For over a century, Engelbert Humperdinck’s fairy-tale opera »Hänsel and Gretel« has been enchanting generations of young opera-goers. Not insignificantly, the premiere of this work took place on the night before Christmas Eve. To this day, this beloved opera is performed near Christmastime in many opera houses. After all, Christmas is a time for family, and »Hänsel and Gretel« is a family opera par excellence: While their children’s eyes widen in wonder at their first opera experience, parents can reminisce and delight in nostalgia. In this new production, director Birgit Eckenweber, together with her set- and costume designer Alexander Mudlagk, sends Hansel and Gretel into a fantastical fairy-tale world that’s guaranteed to fascinate. Ah, to be young again!

Hänsel und Gretel

Oper Leipzig

King Krax is tired of ruling the land of Abholzhausen. There are too many crises to deal with: Climate change, pandemics, inflation, wars. His cunning chief inventor, Megapfiffikuss, has persuaded the king that he can escape his worries by travelling into space. Lunatick, the king's daughter, is supposed to take care of the problems. However, she has no intention of taking on her father's frustrating tasks and flies off with him into space instead. The destination of their journey is the mysterious Planet 9, which, to everyone's surprise, is already inhabited by the extraterrestrial Ninurians...

Die Reise zu Planet 9

German Oper am Rhein

The brave knight Amadis is held responsible for the disappearance of the brother of Arcabonne and Arcalaus. The two use their magical powers and mobilize the demonic underworld to lure Amadis into their realm and defeat him once and for all. Suddenly, nothing is as it seems: Amadis is abandoned in the forest by his beloved Princess Oriane and held captive in Arcalau's secret laboratory. All seems lost... but fortunately the powers of heaven have something to say about it.

Amadis, the Knight

La Traviata is the final work in the Trilogia Popolare, Verdi’s trio of masterpieces written between 1850-52. Once again, he was inspired by an outsider: after the jester in Rigoletto and the gypsy Azucena in Il Trovatore, the courtesan Violetta Valéry -- a woman whose charm surpasses her predecessors -- takes center stage here. The Parisian demimonde is the setting for the story of the unconditional and hopeless love between Alfredo Germont and the terminally ill Violetta. From the very beginning, their love is threatened not only by death, but also by the norms of the society and the honor of a family.

La Traviata

A Russian tsar, a small-town mayor, a shipyard worker, and three foreign diplomats meet in the time of Peter I. In the middle of it all, Marie fights with heart and mind for her groom. Like many of Lortzing's other operas, Zar und Zimmermann premiered in Leipzig. One of the Musikalische Komödie’s artistic goals is to cultivate Lortzing’s works, in order to keep the composer alive and well in the musical city of Leipzig.

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Tsar and Carpenter

Musikalische Komödie

The opera has barely gotten underway before the first death occurs and Don Giovanni is in hot pursuit. But this does not stop the seducer of all seducers from going after the next woman: he adores them all! His wildly colourful exploits sweep him through all social strata, regardless to whether the lady of choice is already involved with someone else. Even if one may have slight doubts when it comes to the total number of his conquests – 1470! – Don Giovanni's appeal amongst women is undeniable. But what exactly is his secret?

Don Giovanni

To what lengths may a person to go to free themselves from terrible circumstances? The young Katerina, married into wealth yet lonely nonetheless, imprisoned in a mercilessly cold world dominated by men and controlled by its police force, is longing for something more. She is forced to hide her joie de vivre on account of her tyrannical father-in-law, and suppress her desires for love because her husband is impotent and distant. When he is away and the bravado Sergei starts working on the farm, she seems to have found a way out of this dull situation devoid of action. But in the end, four people are dead, including a murderess. Premiered in Leningrad in 1934, the acclaimed opera was intended to further fuel the promising career of the then 24-year-old Dmitri Shostakovich. But one visit to a performance by Stalin was enough for him to suspect the celebrated star of being a potential enemy of the regime. From then on, Shostakovich was forced to live and compose in oppressive fear. Yet where words are forbidden, his musical world simmers, sizzles and lies in wait to explode at the next touch.

Franz Xaver Schlecht

Events

Upcoming events

Dec 3, 2024 - Jun 15, 2025

Amadis, the Knight · Oper Leipzig

Jan 16 - Mar 2, 2025

La Traviata · Oper Leipzig

Jan 16 - May 11, 2025

Tsar and Carpenter · Oper Leipzig

Apr 4 - Jun 21, 2025

Don Giovanni · Oper Leipzig

25 - 29 May, 2025

Lady Macbeth von Mzensk · Oper Leipzig

Past events

13 - 27 Dec, 2024

Hänsel und Gretel · Oper Leipzig

4 - 22 Dec, 2024

Die Reise zu Planet 9 · Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Future and recently performed repertoire

Police Chief in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich

Oper Leipzig

Giorgio Germont in La traviata by Verdi

Oper Leipzig

Vater in Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck

Oper Leipzig

Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni by Mozart

Oper Leipzig

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