Singer

The «Japanese tragedy» by Giacomo Puccini shows how the American naval officer Pinkerton embraces Japanese culture, marrying Cio-Cio-San, a young geisha, for the duration of his stay. When he later returns with his «real» wife to take the child he had with Cio-Cio-San back to his homeland, the young woman is left with only one way out. With his ambitious composition, Puccini combined Eastern and Western motifs, producing one of his most successful operas at the start of the 20th century. Director Ted Huffman brings the opera to the stage in stunningly beautiful images and with great narrative tension.

Madama Butterfly

Zurich Opera House

Lieutenant Pinkerton has fallen in love with the geisha Cio-Cio-San, known as Madama Butterfly, and wants to marry her according to Japanese custom without entering into a permanent relationship. But Butterfly truly loves Pinkerton and has a child by him. For years she waits in vain for the lieutenant to return. When Pinkerton does return, he arrives with his new American wife to pick up the child, and Butterfly stabs herself with a dagger.

Bebelplatz

War, flight, hatred and revenge characterize the grand portrait that Giuseppe Verdi created in «La forza del destino». Amid this unpredictable interplay of forces, Leonora and Alvaro search for each other, fight for their love, experience persecution, find refuge in faith, and are crushed by inexorable fate. Director Valentina Carrascothe Catalan, who was a member of the Catalan theater collective La Fura dels Baus, uses Verdi’s monumental scenes as an opportunity to question the values of war and peace in the 21st century, creating a dystopian fantasy. Anna Netrebko returns to Zurich as Leonora. General Music Director Gianandrea Noseda is on the podium.

The strength of destiny

Verdi’s Requiem Mass, in its fervent quest for eternal rest, stands as a powerful demonstration of the composer’s ability to harness the human voice. Hailed by NPR as “simply magnificent” for their two-time Grammy Award-winning CSO Resound recording of this work, Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus are joined by a thrilling quartet of international singers to once again deliver a masterful blend of passion and precisio

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Muti Conducts Verdi Requiem

Symphony Center

The outsider Herman loves Liza, who is engaged to Prince Yeletsky. Herman is a passionate gambler: he is desperate to win a fortune and reputation in order to win Liza’s heart. When he learns that her grandmother knows the secret of the three winning cards, fate takes its course.

Pique Dame

Staatsoper Hamburg

The mermaid Rusalka loves the prince and wants to become a human being in order to be with him forever. With her voice, she pays the witch Ježibaba for the transformation and leaves home and family. Rusalka's appearance with the people initially depresses the prince, but the magical, voiceless being remains a foreign body in the human world and finally the lover turns away from her – which means death for him and banishment for her. In his fairytale opera, premiered in Prague in 1901, Dvořák set to music the contrasting worlds of the ghostly flowing underwater kingdom and the distanced stiff royal court with great music-dramatic verve. With the parable-like material about the value of one's own identity, the meaning of the human soul and the transformation of the main character Rusalka from a romantic mermaid to a loving person capable of suffering without a real home, the internationally working director Christoph Loy makes his debut in the Semperoper.

Rusalka

Semperoper Dresden

Rusalka feels trapped in a world from which there is no escape. She is ready to put her immortality on the line in return for a human soul, so she can gain the love of a handsome prince. But she must pay for it with her voice. Muted and liberated from her dark world, she is forced to watch as the prince rejects her in favor of a foreign princess – dooming them both. She cannot live, she cannot die, yet nevertheless at the end, she helps the prince find his death with a “rescuing” kiss.

Max-Joseph-Platz

«What is our life? A game! Good and evil are merely dreams, work and honesty just lies,» Hermann fatalistically concludes in Pique Dame, as he faces his end at the gaming table. Based on Pushkin’s novella, Tchaikovsky paints a picture of a world dominated by economic inequality and the law that dictates only the strongest survive. Hermann must live up to the social standing of his lover Lisa at any cost; he hopes to gain wealth through the Countess’s cursed card secret. But his hope for happiness vanishes in a spiral of obsession that drags Hermann into the abyss. Doris Soffel returns as the Countess in Sam Brown’s production. Elena Guseva takes on the role of Lisa, while Arsen Soghomonyan makes his house debut as Hermann; both have performed the roles on stages from Milan to New York. Stéphane Degout and Alexey Markov, two great baritones of our time, appear as Prince Yeletsky and Count Tomsky, respectively. The musical direction is by the Ukrainian conductor Kirill Karabits.

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Elena Guseva

Events

Upcoming events

23 - 25 Jul, 2026

Rusalka · Bayerische Staatsoper

1 - 13 Nov, 2026

Queen of Spades · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Past events

Dec 30, 2025 - Jan 16, 2026

Madama Butterfly · Opernhaus Zürich

Nov 30, 2025 - Apr 30, 2026

Madama Butterfly · Staatsoper Berlin

Future and recently performed repertoire

Cizí kněžna in Rusalka by Dvořák

Semperoper Dresden

The foreign princess in Rusalka by Dvořák

Bayerische Staatsoper

Lisa in Pique Dame by Tchaikovsky

Staatsoper Hamburg

Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly by Puccini

Staatsoper Berlin

Singer in Requiem by Verdi

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Liza in The Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Donna Leonora in The Strength of Destiny by Verdi

Opernhaus Zürich

About

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