Oedipus confronts the secrets of the oracle, Macbeth confronts the prophecies of the witches: a sudden utterance from another world—and a few words change an entire life. The moira is revealed. While Oedipus seeks to flee the tragic fate promised to him, a twofold process is triggered in Macbeth. First, he reacts to the announcement that he will soon become king by attempting to ascend to the promised heights and acts accordingly: He kills. Having attained dominion and power, he then defies the second part of the prophecy: He kills again. Afterward, he becomes the plaything of his madness, his fear, his moral fall: He kills again and again.

Macbeth

Great Festival House

The general Otello has achieved everything an ambitious upstart like him could dream of: Respected as the successful commander of the Venetian fleet and loved by his beautiful wife Desdemona, fate seems to have favored him. But one man senses the self-destructive jealousy smouldering behind the façade of the successful man: Jago. Ever since Otello's ensign was passed over for a promotion, he has been driving his superior's downfall with a coolly calculated destructive fury, cleverly feeding Otello's doubts about Desdemona's fidelity...

Otello

German Oper am Rhein

Hatred, jealousy and loss: Sergei Rachmaninoff creates a dark world with powerful colours in his one-act opera Francesca da Rimini. Against this backdrop, the heroine’s brief happiness in love shines all the more brightly. Kirill Petrenko presents the impassioned score with acclaimed soloists in a concert performance. Sofia Gubaidulina’s work The Wrath of God is almost apocalyptically dramatic. And here, too, it is about the hatred that – says the composer – “grows in this world with such force and intensity that it inevitably touches me.” The programme opens with one of the most popular works of American orchestral music: Samuel Barber’s touching and intimate Adagio for strings.

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Kirill Petrenko with Rachmaninoff’s “Francesca da Rimini”

Berliner Philharmonie

Jerusalem and Babylon at the time of Neubchadnezzar around 578 B.C. were the setting of Verdi’s early work, Nabucco. But the Biblical epic about power, love and religion is certainly more than a mere historical drama that might have served as a Hollywood blockbuster, and which places the most stringent demands on the soloists, chorus and stage machinery. Human conflicts are expressed here in highly emotional music and leave an indelible mark, to the present day, on this first, genuinely major operatic success by composer Giuseppe Verdi. Nabucco, the work with the famous prisoners’ chorus “Va pensiero” (“Fly, thought, on golden wings!”), the best-known hymn to freedom ever composed, is a must – and not just for Verdi fans.

Vladislav Sulimsky

Events

Upcoming events

18 - 28 Jan, 2026

Nabucco · Bayerische Staatsoper

Past events

9 - 29 Aug, 2025

Macbeth · Salzburger Festspiele

Jun 22 - Jul 13, 2025

Otello · Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Future and recently performed repertoire

Macbeth in Macbeth by Verdi

Salzburger Festspiele

Jago in Otello by Verdi

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Nabucco in Nabucco by Verdi

Bayerische Staatsoper

Lanceotto Malatesta in Francesca da Rimini by Rachmaninoff

Berliner Philharmoniker

About

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