Three worlds, three waters, three lives merge into one breath: Anouk, a young writer, endures a relentless struggle to draw breath, as she suffers from cystic fibrosis. This struggle leads her on a journey into the past, to another country, to another woman. She is spellbound as she reconstructs the mysterious story of the »Inconnue de la Seine«, the unknown body found in the Seine shrouded in secrecy. As Anouk immerses herself in this French tragedy, she recognises the connections between her own life, that of the unknown woman, and that of a Norwegian dollmaker. The man, scarred by the loss of his drowned son, designs a doll that can be used to learn mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He selects the death mask of the »Inconnue de la Seine« for the doll's visage, and its smile will now save lives. This opera links three lives across the flow of time. The Leipzig-based composer Bernd Franke, who explores musical, social and topographical boundaries, has created a life-affirming, hope-filled opera that crosses times and countries. In the end, everything is one and we are a part of it.

Coming up for air

Oper Leipzig

On December 10, 1895, the “Club La Bohème” met for the first time. The club – an irreverent artist's guild of literary types and painters – reminded Giacomo Puccini of his years both as a student and as a bohémien. While his friends drank wine and played cards, Puccini composed. One day, he suddenly cried out from his spot at the piano "Quiet, boys! I've finished!" Shortly thereafter, the full score of this legendary opera was finished, and the show, with its wonderful love story between Mimi and Rodolfo, was on stage. Without ever visiting Paris, Puccini captured the city's atmosphere, from the flair of its cafes to the bleak frost of a winter's day. His clear characterization of the opera's protagonists and their sense of emptiness sets the characterizations of desperation and loss, not to mention the opera's central theme of love. In the end the characters are even more lost, in doubt and alone.

La Bohème

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!

Hansel and Gretel

Welcome to the mysterious fairy-tale world of the »Magic Flute«! Even the names of the characters sound magical and remind us of our first visits to the opera: Tamino, Pamina, Papageno, Sarastro … Hardly any other work of opera literature includes so many contradictory elements, so harmoniously combined into a coherent entity by Mozart's music. Is his arguably most popular opera an adventure story about growing up? A parable of wisdom, philosophy and friendship? Is it simply about staying true to oneself, like the bird catcher Papageno? He accompanies Prince Tamino, who has fallen in love with a picture of the kidnapped Pamina and plans to free her. We are reminded that the world cannot always be divided into good and evil: the Queen of the Night and Sarastro illustrate this to us through their quarrel over Pamina. On our journey we are also accompanied by three ladies, three boys, a glockenspiel, and a flute that tames even the wildest animals.

The Magic Flute

Sir John Falstaff is a man who wants it all: money, power, women, pleasure – and control. But in Giuseppe Verdi's opera, it is the women who call the shots. Alice Ford, Meg Page and Mrs Quickly confront Falstaff's audacity with wit and ingenuity, challenging an order that tries to force them into rigid roles and monotonous dreariness.

Falstaff

»Der Rosenkavalier« is a “literature opera”, a disguise comedy, a trial about the transience of time, about holding on and letting go. A work of modern times, which looks back to a completely different time, a homage to an invented past: at times melancholic-lyrical, at times in a waltz beat, at times in a comic parlando

Der Rosenkavalier

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

We've all been there: in hotels, you're always fascinated by people from all over the world and their customs! And when this motley crew find themselves in a tizzy because they all want to go to Paris for the coronation but are prevented from doing so by the transportation system? And when the Hotel zur Goldenen Lilie is run by an excellent proprietor like Madame Cortese, who is determined to make her guests' stay unforgettable, virtuoso, colorful entertainment is guaranteed. Love potions, deft personnel, fainting spells due to a missing hatbox, f librations and misunderstandings culminate in a banquet with international toasts: long live the monarch and long live international understanding!

The Journey to Reims

“And the whole thing ended happily,” wrote Weber about his new opera Der Freischütz to his bride Caroline Brandt in March of 1817. But before everything can end happily ever after in this eerie story about fear of failure, societal constraints, and the individual’s right to happiness, the abyss opens up, and for a moment it seems as though evil will prevail. Max, the young forester, knows that his social standing and romantic prospects are dependent upon his performance at the traditional test of skill in marksmanship. But the only way he sees to pass the test involves a deal with the devil. Kaspar, disillusioned, has already submitted to the devil. And Agathe, betrothed to Max, must ask herself: “Do I leave myself to the hand of Fate?” Troubled, she tries to fight against what she perceives to be her destiny’s inevitability. Like all of the characters in the opera, she believes that her God has a true enemy. Weber created a unique musical context in which his characters’ thoughts and deeds all take place in a religious-demonic world, one that is entangled with the dark powers

Der Freischütz

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

The Young Siegfried (the original title of Wagner’s libretto) tells the story of the son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, the Wälsung pair. After his father’s death at Hunding’s hand, and his mother’s death in childbirth, Siegfried is raised by Mime. Siegfried tells the story of a young man railing against his foster father, who, though he claims to have the boy’s best interests at heart, is only interested in Siegfried as a part of his plan to claim the treasure of the Niebelungen from Fafner the dragon. Only one who has no fear can defeat Fafner. And so Siegfried forges his sword, slays Fafner, and claims the ring and the Tarnhelm for himself.

Siegfried

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

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

Welcome to the mysterious fairy-tale world of the »Magic Flute«! Even the names of the characters sound magical and remind us of our first visits to the opera: Tamino, Pamina, Papageno, Sarastro … Hardly any other work of opera literature includes so many contradictory elements, so harmoniously combined into a coherent entity by Mozart's music . Is his arguably most popular opera an adventure story about growing up? A parable of wisdom, philosophy and friendship? Is it simply about staying true to oneself, like the bird catcher Papageno? He accompanies Prince Tamino, who has fallen in love with a picture of the kidnapped Pamina and plans to free her. We are reminded that the world cannot always be divided into good and evil: the Queen of the Night and Sarastro illustrate this to us through their quarrel over Pamina. On our journey we are also accompanied by three ladies, three boys, a glockenspiel, and a flute that tames even the wildest animals.

Carmen is a freedom-loving woman who casts a spell on any man that crosses her path. Don José is a buttoned-down sergeant who falls for her charms. But when she turns her attention to another, José's love turns into obsession. With Carmen, Bizet created a true operatic classic replete with passion and sweeping melodies.

Carmen

Arthur Honegger's poignant oratorio "Joan of Arc at the Stake" movingly portrays the final hours of the French national heroine. Condemned as a heretic, the young woman remains steadfast to the very end – a symbol of civil courage, faith, and inner strength.

8th Symphony Concert

Georg-Friedrich-Händel-Halle

Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra present Mozart's Magic Flute in a semi-staged format which Fischer developed at his opera festival in Vicenza. He traveled to the city to work on his "third way": a new unity of sound and directing where the ear guides the body. After last year’s Don Giovanni, Fischer is now conducting an opera at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden for the second time.

Samantha Gaul

Events

Upcoming events

Nov 7, 2025 - May 24, 2026

The Magic Flute · Oper Leipzig

May 9 - Jun 7, 2026

Carmen · Oper Leipzig

17 - 18 May, 2026

8th Symphony Concert · Staatskapelle Halle

18 - 20 Dec, 2026

The Magic Flute · Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Past events

Mar 14 - Apr 19, 2026

Coming up for air · Oper Leipzig

Dec 5, 2025 - Jan 24, 2026

La Bohème · Oper Leipzig

Future and recently performed repertoire

Gretel in Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck

Oper Leipzig

Ännchen in Der Freischütz by Weber

Oper Leipzig

Musetta in La bohème by Puccini

Oper Leipzig

Pamina in The Magic Flute by Mozart

Oper Leipzig

Frasquita in Carmen by Bizet

Oper Leipzig

Annina in La traviata by Verdi

Oper Leipzig

Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier by Strauss

Oper Leipzig

Gretel in Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck

Oper Leipzig

Zerlina in Don Giovanni by Mozart

Oper Leipzig

Nannetta in Falstaff by Verdi

Oper Leipzig

Singer in Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher by Honegger

Staatskapelle Halle

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