronts Lisa with the past, when she was a KZ guard in Auschwitz. Is the other passenger a former prisoner, Marta? Lisa was convinced she had died but now stands face to face with her. Walter’s dumbfounded and fears for his future as a diplomat – he knew nothing of his wife’s past.

EPSG:4326

The (female) Passenger

Oper Frankfurt

Handel turned one of the world’s most famous love stories into one of his greatest hits. An opera, which is a dramatic love story and political thriller. When Cesare and Cleopatra met in Alexandria in BC 48 both were caught up in power struggles – he for supremacy in Rome, she for the Egyptian throne. The dramatic events taking place around them turn, in matter of seconds, into situations resulting in murder and manslaughter.

Giulio Cesare in Egitto

Her fate was shared by many Jewish artists under the National Socialists: Magda Spiegel, born in Prague in 1887, left Dusseldorf to join the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt in 1917, rising quickly to stardom as a dramatic contralto. Contemporaries praised her as one of the greatest operatic voices - until she was publicly denounced in 1935, dismissed and persecuted, before being murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.

Magda Spiegel - Silenced too soon

Bockenheimer Depot

A young woman takes a stand against the destruction of nature. But her determination founders because of the most human emotion of all: Love.

Melusine suffers under her narrow-minded husband and her mother’s inverted snobbery. The young woman finds an alternative world in a wild, overgrown park, in which Pythia, »Queen of the Willows«, rules. Pythia spurs Melusine into action when the park’s destined to make way for a castle. Given a fish tail, thereby making her irresistible, Melusine seduces lots of workmen, but can’t save the park. When the castle’s opened Melusine falls in love with the owner, the Graf von Lusignan. Pythia swears to avenge Melusine’s betrayal.

Melusine

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.

Mezzo-soprano

Zanda Švēde

Events

Upcoming events

May 10 - Jun 15, 2026

Blood Wedding · Oper Frankfurt

Past events

1 - 21 Feb, 2026

The (female) Passenger · Oper Frankfurt

Oct 3 - Nov 13, 2025

Giulio Cesare in Egitto · Oper Frankfurt

Future and recently performed repertoire

Cornelia in Giulio Cesare in Egitto by Handel

Oper Frankfurt

Pythia in Melusine by Reimann

Oper Frankfurt

Vlasta in The Passenger by Weinberg

Oper Frankfurt

Leonardo's Wife in Blood Wedding by Fortner

Oper Frankfurt

About

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