Singer

Zurich Opera presents Giuseppe Verdi’s stunning opera, A Masked Ball, filled with desire, treachery and political peril.

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Verdi’s A Masked Ball

Festival Theatre Edinburgh

A fitting farewell, this programme journeys through the heart of Central Europe, from the vivid landscapes of Smetana's Má vlast to the nostalgic beauty of Butterworth's Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad, before culminating in Brahms' magnificent Fourth Symphony – a work of profound intensity and breathtaking grandeur.

Fishguard Music Festival – Smetana & Brahms with Welsh National Orchestra

St. Davids Cathedral

In the middle of his career, Giuseppe Verdi with «created one of his most diverse scores». Embedded in effective ensemble scenes that oscillate between operetta-like, mysterious oracular magic and dark conspiracy drama, Verdi focuses on the private fate of a politician: Riccardo, the governor of Boston, is in love with Amelia, the wife of his best friend and advisor Renato. When the two are discovered during a passionate nocturnal encounter, Renato joins the conspirators and discovers Riccardo's disguise at the masked ball.

A Masked Ball

Zurich Opera House

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

The court of the Duke of Mantua is host to lavish parties. But in this society, having fun means humiliating and degrading others, and the most cynical joker of all is Rigoletto. He wants to protect his daughter Gilda from the corrupt world, so he locks her away. But the young woman goes her own way. Together with «Il trovatore» and «La traviata», «Rigoletto» cemented Verdi’s international fame as an opera composer. The opera is gripping theater in which all roles are ideally cast: from the king to the avenger, from the lover to the murderer.

Rigoletto

Powerful bars make it clear right from the start: «Tosca» is an operatic thriller about desire, betrayal, and abuse of power. With the title heroine, Puccini created a character who dedicated her entire life to the stage. Robert Carsen stages an enigmatic play about appearances and reality, theater and truth, while keeping pace with suspense-packed plot. Under the musical direction of Marco Armiliato, the dramatic triumvirate is made up of Sonya Yoncheva in the title role, Jonas Kaufmann as Cavaradossi, and Bryn Terfel in the role of Scarpia.

Tosca

Opéra-fantastique in five acts by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
Libretto by Jules Paul Barbier after the drame fantastique of the same name
by Barbier and Michel Florentin Carré

Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Opernhaus Zürich

Melodrama in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
After Victor Hugo’s play «Le Roi s’amuse»

Drame-lyrique in 5 acts by Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
Libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré
after the tragedy by William Shakespeare

Roméo et Juliette

Tragedia giapponese in two acts by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
after Pierre Loti, John Luther Long and David Belasco

«You will die! A friend will kill you.» – The scene with the fortune teller Ulrica, who prophesies that Count Riccardo will soon meet his end, is just one of many effective scenes in Verdi’s opera Un ballo in maschera. Riccardo doesn’t believe Ulrica, and laughs – but a short while later he is murdered by his best friend Renato during a masked ball. Comedy and horror are also closely linked musically in this score from Verdi’s middle creative phase. The story of an idle, politically weak ruler who is killed at a masked ball is based on the historical case of Gustav III of Sweden. However, Verdi was less interested in historical details than in the effective dramaturgy offered by the triangular constellation between Riccardo, his best friend Renato and his wife Amelia. The emotional drama that takes place in the middle act between Riccardo and his friend's wife is one of the most sensual love scenes Verdi ever wrote – and leads to the fiercest jealousy from Renato, who then joins a gang of conspirators. Verdi wanted to stage his new opera – originally with King Gustav as the title figure – in Naples, but the subject matter was targeted by censors. Showing a regicide on stage was simply impossible in the politically turbulent Italy of the 19th century. In the end, the opera was staged in Rome in 1859, in a historically altered setting. General Music Director Gianandrea Noseda and stage director Adele Thomas devote themselves to Verdi’s score of contrasts, which oscillates between masquerade frivolity and deeply felt melodrama. Tenor Charles Castronovo, who has already sung this role at the New York Met, is Riccardo. Italian soprano Erika Grimaldi makes her debut as Amelia.

Un ballo in Maschera

A gold rush camp in California: here, only the strongest prevail. Minnie's Bar becomes a refuge for a society without firm social norms. When Minnie falls in love with the bandit Johnson, the fragile order finally crumbles. In her production of Giacomo Puccini's Western opera, director Lydia Steier paints a picture of a community marked by isolation and violence, where the spiral of brutality turns relentlessly. Marco Armiliato conducts the richly textured score. Anja Kampe, Jonas Kaufmann, and Tomasz Konieczny star in the leading roles.

La fanciulla del west

200 years after the death of Welsh poet Hedd Wyn, a group of pilgrims return to Trawsfynydd - now an abandoned exclusion zone following a catastrophic failure at the nearby nuclear power station - to reconnect with their Welsh heritage.

Baritone

Steffan Lloyd Owen

Events

Upcoming events

Feb 25 - Apr 16, 2027

La fanciulla del west · Opernhaus Zürich

18 - 22 May, 2027

Hedd Wyn: Eisteddfod Atomig Stephen McNeff + Gruff Rhys · Welsh National Opera

Past events

26 - 30 Aug, 2026

Verdi’s A Masked Ball · Edinburgh International Festival

Jul 17, 2026

Fishguard Music Festival – Smetana & Brahms with Welsh National Orchestra · Welsh National Opera

Future and recently performed repertoire

Singer in Má vlast by Smetana

Welsh National Opera

Fürst Yamadori / Der Standesbeamte in Madama Butterfly by Puccini

Opernhaus Zürich

Bello in La Fanciulla del West by Puccini

Opernhaus Zürich

Sciarrone in Tosca by Puccini

Opernhaus Zürich

Marullo in Rigoletto by

Opernhaus Zürich

Silvano in A Masked Ball by Verdi

Opernhaus Zürich

About

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