Choreographer

«I saw Wozzeck on stage, before the war, and made such an incredible impression that I decided to set it to music immediately». So wrote Alban Berg to his friend and colleague Anton Webern in 1918, at a time when his name was only known in the small circle of Schoenberg's pupils. International fame and affirmation would arrive a few years later and precisely thanks to Wozzeck, an opera inspired by Georg Büchner's novel of the same name, which would soon become a symbolic work of the early 20th century as well as an emblem of expressionist theatre. In Büchner's text, Alban Berg had in fact identified themes particularly dear to expressionist poetics such as nightmare, mental alienation and brutal murder. The opera in three acts and fifteen scenes premiered at the Berlin Staatsoper on 14 December 1925 to great acclaim. Berg conceived the opera as a system of closed forms where each scene of each act refers to a formal structure of the Western instrumental tradition such as the suite, the rhapsody, the march, the passacaglia, to name but a few, revised through a livid and anguished orchestral writing. On the vocal side, the almost spoken chant in Wozzeck's Sprechgesang stands out, renouncing all melodic artifice to emphasise the protagonist's sorrowful humanity.

Wozzeck

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre

Tchaikovsky's many moods – tender, grand, melancholic – are given free rein in Eugene Onegin . The opera is based on Pushkin's iconic verse novel. In a similar way, Tchaikovsky took Western European opera traditions and transformed them into an authentic and indisputably Russian work.

At the center of the opera is the young Tatyana, who develops from a sentimental teenager to a perfect woman in one of the most compelling character developments in opera history. Eugene Onegin had its world premiere at the Maly Theatre in Moscow in 1879, with students from the Moscow Conservatory. In 1881, it had its professional premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

Opera (live) at the cinema: Eugene Onegin

Umeå Folkets Hus

Following her acclaimed 2024 company debut in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, soprano Asmik Grigorian returns to the Met as Tatiana, the lovestruck young heroine in this ardent operatic adaptation of Pushkin. Baritone Igor Golovatenko reprises his portrayal of the urbane Onegin, who realizes his affection for her all too late. The Met’s evocative production, directed by Tony Award–winner Deborah Warner, “offers a beautifully detailed reading of … Tchaikovsky’s lyrical romance” (The Telegraph).

Choreographer

Kim Brandstrup

Events

Upcoming events

Sep 27 - Oct 3, 2026

Wozzeck · Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Past events

Sep 27 - Oct 3, 2026

Wozzeck · Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

May 2, 2026

Opera (live) at the cinema: Eugene Onegin · Umeå Folkets Hus

About

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