Singer

The richest man in Vienna has commissioned an evening’s entertainment. But when a tragic opera and a comedy troupe are forced to share the same stage, all bets are off. Strauss’ opera-within-an-opera is part farce, part dream-like fantasy, set to one of his most luscious scores.

Ariadne auf Naxos

Glyndebourne

Sparks fly in this uproarious tussle for centre stage.

The richest man in Vienna has commissioned an evening’s entertainment. But when a tragic opera and a comedy troupe are forced to share the same stage, all bets are off. Strauss’ opera-within-an-opera is part farce, part dream-like fantasy, set to one of his most luscious scores.
Laurent Pelly returns to Glyndebourne to direct this new staging, with Robin Ticciati conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Adriadne Auf Naxos

La bohème

San Carlo Theatre

It’s supposed to be the happiest day of Figaro and Susanna’s lives, but this is opera, so there’s plenty of time for some plot twists before they say ‘I do’. With Count Almaviva looking set to make a move on the bride-to-be, the young couple must hatch a shrewd plan to secure their happy ending. Cue a whirlwind of secret scheming and surprise revelations.

EPSG:4326

Opera North - The Marriage of Figaro

Theatre Royal Nottingham

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.

Salome

Staatsoper Hamburg

The war is over, and tragedy takes its course: the mother and her lover murder the father upon his return. The daughter hides her brother, keeping him safe. – Every day, Elektra thinks of her murdered father, plotting blood-stained celebrations of victory and waiting for the moment when her brother, reared as an avenger, returns. Under one roof with her father’s murderers, thirst for blood and revenge collide with the future plans of her younger sister, who longs for marriage and children, a life in harmony and bliss. The mother is governed by another delusion: “It is not a word, it is not pain, it does not pinch me or strangle me, … and yet it is so terrible that my soul wishes it had been hanged, and every part of my body cries out for death.” Sacrifice is meant to bring relief.

Elektra

Carmen is desirable, defiant, and driven. She thinks nothing of charming a soldier to escape a spot of trouble—never imagining that he would abandon his childhood sweetheart and desert his post to follow her.  But Don José is a jealous lover, and as Carmen begins a new relationship with the bullfighter Escamillo,  his passion turns dark—and deadly. 

Bizet's masterpiece arrives onstage in a brand-new production drenched in Spanish Gothic splendor, created by director/designer Thaddeus Strassberger. Domingo Hindoyan opens his inaugural season as Music Director with one of the world's most iconic scores.

Carmen

Los Angeles Music Center

Not unlike Picasso or Klimt, Puccini painted a series of fascinating and multifaceted female portraits. His Manon, Mimi, Tosca, Cio-Cio-San, Magda, and the seemingly frigid Turandot who secretly pines for love, continue to spellbind opera audiences across the world. As time goes by, the characters do not lose any of their distinct flavour, appeal, and relevance, although their stories are set is long-gone realities. Ever since its 1900 premiere at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, Tosca has sold-out nearly everywhere it was put on. The tragic love story involving blackmail, cruelty, different dimensions of humanity and its lack, crime, and amoral attitudes fascinates audiences that become engulfed by this deadly love tornado.

Bass-baritone

Liam James Karai

Events

Upcoming events

Oct 17 - Nov 7, 2026

Carmen · LA Opera

2 - 16 Jan, 2027

Tosca · Polish National Opera

Past events

Jul 22 - Aug 29, 2026

Ariadne auf Naxos · Glyndebourne

Jul 19 - Aug 29, 2026

Adriadne Auf Naxos · London Philharmonic Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Nazarener in Salome by Strauss

Staatsoper Hamburg

Truffaldino / comedian in Ariadne auf Naxos by Strauss

Glyndebourne

caretaker of Orestes in Elektra by Strauss

Staatsoper Hamburg

Marcello in La bohème by Puccini

Teatro di San Carlo

Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart

Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall

Escamillo in Carmen by Bizet

LA Opera

Angelotti in Tosca by Puccini

Polish National Opera

Truffaldino in Adriadne Auf Naxos by Strauss

London Philharmonic Orchestra

About

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